STUMPED!

Ravindra Jadeja has been fined 50 per cent of his match fee by David Boon of Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Refrees for being involved in an incident with James Anderson during the second day of the first cricket Test against England at Trent Bridge on July 10. He has been found guilty of Level 1 breach of ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel.

Jadeja was charged for breach of Article 2.2.11 of ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Players support Personnel by England team manager Phil Neale on July 16 for his alleged squabble with James Anderson after they had left the field for lunch.

Mr. Boon held a hearing in Southampton on Thursday evening and found Jadeja guilty under Article 2.1.8, which relates to “conduct contrary to the spirit of the game”. The hearing was attended by both players, their legal counsels, witnesses and MV Sridhar of BCCI, Phil Neale and Paul Downton of the ECB, and the ICC’s Ethics & Regulatory Lawyer.

The  hearing, which lasted for more than two hours included video footage, oral statement of players and also cross examination of witnesses by the counsel representative of ECB Kendrah Potts and Jadeja’s representative Jonathan Ellis.

Mr Boon is empowered to find Jadeja guilty of an offence of a lower level than the one he has been charged with, if he is not found guilty of the original offence. Commenting on his decision, Mr.Boon said that “Under Article 6.1 of the Code, I had to be comfortably satisfied that the offence had occurred in order to find Mr. Jadeja guilty of an offence under Article 2.2.11”.

“While I was in no doubt that confrontation did occur, and that such conduct was not in the spirit of the game and should not have taken place, I was not comfortably satisfied that this was a level 2 offence. Therefore, in exercising my discretion under Article 7.6.5 of the Code and having heard all the evidence, I was comfortably satisfied that Mr Jadeja had committed a level 1 offence under Article 2.1.8 of the Code.”

Sunil Dev, India manager, has charged James Anderson under Level 3, Article 2.3.3 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which states: “Where the facts of the alleged incident are not adequately or clearly covered by any of the above offences, conduct that either: (a) is contrary to the spirit of the game; or (b) brings the game into disrepute”. Anderson’s hearing will be conducted by the Judicial Commissioner, His Honour Gordon Lewis AM on August 1.

The Level 1 breaches have a minimum penalty of an official reproval and the maximum can go up to a penalty of 50 percent of the match fee, whereas all level 3 breaches are stricter and carry a penalty between four and eight suspension points and two suspension points – equivalent to a ban of one Test match or two ODIs, depends on the type of match scheduled for the suspended player.

Mr.Boon will provide a detailed judgement on Jadeja in the next 48 hours. However, BCCI is not satisfied with the verdict and supports Mr. Jadeja completely. It believes that Jadeja was not at fault. BCCI reserves its right to appeal against the sentence.