Warner fined for AB comments

Cape Town - Australia opener David Warner has been fined 15% of his match fee after pleading guilty to a charge of making inappropriate comments about Proteas player AB de Villiers ahead of the third and final Test which starts in Cape Town on Saturday.

Warner was found to have breached Article 2.1.7 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to public criticism of, or inappropriate comment in relation to an incident occurring in an International Match or any Player, Player Support Personnel, Match official or team participating in any International Match.

On Thursday, Warner admitted the offence and accepted the proposed sanction offered to him by Roshan Mahanama of the Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees. As such, there was no need for a formal hearing.

The charge related to comments made by Warner on Tuesday during an interview on Australian radio.

Warner suggested that De Villiers was in some way tampering with the ball while wearing the wicketkeeper gloves.

Explaining his decision, Mahanama said: “It was disrespectful for David to publicly denigrate an opponent when commenting on a match-related incident, and imply that a South African player was engaging in sharp practice. I’m sure David will be careful when making public comments in future.”

The range of permissible sanctions for all first Level 1 offences is a warning or reprimand and/or the imposition of a fine of up to 50% of the applicable match fee.