Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen has been charged with misconduct for his on-air comments criticising an umpiring decision while playing for the Melbourne Stars during a Big Bash League semi-final, Cricket Australia said on Friday.
The controversial former England captain was wearing a microphone when he slammed the umpire’s decision to turn down a caught behind appeal against Perth Scorchers batsman Sam Whiteman in the Jan. 24 Twenty20 tournament match.
Match Referee David Talalla proposed a fine of AUD 5,000 for Pietersen after going through the umpires’ report.
“That was a shocker, an absolute shocker,” Pietersen was heard saying while fielding during the Scorchers’ run chase. “He says it could have been glove or pad, and I said, ‘well, he’s got big gloves and big pads to reach that’. “Massive nick.”
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Pietersen accepted the charge but disputed the fine, resulting in a hearing on Thursday. Match referee Talalla stuck to the original sanction after going through additional submissions from Pietersen and video footage.
{{/usCountry}}Pietersen accepted the charge but disputed the fine, resulting in a hearing on Thursday. Match referee Talalla stuck to the original sanction after going through additional submissions from Pietersen and video footage.
{{/usCountry}}Cricket Australia said Pietersen had 48 hours to decide if he wanted to appeal the match referee’s decision.
The 36-year-old was also on the receiving end, temporarily at least, of some criticism from Australia coach Darren Lehmann for his performances in the BBL following the semi-final defeat.
“@KP24 @BBL time for stars to move KP on, spent too much money on him and didn’t win. Don’t want to listen to his excuses any more,” Lehmann wrote in a tweet which he deleted later.