Australia’s Smith fined after umpire rumpus
by Agency Staff,
2016-02-25 05:00:00.0
AUSTRALIAN captain Steve Smith was fined 30% of his match fee for dissent yesterday, after a confrontation with the umpires in the second Test against New Zealand here.
Australia won the Test by seven wickets to move to the top of the world rankings, but celebrations were marred by Smith’s summons before the International Cricket Council match referee to explain his actions.
He was later fined in connection with the same obscenity-laden rant that had already cost Josh Hazlewood 15% of his match fee.
The abuse levelled at the umpires during their seven-wicket win in Christchurch to sweep the series was the latest in a series of incidents involving Australia.
But Smith defended Australia as a team who played the game hard and pushed the boundaries, but did not mean to offend.
"I don’t think we’re not nice guys. We play a good, hard, aggressive brand of cricket," Smith said, admitting he and Hazlewood were wrong in how they approached the umpires after Australia were denied an lbw decision against Kane Williamson.
"For us, it’s about knowing where that line is, and myself and Josh Hazlewood have crossed that line in this Test match, and that’s not what we’re about, and hopefully we can learn from that, and continue to develop as a team and get better," he said.
Smith said he believed at the time he was acting correctly to question the umpire’s decision.
"I thought I was well within my rights to go up to the umpire and ask him why we didn’t use the real-time snicko," he said referring to the "snickometer" heat-detecting technology used to determine if the ball has hit the bat.
"That’s deemed to be dissent, and I’ll cop that on the chin, and I need to be better as a leader; I need to set the example, and that was not good enough.
"For me, it’s about trying to learn from my mistakes, and improve, and try and get this team going forward in the right direction ," he said.
Despite the onfield dissent, now retired New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum maintained there was a good relationship between the two sides.
AFP
Australia’s Steve Smith. Picture: REUTERS
AUSTRALIAN captain Steve Smith was fined 30% of his match fee for dissent yesterday, after a confrontation with the umpires in the second Test against New Zealand here.
Australia won the Test by seven wickets to move to the top of the world rankings, but celebrations were marred by Smith’s summons before the International Cricket Council match referee to explain his actions.
He was later fined in connection with the same obscenity-laden rant that had already cost Josh Hazlewood 15% of his match fee.
The abuse levelled at the umpires during their seven-wicket win in Christchurch to sweep the series was the latest in a series of incidents involving Australia.
But Smith defended Australia as a team who played the game hard and pushed the boundaries, but did not mean to offend.
"I don’t think we’re not nice guys. We play a good, hard, aggressive brand of cricket," Smith said, admitting he and Hazlewood were wrong in how they approached the umpires after Australia were denied an lbw decision against Kane Williamson.
"For us, it’s about knowing where that line is, and myself and Josh Hazlewood have crossed that line in this Test match, and that’s not what we’re about, and hopefully we can learn from that, and continue to develop as a team and get better," he said.
Smith said he believed at the time he was acting correctly to question the umpire’s decision.
"I thought I was well within my rights to go up to the umpire and ask him why we didn’t use the real-time snicko," he said referring to the "snickometer" heat-detecting technology used to determine if the ball has hit the bat.
"That’s deemed to be dissent, and I’ll cop that on the chin, and I need to be better as a leader; I need to set the example, and that was not good enough.
"For me, it’s about trying to learn from my mistakes, and improve, and try and get this team going forward in the right direction ," he said.
Despite the onfield dissent, now retired New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum maintained there was a good relationship between the two sides.
AFP
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