Cricket’s galling double standards: Adam Zampa charged for act both England and India got away with

The inconsistency of cricket’s law enforcers has been exposed on the eve of the Ashes, with Adam Zampa charged for swearing a month after an England star got away with it.

The inconsistency of cricket’s rules police has been laid bare on the eve of the Ashes after Adam Zampa was stung for swearing over a stump microphone a month after England superstar Harry Brook escaped.

In an eventful fallout to Tuesday’s first ODI in Cairns, South African spinner Prenelan Subrayen has also been reported for chucking having taken the key wicket of Travis Head in the Proteas’ landslide victory – and a big decision now looms over whether he plays any further part in the series before submitting himself to mandatory testing over his suspect bowling action.

But Australia might be more bemused about the reprimand handed down to Zampa for audibly swearing at a misfield off his bowling given no such sanction was imposed on potty-mouthed England and India players in their feisty recent Test series.

England batting dynamo Brook was widely reported as saying, “F***ing hell, Washy,” as a sledge directed at Indian batsman Washington Sundar after he defied an attempt from Ben Stokes to shake hands and declare a draw in the Old Trafford Test so he could bat on and complete a well-earned hundred.

There was plenty of colourful chat in the England-India series. Picture: Stu Forster/Getty Images)

The International Cricket Council might argue the obscenity wasn’t audible, but it was certainly clear enough for it to be widely reported around the world in coverage of England’s churlish tactics at Manchester.

Earlier in the same epic series where there was no love lost between either team, Indian captain Shubman Gill was caught on the stump mics at Lord’s telling England’s Zak Crawley to “grow some f***ing balls.”

Again, you guessed it, no fine. The cricketing public was enjoying the theatre and no one seemed fussed about the odd F-bomb being dropped in the heat of battle.

But in a sleepy one-dayer in north Queensland, Zampa was pulled up by match officials for swearing in frustration – not at an opposition player but at a fielding error off his own bowling.

Sure, there is an image the game must uphold, but when stump mics are turned up for the enjoyment of the cricket-watching public, is it really necessary for players to be pedantically pulled up for a slip-up like Zampa’s?

The double-standards of how the England and India series was officiated compared to Zampa’s slap on the wrist might not be the biggest issue in the world, but the difference in interpretation is stark.

Zampa loses a demerit point on his record and if he loses three more he would face a suspension.

Meanwhile, South Africa have bigger issues to confront than bad language with spinner Subrayen pulled up over his bowling action in the same match.

Prenelan Subrayen has been pulled up over his bowling action. Picture: Emily Barker/Getty Images

Technically Subrayen is allowed to continue playing until he completes his mandatory testing within 14 days, but it would be a big call from South Africa to expose him to more undue scrutiny until he clears his name.

Australian star Matthew Kuhnemann, who is in Australia’s squad for this series and is pushing to come into the XI for the second ODI, could sympathise with what Subrayen is going through after he was reported earlier in the year following the Test tour of Sri Lanka.

Kuhnemann was ultimately cleared as having a legal action, but the vindication of being proved legal doesn’t take away the pain of being humiliated at being reported in the first place.

Keshav Maharaj was the chief destroyer in South Africa’s rampant win in Cairns, but Subrayen played a key role in getting the ball rolling when he dismissed the dangerous Head stumped to end an ominous start to the innings made by the Australian openers who were motoring at 0-70 after seven overs.

From there the wheels fell off.

Match officials after the match reported to the ICC their concerns over the 31-year-old’s bowling action.

Originally published as Cricket’s galling double standards: Adam Zampa charged for act both England and India got away with