Stuart Broad facing disciplinary action for ugly Peter Handscomb send-off
STUART Broad is facing disciplinary action after giving Australian batsman Peter Handscomb an unsavoury send-off in Adelaide. VOTE: should Broad be banned? (We can only hope).
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England coach Trevor Bayliss admits he isn’t comfortable with sledging in cricket and wants the ICC to consider banning stump microphones.
Stuart Broad is facing disciplinary action from match officials after giving Australian batsman Peter Handscomb an unsavoury send-off in Adelaide.
Broad trapped Handscomb lbw in the first over of the day, and when the umpire’s finger went up, he veered closer to the batsman’s face and roared loudly in triumph.
There was no swearing or even words exchanged, but it was the kind of aggressive and unnecessary send-off the ICC has tried to stamp out.
The confrontation was the culmination of a war of words between Handscomb and English bowlers Broad and James Anderson as they walked from the pitch on the night of day one.
The starting point of the tension would appear to have been Handscomb’s role in the sledging of Jonny Bairstow over headbutt gate in the first Test in Brisbane – an exchange which was in part picked up on stump microphones and broadcast to air.
Bayliss said he personally disagrees with sledging and denied Broad and Anderson’s verbal barrage in Adelaide was pre-planned. But the England coach’s bigger beef is with the stump mic – which he wants turned off.
“Well, personally from my point of view I’m probably not (comfortable). And that goes from both sides,” he said.
“But it’s just the way the game is these days. I’d like to see the microphones turned down. I don’t think that’s necessarily a great thing for young kids at home watching.
“It adds to the spectacle when you’re here playing the game but I don’t think anyone necessarily needs to listen to what’s being said. It’s red blooded young males … playing a very competitive sport and sometimes those emotions boil over.
LISTEN: Ben Horne and Robert Craddock reflect on an incredible second day’s play in Adelaide
“Sometimes there’s a lot more made of it in the press than actually what happens out in the field.
“After the games and after the series the blokes are together having a beer with no hard feelings.”
No action was taken against a single player from Brisbane, however, umpires now face a stern test of their credibility in regards to Broad’s actions on Sunday, or risk the Ashes becoming a messy free-for-all.
During Australia’s tour of India earlier this year, a series marred by bitter hostility between the two sides, it became a complete farce that match officials refused to hand down a single disciplinary charge in any of the four Test matches.
The ICC’s inconsistency on player ill-discipline has been a well-documented issue this year, with the Australia v India series the prime example.
In the heated second Test in Bangalore back in March, Mitchell Starc gave an Indian batsman a “f**k-off” send-off and got away with it. Match officials also failed to take action against Steve Smith for gesturing for guidance on a DRS referral from the coaching box and Indian captain Virat Kohli labelling the Australian team systematic cheats.
Broad will learn his fate by the end of the Test.