Australian captain, Ricky Ponting has been fined $5,400 by the ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle for showing dissent against umpire Aleem Dar during the second day of fourth Ashes Test at MCG.
The drama occurred when Kevin Pietersen was given not out by Aleem Dar and later on by the third umpire when the Aussie captain had requested for a review for a caught behind appeal. Ponting continued to argue with Dar for almost a minute and then continued
his discussion with the second on-field umpire. He even said a few words to Kevin Pietersen while walking across the pitch.
Under the article 2.1.3 (h) of the Code of Conduct of the International Cricket Council which relates to arguing with the umpire regarding any of his decisions, the Australian captain was charged with a level one offence and as a result was fined 40% of
his match fee.
In a statement released by Cricket http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746, Ponting justified his action by saying that “I entered into the discussion with the umpires about the detail of the decision having viewed replays being shown on the big screen, however I would be unhappy if
anyone thought I was being disrespectful towards the umpires as this was not my intention"
Disturbance was quite visible with Ponting’s behaviour today as England are running away with this Test match with every passing minute and the Australian captain must be thinking that the dream of regaining the Ashes in 2010-11 is fast slipping away. The
Australian batting line-up was blown away by some superb bowling by the English fast bowlers and then the visiting batsmen have piled up a huge score on the board.
More irritation was installed for Ricky Ponting and company when Matt Prior was caught behind off the bowling of Mitchell Johnson when he had scored just 5 runs but Aleem Dar asked Prior to stay at the crease and went for a video review which showed it was
not a legitimate delivery as Johnson had over-stepped. Matt Prior went on the make 75 runs off only 105 balls with the help of 10 boundaries and remained unbeaten at the close of play on day 2.
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