Twitter gets Pietersen and Mascarenhas in fine mess
Kevin Pietersen may be out of the England squad, but that hasn’t kept the batsman out of the headlines, thanks to a recent posting on his Twitter account.
Before the ECB had made the official announcement of the out-of-form Pietersen’s omission for the Twenty20s and ODI series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 this month, KP had let the cat out of the bag on the social networking site. In a tweet that was soon removed from the website, Pietersen let slip, “Yep...Done for the rest of summer!! Man of the World Cup T20 and dropped from the T20 side too...It’s a f**k up!!”
The apologies soon followed, and now too has an undisclosed fine for the 30-year-old, who currently is seeing out the remainder of the county season with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Surrey-c851, where he’s already notched a much needed century in the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition.
While Hampshire have rid themselves of one ill-advised Tweetter – Pietersen announced earlier in the season he would be leaving the county club and Hampshire responded by deciding not to select him when available, before the loan deal was struck with Surrey – they’ve been dishing out discipline to another today, with sometime England player and Hampshire captain Dimitri Mascarenhas £1,000 out of pocket for his Twitter comments on Sunday.
"Chairman of selectors came and didn't even come and say hi... What a p***k... Doesn't take much to say hello does it?" Mascarenhas tweeted yesterday, referring to England chief selector Geoff Miller’s failure to greet him when attending a county match in Liverpool last week.
He didn’t stop there either, adding in a second tweet: "Geoff Miller is a complete k**b... He had no clue what he is doing.. Fing p***k."
In announcing the club’s punishment for Mascarenhas, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hampshire-c789 Cricket Chairman, Rod Bransgrove said: “I met with Dimitri Mascarenhas today and formally censured him, imposing a fine of £1,000. The fine has been set at this high level as I feel there is little point in imposing a ban, given the long-term nature of his [Achilles] injury.”
Mascarenhas, 32, has apologised for his actions, saying: “I realise that my actions were stupid and irresponsible and I regret any offence I may have caused. I apologise specifically to Geoff Miller who has always treated me fairly. I also apologise to Hampshire Cricket whom I feel I have let down.”
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