Muzarabani hit with fine after ugly row

ZIMBABWE fast bowler, Blessing Muzarabani, and Bangladesh’s Taskin Ahmed, have both been fined 15 percent of their match fees for breaching Level 1 of the

Code of Conduct during the second ICC day of the one- off Test in Harare.

The players were found to have breached Article 2.1.12 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, whichrelates to “inappropriate physical contact with a player, player support personnel, umpire, match referee or any other person (including a spectator) during an international match.”

In addition, one demerit point each has been added to the disciplinary records of the players, both of whom did not have any previous offence in a 24-month period.

The incident occurred in the 85th over of Bangladesh’s first innings on Thursday.

After Muzarabani had bowled a delivery to Taskin, the two players moved aggressively towards each other, and contact was made after words were exchanged face to face.

Both players admitted the offence and accepted the sanctions proposed by Andy Pycroft of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees and ratified by the ICC Cricket Operations department as per the Covid-19 interim playing regulations.

There was no need for formal hearings.

On-field umpires Marais Erasmus and Langton Rusere, third umpire Iknow Chabi and fourth official Forster Mutizwa levelled the charges.

Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand, a maximum penalty of 50 percent of a player’s match fee, and one or two demerit points.

“Their fast bowlers were attacking me with bouncers, and trying to get me out,” Taskin said, after scoring his maiden international half- century and putting on 191 with Mahmudullah, for the ninth wicket.

“I think I was handling them well. Some of them were abusing me as well, but when they did it for the third time, I told him to do something with the ball rather than abusing me.”

A few overs later, Mahmudullah got into an angry exchange with Victor Nyauchi, who pulled out of bowling his delivery and ran all the way to the batter.

Taskin said his career-best 75 off 134 balls was the fi rst step towards him becoming a competent lower- order contributor.

“I have always wanted to be a good tail- ender,” he said. “I practise batting besides my bowling. I want to improve my batting so that it can come in handy in difficult situations.

“All big teams have responsible tailenders who support the set batsman at the other end.

“My main target was to support (Mahmudullah) Riyad bhai. He spoke to me constantly, reminding me that I should defend the ball on the stumps.

“I only tried to hit those in my zone. I got a few boundaries, but I was more concerned about batting for the team.”

Taskin said Mahmudullah had motivated him by telling him Bangladesh needed to put up a big total to take some pressure of their bowlers on a batting-friendly surface.

“It is a good wicket except for the first session on the first day,” Taskin said. “Riyad bhai kept telling me that we should score as much as possible as the wicket is getting better [to bat on].

“It would give the bowlers something to bowl at. He told me to play with a straight bat, not try anything big. I am a bowler after all, I might want to try a big hit. But I tried to support him.”

Taskin started well with the ball, too, conceding just two runs in his first eight overs.

But, in his last two overs, Brendan Taylor struck him for three fours, which he said was a reminder that nothing will come easy on this pitch for the bowlers.

“We have to bowl consistently and patiently, according to the field, on this wicket,” he said. “It seems easy for the batsmen. We should attack but loose balls are quite easy to play here.” —