JOHANNESBURG (South Africa): England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler was fined 15 per cent of his match fee by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday for swearing at South Africa’s Vernon Philander during the second Test at Newlands.
Buttler was heard on the stump mic using an obscenity towards South African all-rounder Philander while keeping wicket on a tense final day in Cape Town.
Buttler picks up one demerit point
The 29-year-old will also pick up one demerit point for breaching the ICC’s disciplinary code, his first such offence. Players can be suspended if they accumulate four demerit points over a two-year period.
“Buttler was found to have breached Article 2.3 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to ‘use of an audible obscenity during an international match’ following an incident with South Africa all-rounder Vernon Philander,” read an ICC statement.
“Buttler admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by Andy Pycroft of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees and, as such, there was no need for a formal hearing.”
England won the match by 189 runs on a thrilling fifth day to level the four-match series at 1-1.
Meanwhile, England off-spinner Dom Bess admits that he “lost a lot of confidence” in his game after a topsy-turvy 2018-19.
Despite earning the honour of making a Test debut at Lord’s, Bess, in a peculiar turn of events, found himself out of his county side Somerset shortly thereafter, while his Test aspirations, too, were curtailed by the return to fitness of first-choice spinner Jack Leach.
“It has been a hell of a ride,” Bess told www.icc-cricket.com. “I played the Test matches in 2018 and did alright, but then fell off the radar a little bit, and within myself I lost a lot of confidence within my game.
The third Test begins on January 16 at Port Elizabeth.
