West Indies wicket-keeper batsman Nicholas Pooran has received four suspension points for admitting breach level 3 of the international cricket council (ICC) Code of Conduct for Players and Players Support Personnel on Monday during the 3rd ODI match against Afghanistan at Lucknow.
This 24-year-old West Indies cricketer was charged with violating Article 2.14 of the code, which relates to “changing the position of the ball.” Nicholas was scratching the surface of the ball with his thumb finger which can be clearly shown in the video footage. He will not play the next four T20 internationals for the West Indies and would have five demerit points added to his record.
On Tuesday, Pooran conceded the offense and accepted the sanction proposal of Chris Broad, the match referee. This charge was leveled by on-field umpires Bismillah Shinwari, Ahmed Durrani, third umpire Ahmed Pakteen and fourth umpire Izatullah Safi.
The minimum penalty of level 3 breaches carries 4 suspension points which equates to 5 demerit points on a players record, and he will be banned for Test matches or four ODI/T20I matches and the maximum penalty of level 3 breach is 12 suspension points which translate to 6 demerit points.
After the ban, Pooran apologized to his teammates and the opposition players and the fans of the game by saying, “I want to issue a sincere apology to my teammates, supporters and the Afghanistan team for what transpired on the field of play on Monday in Lucknow. I recognize that I made an extreme error in judgement and I fully accept the ICC penalty. I want to assure everyone that this is an isolated incident and it will not be repeated. I promise to learn from this and come back stronger and wiser“.
