Ashes sparked ICC player crackdown

The International Cricket Council instructed umpires to be stricter with poor player behaviour following last summer's at-times fractious Ashes series, the governing body's chief executive has revealed.

Australia's uncompromising attitude was inadvertently laid bare when a stump microphone broadcast captain Michael Clarke telling England tailender James Anderson to "get ready for a broken f***ing arm" during the first Test at the Gabba.

Clarke's intervention, for which he later apologised and was fined 20 per cent of his match fee by the ICC, came after Anderson had confronted Test debutant George Bailey, fielding under the helmet at short leg.

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ICC chief executive Dave Richardson told BBC radio he thought behaviour from both sides during the Ashes was " not a good image for the game".

"I did not think behaviour in the Ashes series was particularly good," Richardson said.

"There was a lot of sledging and I don't think it was not a good image for the game and instructions have gone to the umpires to be stricter in that regard."

Later in the summer, England allrounder Ben Stokes was fined after giving Australia's James Faulkner a send-off during the fourth one-day international in Perth.

Player behaviour is again in the spotlight during England's series against India, with Anderson and Ravindra Jadeja to face an ICC hearing this week after an alleged altercation during the first Test in Nottingham.

Both players have been charged with breaching the ICC's Code of Conduct after a confrontation outside the dressing-rooms at Trent Bridge allegedly turned physical.

Speaking on BBC’s Test Match Special, Richardson said the incident was another bad look for the game.

“We never like something like this, we like to focus on the cricket,” Richardson said of the Anderson-Jadeja incident.

“If someone is swearing and saying the wrong things, and it escalates to something physical then it needs to be looked at.

"And if someone is guilty, then he deserves to be punished.

"There's always going to be a little bit of a grey area (with sledging). But when it gets personal and nasty, and when people take it off the field, that is where I think we should be very strong in drawing the line."

The Anderson-Jadeja scandal created a storm last week when India levelled a charge against the England fast bowler, claiming that he had made physical contact with Jadeja.

The England and Wales Cricket Board downplayed the incident as "minor", but laid a charge of their own against Jadeja in retaliation.

The Anderson-Jadeja hearing is set to take place on Tuesday, the day after the second Test at Lord's.

Statements have been taken from spectators who witnessed the incident at Trent Bridge.

The alleged incident took place in the players' race and neither on-field umpire Kumar Dharmasena nor Bruce Oxenford saw any confrontation.