Perera fined for Warner send-off

The International Cricket Council has stepped in following last night’s fiery one-day international at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

There were a number of confrontations throughout Sri Lanka’s 82-run victory, with pacemen Mitchell Starc and Thisara Perera both found to be in breach of the ICC Code of Conduct in separate incidents across the evening.

Starc was handed an official reprimand for his involvement in a tense battle with in-form batsman Dinesh Chandimal, while Thisara was fined 15 per cent of his match fee for the send-off aimed at Australia opener David Warner early in the run chase.

After making yet another early breakthrough, Starc went head-to-head with the in-form Chandimal who was looking to post a record-breaking sixth consecutive fifty in the 50-over format.

The tensions threatened to boil over in the seventh over of the match – Starc’s third – as he sent down a thunderous bouncer followed by some stern words to begin the over.

Chandimal played and missed at the follow-up delivery, before an optimistic appeal for caught behind from the Australians on Starc’s third ball to the wicketkeeper-batsman.

Another bouncer soon followed and the left-arm quick appeared to remind Chandimal of the blow to the ribcage from a Moises Henriques bumper in Sunday’s opener that forced the Sri Lankan to hand the gloves over to Kusal Perera and undergo scans the following day.

However, it was an incident at the end of the over that the match officials deemed in breach of the code of conduct.

Starc collected a throw from one of his teammates after Chandimal picked up two runs, before the Australian then threw the white Kookaburra down the pitch in the general of direction of the stumps and ‘keeper Matthew Wade.

The only problem was that Sri Lankan was standing firmly between Starc and the more obvious target with no intention of leaving his crease.

Chandimal casually knocked the ball away, while umpire Wimalasiri had a word with a fired-up Starc between overs.

Australia’s pace spearhead was found guilty of violating Article 2.1.1 of the Code of Conduct, which deals with “conduct that is contrary to the spirt of the game”.

Later in the innings, Thisara and James Faulkner exchanged words when the Australian allrounder completed his hat-trick in the 48th over.

That particular exchange may have lit the fuse for what was to follow, as the Sri Lankan unleashed an enthusiastic spray at Warner when the opener edged behind for just 1 in the second over of the run chase.

Thisara was deemed to have breached Article 2.1.7, which relates to “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batsman”.

Both players accepted the sanctions and there was no need for a formal hearing.

With the action now heading to Dambulla and the series locked at 1-1, it will be interesting to see how Warner – Australia’s new ODI skipper – and the two quicks respond to the ICC’s intervention.