O'Brien fined after umpire incident

Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien has been fined 30 per cent of his match fee for showing dissent at an umpire’s decision in his side’s World Cup Pool B match against the United Arab Emirates in Brisbane last night.

O’Brien was found to have breached the ICC Code of Conduct during the 48th over of the UAE innings when he bowled a delivery outside off stump that was called wide by the umpire.

The Irishman protested the call and, according to an ICC media release, “continued to question the umpire’s decision until bowling the next delivery”.

O’Brien was bowling to UAE centurion Shaiman Anwar at the time, whose movement at the crease repeatedly stopped the bowler in his run-up and appeared to contribute to the line he was bowling at times in the back-end of the innings.

Ireland went on to win a thrilling match in the final over, and following the contest, O’Brien admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by Ranjan Madugalle of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees.

All Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand and/or a maximum penalty of 50 per cent of a player’s match fee.