'Off the Christmas card list': Broad sanctioned by his dad

England seamer Stuart Broad is just one misstep away from being banned after his father, match referee Chris Broad, sanctioned him for using bad language during the first Test against Pakistan.

Broad Snr is the match referee for all six Tests of the England summer, with the International Cricket Council deciding to use English officials for the series due to the travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

But any notion of Broad Snr being biased towards his son was quashed on Tuesday when he handed the England star one demerit point and a fine for his send-off of Pakistan’s Yasir Shah at Old Trafford.

Broad Jnr accepted the sanction and responded by joking on social media that his father is now "off the Christmas card and present list".

Broad Jnr was cited by the on-field officials for using "inappropriate language" after dismissing Yasir, who had just clubbed a couple of handy boundaries off the Englishman's bowling.

Broad Snr proposed a sanction of one demerit point and a fine of 15 per cent of his match fee, which Broad Jnr accepted, meaning there was no need for a formal hearing.

Under the temporary regulations introduced for the pandemic this year, all match referee decisions must also go through the ICC's Cricket Operations department, to prevent any suggestion of bias.

If Broad had challenged the sanction and a hearing was held, it would have taken place via video link with a neutral match referee.

Having previously been sanctioned for using inappropriate language at South Africa’s Faf du Plessis and India’s Rishabh Pant, Broad Jnr now has three demerit points on his record, meaning he is one away from being banned for a Test match.

Demerit points sit on a player's record for 24 months, which does mean that the Pant sanction – which happened on August 19, 2018 – will expire next week.

However, a similar transgression in the second Test this week would trigger a suspension.

In May, Broad Jnr said he believed the nature of a match referee's job meant his father could take the emotion out of any decisions he had to make during the summer.

"Sure, if he was an (on-field) umpire I could understand (people thinking that was inappropriate) because he could have a subconscious influence on decisions that are made on the field," Broad wrote in The Daily Mail.

"No offence to him here but he sits in an office and if I, or anyone else, breaks the code of conduct he simply looks up the regulations in a handbook and determines the appropriate sanction from the relevant section. There is no emotion in a match referee's job.

"If I was to be caught swearing on camera … there’s no haggling over the punishment. It’s not as if I can go into a room and barter to only pay 12 per cent of a 15 per cent match fee fine."