Cricket: Border and Highes reprimanded

(First Edition)

ALLAN BORDER, the Australian captain, and his pace bowler, Merv Hughes, have been severely reprimanded for dissent during the fifth Test against the West Indies which the tourists won to take the series 2-1.

Both players had been fined for dissent after the drawn first Test in Brisbane, Border receiving a record penalty of Adollars 2,000 (pounds 950).

The umpires reported Border for an offensive gesture after the no-balling of fast bowler Jo Angel for exceeding the limit of fast short-pitched balls in an over 'In the case of Hughes, it was his quiet comments following the rejection of a close lbw appeal,' Graham Halbish, general manager of the Australian Cricket Board, said. 'Following evidence given by the players concerned, it was accepted that there had been a degree of misunderstanding between player and umpire and both players apologised to the umpires for any other impression given.'.

It was feared Hughes and Border would miss the impending Test match against New Zealand after their offences in the summer, as the match referee, Donald Carr, has the power to fine players up to 75 per cent of their match fees or suspend them from future Tests.

'Umpires are very thin-skinned at certain situations,' Border, who registered a pair of ducks in the fifth Test, said after the reprimand. 'Just the fact that I've been brought up on charges is ridiculous. The whole situation needs to be looked at very seriously. You've got to sit through the hearings and cop whatever.' Border said that the referee had seen the incidents as 'very trivial and cleared both myself and Mervyn.'

Late last year the Pakistani fast bowler, Aqib Javed, became the first player to be suspended for one match, a one-day international against New Zealand, for dissent.

Australia's post-mortem, page 28