Sammy fined for criticising third umpire Holdstock

West Indies coach Daren Sammy has been fined for his criticism of third umpire Adrian Holdstock during the opening Test against Australia in Barbados.

Sammy was angered by two decisions, in particular, that went against West Indies on the second day: Roston Chase's lbw, upheld by Holdstock despite a suggestion of an inside edge, and Shai Hope's inside edge that was brilliantly caught by Alex Carey who was ruled to have held the catch cleanly. On the first day, Holdstock ruled a low catch to Hope off Travis Head not carried.

Speaking after the second day's play, Sammy said he had held concerns about Holdstock's umpiring from the recent ODI series in England.

"You don't want to get yourself in a situation where you're wondering about certain umpires," he said. "Is there something against this team? But when you see decision after decision, then it raises the question."

Sammy was found to have violated Article 2.7 of the ICC Code of Conduct, which pertains to "public criticism of, or inappropriate comment in relation to an incident occurring in an international match or any player, player support personnel, match official or team participating in any international match".

He was fined 15% of his match fee for the level one offence. One demerit point has also been added to Sammy's disciplinary record, his first offence in a 24-month period.

Sammy admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee Javagal Srinath. Level 1 offences carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand and a maximum of a 50% match fee fine, along with one or two demerit points.

Captain Chase was equally critical of the decisions when he spoke after the match but there has yet to be any mention of a sanction against him.

Holdstock is due to be an on-field umpire for the next two Tests in Grenada and Jamaica with the TV role split between Nitin Menon and Richard Kettleborough.