Australian news: Warne charged after criticising umpire (20 November 1998)

20 November 1998

Australian news: Warne charged after criticising umpire

By Christopher Martin-Jenkins in Brisbane

SHANE Warne, still hoping to be fit to play for Australia in the third Test, will face an Australian Cricket Board disciplinary hearing next week after an angry complaint about an umpiring decision.

Warne was cited by ACB chief executive officer Malcolm Speed for comments after Victoria's narrow loss to Western Australia in their recent Sheffield Shield match.

The leg-spinner, playing in his first Shield match since his shoulder operation, was incensed at Victorian batsman Graeme Vimpani being given out lbw by umpire Randolph Woolridge during his side's two-run loss in Perth.

Warne believed Vimpani hit the ball that led to his dismissal, saying: "Everybody in the ground knew he hit it barring the umpire." Woolridge was making his first-class debut.

Warne will appear before a disciplinary hearing on a date still to be fixed. Players found guilty of breaching the board's code of conduct face a suspension and/or minimum £75 fine, or a suspended fine of a minimum £380.

Warne remains big news even out of the Test side. A firm specialising in the defeat of nicotine addiction is reported to be paying him a five-figure sum to give up smoking in the new year. At the ACB's series-launching dinner on Wednesday night he said that he was doing so for the sake of his family. His wife is expecting their second child early next year.

Warne is commentating on television during the first Test and lending support to his replacement as Australia's leg-spinner, Stuart MacGill. The whole match is being shown live in Brisbane for the first time because the ground capacity has been reduced to 15,000 by the current construction work. One English visitor was trying frantically yesterday to get the tickets he assumed would be in plentiful supply.

The ACB have also decided to postpone any decision on whether to appoint Darrell Hair for the triangular tournament between Australia, England and Sri Lanka in the new year.

They are awaiting any reaction by the International Cricket Council to Hair's newly-published book. In it he describes Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan's action as "diabolical" at the time that he called him for throwing three years ago. Hair's partner in the first Test is K T Francis, the first Sri Lankan to stand in a Test in Australia.

A bonus fund of more than £200,000 is on offer for England if they can regain the Ashes from Australia this winter.

England's official sponsors, Vodafone, have announced a performance bonus total of exactly £200,000, mirroring the system in operation last summer against South Africa. The cash will be divided among the team if they win the five-Test series.

There will also be a £3,000 individual Vodafone prize each for England's best bowler, batsman and fielder this winter - to be judged by the press.

Meanwhile Wisden launched its first Australian edition yesterday with a surprise - naming Belinda Clark as Australian Cricketer of the Year.

Clark, who has captained the national women's team for the last five years, won the award ahead of the entire Australian men's team.

Her recent achievements included winning the Ashes and the World Cup, where she was player of the series, and setting a world-record score of 229 not out in a one-day international.

"She was the dominant player in Australia," Wisden said. "Under her leadership the present Australian team have taken women's cricket to an altogether new level."

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)