PERTH, Australia, CMC – West Indies spinner Sulieman Benn and the Australians Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson have been charged with bringing the game into disrepute after a heated exchange on day two of the third Test at the WACA yesterday.
The three players were involved in a mid-pitch altercation that escalated into shoving.
The incident was triggered by an incident when Benn and Johnson became entangled while the non-striker moved off for a single.
Benn appears set to receive the brunt of the punishment.
The tall left-arm spinner faces a potential suspension after being charged with a Level 2 ICC Code of Conduct offence, carrying a maximum penalty of 100 per cent of his match fee or a one-match Test ban.
Charges for Johnson and Haddin are at the lower Level 1, which carries a maximum penalty of a fine of 50 per cent of the player’s match fee.
The three men were cited by the match referee Chris Broad for the incident that occurred in the eventful 118th over of Australia’s innings.
Benn, stepping across to field – off his own bowling — a ball driven to mid-on by Haddin, collided with non-striker Johnson, who was taking off for a single.
The contact appeared purely accidental but Haddin inflamed the situation when he provocatively pointed his bat at Benn and exchanged words with the bowler from the opposite end of the pitch.
West Indies captain Chris Gayle and umpire Billy Bowden tried to calm the players as the clash escalated with Benn pushing his finger toward Haddin’s face, which triggered a shoving incident between Benn and Johnson.
The ugly clash, which happened before Australia declared their innings at 520 for seven, shared the day’s headlines with a spectacular hundred by Gayle.
