West Indies coach Stuart Law has been suspended for first two ODIs against India (October 21 and October 24) after being fined 100 percent of his match fee and getting three demerit points for inappropriate comments made towards the TV umpire and the fourth official.
Law had previously received a 25 percent match fee fine and one demerit point in May 2017 for a similar transgression during the Dominica Test against Pakistan, and hence has now been give a two-match suspension owing to the accumulation of four demerit points.
Law was found guilty of breaching Level 2 Article 2.7 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates 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, irrespective of when such criticism or inappropriate comment is made”.
Law was annoyed by the decision that saw Kieran Powell walk back to the pavilion for a nine-ball duck in the second innings of the Hyderabad Test.
In one of those calls where soft signal played a crucial role in arriving at the final decision, Powell was adjudged out caught at first slip by Ajinkya Rahane off Ravichandran Ashwin, as there was no conclusive evidence that the ball had taken a bump or that the fielder didn’t get his palms underneath the ball.
The Windies coach is said to have reacted to that by going to the TV umpire’s room and then the fourth umpire’s area and made inappropriate comments to them. Law admitted to the offence and accepted the sanctions.
