Australian paceman Mitchell Starc fined by ICC

Match referee Roshan Mahanama docked Starc half of his playing fee after Australia’s 208-run win over New Zealand on Monday at the Gabba.

The player was found to have breached Article 2.2.8 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “Throwing a ball (or any other item of cricket equipment such as a water bottle) at or near a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee or any other third person in an inappropriate and/or risky manner during an worldwide Match”.

The outburst sparked a strong reaction from Steve Smith, the Australian captain, who was disappointed by Starc’s conduct.

Earlier this year Starc hurled the ball towards Ben Stokes in a similar incident during an ODI contest, with the England batsman controversially given out for obstructing the field when throwing up his arm to protect himself. “Hes done it a few times and I’m going to have a word to him”.

There was plenty for the Australians to be pleased with in their first Test since the spate of retirements to senior players.

“I thought the primary morning actually set the tone for us with Joe Burns and Davy Warner batting so nicely”, Smith informed a information convention.

Smith’s frustrated gestures after taking a catch to dismiss Martin Guptill on day four caught the eye of many, but said he was pleased to see Lyon respond well when encouraged to bowl a little bit wider.

“It was just a bit of frustration and I think he just needs to let it out in other ways”.

“It was a great performance all round, and I’m pretty happy with the boys”.

Replays showed McCullum did not hit the ball but the Black Caps had no referrals available.

He did, nevertheless, enhance his possibilities of retaining his spot for the second check in Perth when he took the wicket of New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum and flirted with a hat-trick earlier than ending with figures of 2-25 on Monday.

“That’s the game”, McCullum said. “I hope he [Starc] was trying to aim at the stumps and if that’s the case and it slipped out then we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt”.

But Smith demanded more from his bowlers in particular as they look to wrap up the series in Perth, where the bouncy Waca pitch should again prove a handful for New Zealand’s batsmen.

Starc took 6-126 for the match and fellow left-armer Johnson 4-163.

“Our new ball bowling wants a bit of bit of enchancment, I assume we bowled a bit too brief”, he stated. We didn’t make them play enough balls down the ground which would have brought in the catchers behind the wicket and bowleds and lbws.