WI Coach, Stuart Law, Banned for First 2 ODIs
Ungentlemanly behavior has no place in the world of cricket, as Stuart Law, West Indies coach, discovered again for the second time in two years. His angered outbursts at the umpires in the second test match that the West Indies played against India in Hyderabad a couple of days ago was his second offense of this kind in two years. The specific article of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Code of Conduct that Law had breached was Article 2.7, as an official statement by the governing body of cricket read, “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’s second offence occurred when on Sunday, October 14, 2018, the third day of the second test match, he publicly insulted both the third and fourth umpires, Nigel Long and Nitin Menon, for a decision that went against Keiran Powell. Charges against him were leveled by both of these umpires as well as on-field umpires Bruce Oxenford and Ian Gould. Law admitted to his wrongdoing and accepted his punishment, which being his second offence was the complete forfeiture of his match fee, and three demerit points. Having accumulated four demerit points in all in a 24-month period, Law will be banned from being part of the first two one-day international matches that the West Indies will play against India. Demerit points in cricket function similarly to yellow cards in soccer, where an accumulation of two yellow cards in subsequent matches in a tournament, for example, will mean that the player will have to sit out the next game.
In cricket, accumulating four demerit points within a 24-month period makes it a Level 2 Offence, and will result in a player missing out 1 test match or 2 ODIs or T20 matches. The highest level of offence is level 4, reached by accumulating 8 demerit points, where the penalty is double that of Level 2.