English cricketer Tom Curran has been slapped with a four-game ban for intimidating an umpire in Australia's Big Bash League with the Sydney Sixers star accused of having a "brain fade".
Cricket Australia confirmed the sanction on Thursday after an altercation that took place earlier this month.
Curran, who was part of England's World Cup winning squad in 2019, was accused of attempting "to perform a practice run up and run at pace straight towards the umpire, who stood in the bowling crease facing Curran. The umpire stepped to his right to avoid the risk of collision".
He's now been charged with a level three offence for "intimidation or attempted intimidation of an umpire or match referee”.
Tom Curran just avoided a collision with the umpire
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Commentator Jason Richardson was far from impressed with the English cricketer after watching the footage for the first time.
"[He's] clearly running down the pitch, which is a no-no and does get reprimanded or reminded by the umpire," he said.
After Curran was seen running on the pitch, an umpire stepped in to stand by the stumps in an attempt to block the cricketer from repeating it.
"You can run here [pointing outside the pitch], not here," the umpire could be heard saying to Curran.
The two then momentarily had a stand-off before Curran began running up to the crease and looked as though he was going to crash into the official.
The Englishman stutter-stepped to the side before colliding with the umpire, who moved to the side to avoid a bigger hit.
Curran then appeared annoyed at the umpire for interfering, exchanging words as he walked away.
But Richardson can't understand why Curran felt the need to charge towards the umpire.
“That's ridiculous. That is totally and utterly ridiculous,” he said.
Tom Curran charged at the umpire
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"This is coming from an experienced international cricketer who's clearly had a brain fade there.
"You can’t intimidate an umpire like that.”
Former cricketer Lisa Sthalekar attempted to defend Curran and wondered whether he had heard the umpire's message.
“I think there's a lot of gesturing. I don’t know if he could really hear all of that,” she said.
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Tom Curran continued to argue after the incident
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“I think there was an element of two guys not letting go of their ego.
”But Richardson doesn't feel like Curran can have any excuses for his ban with the footage pretty damning.
He added: "Right or wrong, you can't intimidate an umpire in a physical fashion like that.
"That's about as bad as it gets in terms of physicality towards an umpire."
