“I thought it was pretty disappointing”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Australia captain Steven Smith has cautioned left-arm pace bowler Mitchell Starc after he was fined 50 per cent of his match fee for throwing a ball at New Zealand batsman Mark Craig on the final day of the first Test in Brisbane.

Smith admitted that Starc’s actions were “pretty disappointing” and added that this is not the first time he has vented out his frustrations by throwing a ball in the direction of the batsman.

The incident occurred in the 84th over after Craig had struck the first two balls of Starc’s over for boundaries. On the third ball, Craig hit the ball back to Starc, who proceeded to throw it at him and subsequently gave away four overthrows.

After the match, Starc was fined as he was found guilty of breaching Article 2.2.8 of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Code of Conduct, which relates to to throwing a ball at or near a player in an inappropriate and/or dangerous manner.

“I thought it was pretty disappointing,” Smith said. “He’s done it a few times and I’m going to have a word with him when we get back down in the sheds. I don’t think it was necessary at the time. Hopefully he can improve and get better from that.

“I don’t think he needs to apologise. I just don’t think he needs to do it in the future. There wasn’t an opportunity for a run-out there and I think it was just a bit of frustration. I think he needs to let it out in other ways.”

Speaking about the incident, New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said that he would give Starc the “benefit of the doubt”.

“The way I looked at it, I hoped he was trying to aim at the stumps. If that was the case and it just slipped out then so be it, we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt,” he said. “I thought the game was played in really good spirits, and I’m sure the rest of the Tests will be as well.”