ICC fines Gibson over DRS comments

Port of Spain, Trinidad, April 21 (IANS/CMC) West Indies coach Ottis Gibson this week criticised the use of the controversial Decision Review System (DRS) but his comments have now seen him being fined by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Speaking on the third evening of the second Test against Australia which ended here Thursday, Gibson said the system had worked against the West Indies in the series and pointed out that if all the technology available was not going to be used, then the ICC should scrap the DRS.

"If the ICC is going to use DRS, I think they should use all the technology and I think if you haven't got all the technology, you shouldn't use it at all," Gibson told reporters here.

"Over the course of the two Test matches, the way that it's panned out with the decisions that have gone against us, in Barbados we had a man out and then he was given not out with the use of the cameras and so on."

"For us sitting watching it, we didn't see anything conclusive to say he had hit it or had not hit it. So, therefore, we thought that the decision the umpire made should have stood but that was overruled."

Gibson was referring to Australia captain Michael Clarke who was given out caught behind for 21 during the first innings of the opening Test in Barbados but got the decision overturned after he appealed, despite the absence of conclusive evidence that he had not hit the ball.

Clarke went on to make 73 and Australia got within 43 runs of the West Indies' first innings total of 449 for nine declared.

Friday, however, the ICC fined Gibson 20 percent of his match fee for breaching its Code of Conduct relating to inappropriate public comment.

"In the pre-series meetings it was agreed that players and coaches should not engage in negative media comments," match referee Jeff Crowe said.

"Ottis accepts that he overstepped the mark during the game and has now accepted his sanction."

Such breaches of the ICC Code of Conduct carry a minimum penalty of a warning or reprimand and a maximum penalty of 50 percent of the match fee.

The West Indies face Australia in the third Test at Windsor Park in Dominica starting Monday.

--IANS/CMC

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