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Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza and Ireland players Curtis Campher and Joshua Little have been fined by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for their involvement in an on-field altercation during the first T20I in Harare on December 7. Raza who was charged with Level 1 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct has received a two-match ban meaning he won't be able to participate in the remainder of the T20I series.
“While Raza was charged for aggressively charging towards Campher and Little, the Ireland pacer was charged with making physical contact with the Zimbabwean. Campher, reportedly, side-stepped the on-field umpires and charged at Raza,” the ICC said in a release on December 9.
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While Campher and Little admitted to the offence and accepted the sanction from match referee Andy Pycroft, Raza rejected the penalty while acknowledging his part in the offense.
ICC punished Raza with a fine of 50 per cent match fee along with two demerit points. The all-rounder's total demerit points for the current 24-month period reached four which led to him facing a two-match ban.
Earlier, Raza was named 'Player of the match' for his all-round performance in the series opener. First, he picked up three wickets from his quota of four overs. He conceded just 28 runs and dismissed opener Andrew Balbirnie and middle-order batters Harry Tector and Campher. His spell helped Zimbabwe restrict the visitors to 147/8.
In the run chase, he scored 65 runs from 42 balls featuring five fours and two sixes. However, he lost his wicket in the penultimate over leaving 11 runs to be scored from nine balls. But tailenders pulled off a heist winning the game off the last ball of the innings.
“Nice to be part of history. Credit to the fans as well for coming out in numbers. They got maybe 5-8 too many. Credit to Delany for the way he batted in the last over. Some mistakes here and there, but most important thing is we've got over the line. I was upset that I didn't finish the game. Don't want to leave it to the tailenders. There was a lot of good things done by the team, and I'm proud of the team,” the 37-year-old said in the post-match presentation.
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