West Indies pacer Jayden Seales has been fined by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after a Code of Conduct breach in the second Test against India at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The 24-year-old was found guilty of breaching Article 2.9 of the ICC Code, which deals with the aspect of throwing the ball in a dangerous way at or near a player.
“Throwing a ball (or any other item of cricket equipment) at or near a player in an inappropriate and/or dangerous manner during an international match.”
The incident occurred on Day 1 of the match when Seales, in his follow-through of the 29th over, picked up the ball and threw it back towards Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, hitting him on the pads. The action was not appropriate, more so given that the batter was well within the crease.
Consequently, Seales was fined 25% of his match fee and received an official reprimand, in addition to one demerit point. This brings his two-month aggregate of demerit points to two over a 24-month period the first of which was issued during the Bangladesh Test match in December 2024.
“On-field umpires Richard Illingworth and Paul Reiffel, third umpire Alex Wharf and fourth umpire K.N. Ananthapadmanabhan levelled the charge,” the ICC stated in an official release.
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Refusing to accept the penalty as given, Seales appealed against match referee Andy Pycroft’s decision and had a formal hearing. In his defense, the pacer claimed that he was trying for a run-out. Following the examination of several camera angles, though, Pycroft decided that the throw was not necessary and did not comply with the spirit of the game.
Under ICC rules, a Level 1 offence has penalties of reprimand by an official to a fine that is a maximum of 50% of a player’s match payments, in addition to the potential for one or two demerit points.
