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Former Australian Test gun Brad Hodge has unleashed on English star Tom Curran for his actions towards an umpire that earned him a four-match BBL suspension.
His Sydney Sixers has confirmed they will challenge the ruling.
The incident itself happened back on December 11 before the Sixers took on the Hobart Hurricanes at the University of Tasmania Stadium in Launceston, but the suspension wasn’t confirmed until Thursday evening.
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The match referee officially charged Curran with “intimidation or attempted intimidation of an Umpire, Match Referee or Medical Personnel whether by language or conduct (including gestures) during a match”, according the League’s statement.
Vision showed on Channel Seven’s post-game coverage of the Renegades-Heat clash on Thursday showed Curran running on part of the pitch during warm-ups ahead of the match, and was instructed by the umpire not to.
Despite the warning, Curran ignored the directive and ran through the pitch for a second time, before stump mics picked up the umpire directing him to move off the pitch again.
The footage showed Curran then made a gesture towards the umpire to move off the pitch, before doing another run-through despite the umpire still blocking his way.
The umpire then stepped to his right to avoid colliding with Curran, who made another gesture as he walked away.
The match referee charged Curran under article 2.17 of the BBL code of conduct.
Curran contested the charge that was then heard by Adrian Anderson, who slapped the 28-year-old with a four-match ban.
Speaking on Seven, former Australian international star Lisa Sthalekar suggested Curran might not have heard the umpire’s warning, given the amount of noise in the stadium.
“The first time that he does it, the umpire does try and catch his attention, but he’s already run through,” she explained.
“Then he has the conversation when he’s at the top of the mark, and you could hear the ground announcer, there is a lot of voices (and) we have got the stump mics.
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“So the umpire is like ‘sorry, mate you cant – ‘ but he keeps running through. He hasn’t hard him.
“I think there was an element of two guys not letting go of their egos.”
But fellow panellist Brad Hodge wasn’t having it, and explained the only two people in the team allowed on the cut wicket before a match is the coach and the captain – and only if they’re not wearing spikes.
He suggested a player of Curran’s experience would have been well aware of that rule.
“I think he is well aware though that he’s run on, and that the umpire wanted to grab his attention and say ‘ no, you can’t do that,” he said.
“What the umpire should have done instead (is) followed Tom to his mark and said, ‘what you just did there is not in the rules of the game’.
“Right or wrong, you cannot intimidate an umpire like that – that is as bad as it gets in terms of physicality towards an umpire.”
Head of the Sixers Rachael Haynes defended Curran and declared the club is behind their player.
“Tom and the club maintain that Tom did not knowingly or intentionally intimidate a match official, and on legal advice, we will exercise our right to appeal the decision,” Haynes said via the Sydney Sixers statement on Thursday.
