ICC Suspends Shannon Gabriel After Joe Root Altercation

The International Cricket Council (ICC), on Wednesday, suspended Windies pacer Shannon Gabriel for four One-Day Internationals (ODIs) following his altercation with England skipper Joe Root in the third Test. Gabriel was seen being involved in a heated exchange with Root and Joe Denly on the third afternoon of the game. Gabriel’s words were not clear but the altercation ended with Root saying:

“Don’t use it as an insult. There’s nothing wrong with being gay.”

The on-field umpire was also seen having a word with Gabriel. On Tuesday, the ICC confirmed that Gabriel has been charged for his conduct in St Lucia. In a tweet, the ICC confirmed that Gabriel had been charged with a breach of Article 2.13 of the Code of Conduct.

Article 2.13 applies to use of “language of a personal, insulting, obscene and/or offensive nature”, with a range of charges covering different levels of seriousness.

Gabriel received a fine of 75% of his match fee and three demerit points for the Level 2 offence which took him to eight demerit points within a 24 month period. That automatically equates to a ban from either two Tests or four ODIs or IT20s, whatever comes first. As a result of the suspension, the pacer, who was set for a recall to the Windies one-day team, will now miss the first four matches of the upcoming ODI series against England.

Gabriel already had five demerit points against his name for two previous incidents involving physical contact with opposition players. He received three demerit points during the Jamaica Test against Pakistan in April 2017 for barging Sarfraz Ahmed. Later, he accumulated two more demerit points in the Chittagong Test against Bangladesh after a similar incident with Imrul Kayes.

Meanwhile, the five-match ODI series will begin on February 20 in Barbados. Following that both the teams will lock horns in a three-match T20I series.