The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the suspension of four ODIs for the Windies pacer Shannon Gabriel, on Wednesday. Due to the suspension, he will be missing the first four ODIs of the upcoming five-match series against England after his accumulated demerit points reached eight within a 24-month period following his latest breach of the ICC Code of Conduct, for which he received a 75 percent fine and three demerit points.
Gabriel’s suspension comes following his alleged homophobic remark in an exchange with England captain Joe Root during the third Test.
Describing the same, ICC’s press release read: “During the third day of the St Lucia Test against England on Monday, Gabriel was found guilty of breaching article 2.13 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “personal abuse of a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire or Match Referee during an international match”, following an incident with England Captain Joe Root”.
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It further added, “Gabriel already had five demerit points against his name for two earlier incidents – three demerit points during the Jamaica Test against Pakistan in April 2017 and two demerit points in the Chittagong Test against Bangladesh last November. With the addition of these three demerit points, he has reached the threshold of eight demerit points, which, pursuant to article 7.6 of the Code, have been converted into four suspension points”.
Stump microphones picked up an interaction on the third day in St Lucia between Gabriel and Root, in which the latter responded: “Don’t use it as an insult. There’s nothing wrong with being gay.”
On-field umpires Rod Tucker and Kumar Dharmasena then got into action and immediately gave a warning to Gabriel. However, charges were leveled along with third umpire Chris Gaffaney after the match.
The ICC’s governing body said Gabriel had been charged with a breach of its code of conduct in relation to the “personal abuse” of a player, umpire or match referee.
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This is not the first time that Gabriel has been banned. In November 2018 he was suspended from the Mirpur Test after reaching four demerit points.
