Gabriel apologizes, accepts charges
Shannon entertains Root and Stokes after the Final Test . –Windies Cricket
||Desk Report ||
West Indies paceman bowler Shannon Gabriel apologized for his ‘inappropriate comment’ to England Captain Joe Root during the Third Test in St Lucia.
Gabriel wrote and explained in a statement: “The exchange occurred during a tense moment on the field. The pressure was on and England’s captain Joe Root was looking at me intensely as I prepared to bowl, which may have been the usual psychological strategy with which all test cricketers are familiar. I recognize now that I was attempting to break through my own tension when I said to Joe Root: ‘Why are you smiling at me? Do you like boys?”
Gabriel also said there were no hard feelings between him and Root and that he saw this incident as an opportunity to recognize the “need for sensitivity and respect in their interactions with all”.
“His response, which was picked up by the microphone, was: ‘Don’t use it as an insult. There’s nothing wrong with being gay.’ I then responded: ‘I have no issues with that, but you should stop smiling at me,” he added.
The pacer had accepted a charge for breaching the International Cricket Council’s code of conduct on Wednesday. The International Cricket Council (ICC) Wednesday suspended him for the upcoming four of five ODIs. He was also docked 75 percent of his match fees.
Gabriel, who received three demerit points, had accumulated a total of eight demerit points during a specified period of 24 months, ICC said in a statement.
"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, which relates to personal abuse of a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire or Match Referee during an international match," ICC stated.
Gabriel already had five demerit points 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. He had earlier been suspended from the Mirpur Test in November 2018 when he reached the threshold of four demerit points.
The ICC found Gabriel guilty of breaching article 2.13 of the Code of Conduct. The on-field umpires laid the charge against him. Root did not report the incident to match officials. Speaking to the media later, Root had said Gabriel might even regret his comments later. " He's an emotional guy trying to do everything he can to win a Test match… Sometimes people say things on the field that they might regret, but they should stay on the field," the captain said.
