NAPIER (New Zealand), Feb 18: The rival New Zealand and England captains have been asked to tone down the bad language and gestures made as dismissed batsmen leave the field which have marred the current one-day series.
Match referee Denis Lindsay has decided to make an appeal for calm to the hosts’ Stephen Fleming and England’s Nasser Hussain after claims by New Zealand batsman Lou Vincent.
Vincent said he was sworn at and called a cheat by an unnamed England player in the opening match of the series in Christchurch, which New Zealand won by four wickets.
Vincent had earlier brilliantly caught England’s Andy Flintoff in the covers. The batsman rightly stood his ground as he was not convinced the ball had carried to Vincent’s left hand, but the third umpire David Quested ruled that it had.
Lindsay saw Hussain having words with Vincent and warned: “I will not tolerate a slanging match. If there is something going on between these two teams, I need to put a stop to it before it gets out of hand.
“I’m aware that something went on involving Hussain when Vincent went out to bat and if there is any ill-feeling I want to nip it in the bud.”
In India in December, Lindsay ordered Hussain to calm down at the Bangalore Test after a public tiff with top Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar.
“The England players know where I stand on the whole sledging issue,” he said. “I don’t mind a bit of chirping because that’s all part of the game, but I will not tolerate personal abuse.”
New Zealand lead the five-match series 2-0 after England were bowled out for 89, their second-lowest one-day total, as the home side powered to a 155-victory Saturday.
Meanwhile, England’s stand-in wicket-keeper Marcus Trescothick views the job as a short term placement only as Jamie Foster struggles to find any consistency in his game.
Foster was dropped by England for the second One-day International in Wellington, with coach Duncan Fletcher suggesting the youngster needed a rest.
“I’m still a specialist opening batsman,” Trescothick told reporters after England’s first practice since Saturday’s humiliation.
“If by keeping wicket it gives England an extra option then fine but at the moment I don’t see it being a long term option or a goal for me. I have not kept wicket for a while and I need a bit more time to adjust.
“I have done a lot of work over the years on my keeping with different coaches and it’s just remembering what to do. It comes fairly naturally but I would not say I’m a pretty keeper.”
Trescothick was asked to keep wicket for the second time this winter and put in a tidy performance behind the stumps as England went down by 155 runs.
He was so successful that he is likely to be asked to keep wicket and open the batting again when the one-day series resumes in Napier Wednesday.
Despite the England management trusting him with a key position, Trescothick is eager to hand the gloves back to Foster rather than stake a claim for Alec Stewart’s old job on a full-time basis.
Foster will be working with former England keeper Bob Taylor this week as he tries to regain the sharpness that made he displayed on the Test tour to India before Christmas.—Reuters