Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis was fined a hefty fine for directing a homophobic slur at Aussie pacer Kane Richardson. Marcus was slapped with a level 2 breach of the Cricket Australia (CA) Code of Conduct for personal abuse. Stoinis accepted his mistake and issued a apology to Richardson and the match officials. Speaking about the incident Stoinis said, I realised immediately I was in the wrong and I apologise to Kane and to the umpires," he said. "I did the wrong thing and accept responsibility for my actions. The standards are there for a reason and I accept the penalty," he added. "The behaviour in this matter falls short of the standards we expect and we have acted accordingly," Sean Carroll, Cricket Australia's head of integrity and security said. "There is no place for it in the game," Carroll added.
Stoinis is the second Autralian player who has been found guilty of such actions the previous one being James Pattinson. The Aussie pacer was suspended for one game for a similar offence as he missed out on the first Test against Pakistan recently. About the game, Melbourne Renegades defeated Melbourne Stars by eight wickets. The star of the game was Stoinis as he remained unbeaten on 68 off 55 balls in a one-sided contest. The Melbourne Renegades who are led by Aaron Finch has lost six matches in a row. The defending champions are yet to open their account in this years Big Bash Tournament.
