Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh lost his cool after he was wrongly given out during the Big Bash League (BBL) clash between Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers at the Manuka Oval on Saturday. The incident happened during the 13th over of the first innings that was bowled by Steve O 'Keefe. On the penultimate delivery of that over, the spinner had bowled one on the pads as Marsh looked to work the ball down the leg-side. But, he ended up missing the ball which went straight into the gloves of stumper Josh Phillipe as he and the Sixers appealed for caught behind.
The on-field umpire raised his finger instantly. However, the middle-order batsman was very annoyed with the decision and was seen showing his anger while he was still at the batting crease. Replays showed that the ball had in no way made contact with the bat and there was also a huge gap between bat and pad. Marsh was charged by match referee Bob Stratford under Cricket Australia's Code of Conduct for showing dissent at an umpire's decision. Marsh accepted the charge and a $5000 fine but will be free to play in the Scorchers Challenger on Thursday night. "I accept the fine handed down to me, my reaction to the umpire's decision was unacceptable and not the example I want to be setting for any young cricketer," Marsh said in a statement.
Perth Scorchers skipper Ashton Turner won the toss and elected to bat first. However, their innings never found momentum as they ended up losing wickets at regular intervals. In the end, an unbeaten 41-ball 69 from wicket-keeper batsman Josh Inglis helped the Scorchers post a respectable total of 167/6 from their 20 overs. In reply, the reigning BBL champions made things look easy with openers Josh Phillipe and James Vince added 98 runs for the opening stand. In the end, Sixers reached the target convincingly.
