PERTH, Australia, CMC – West Indies manager Joel Garner is seething over the “unreasonable” handling of punishment to Sulieman Benn after his mid-pitch clash with two Australians during the third Test at the WACA, the Sydney Herald newspaper has reported.
Benn, the tall West Indies left-arm spinner, was slapped with a ban for two One-Day Internationals for his altercation on Thursday with Australians Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson, who received lesser penalties.
“They slapped two fellows on the wrist and they killed the other fellow,” Garner told the Herald.
The six-foot, seven-inch bowler clashed with Haddin and Johnson as tempers flared near the end of Australia’s innings on Thursday.
Benn collided with Johnson at the non-striker’s end while attempting to field a delivery off his own bowling, leading to Haddin pointing his bat at the bowler.
A visibly riled Benn then exchanged words, pointing his finger in Haddin’s face, and tensions spilled over moments later into a mid-pitch shoving incident.
Benn was charged with a Level 2 offence while the Australians got Level 1 infractions — Haddin fined 25 per cent of his match fee and Johnson 10 per cent of his.
Garner, a West Indies fast bowling legend, believes Benn’s punishment was unjust.
“There are inconsistencies in the entire process and how the charges were laid. If there are three people involved in the same thing they should be all given the same level of charges and that is why I think it is a bit unreasonable,” said the 57 year old Garner.
The Windies manager also questioned why no action was taken after a clash earlier in the game between the Australian captain Ricky Ponting and West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo.
“You had an incident where (Ricky) Ponting had an altercation with (Dwayne) Bravo and nothing was done during the same game and I have a problem with the way that justice is being administered,” he said in the Herald story.
Garner, who captured 259 Test wickets in a 58-match Test career that spanned 10 years between 1977 and 1987, declined commenting directly on Shane Watson’s 15 per cent match fee fine for yelling in Chris Gayle’s face after claiming the West Indies captain’s wicket, but clearly hinted that he did not view the handling of the issues overall as fair.
“The match referee is the man in charge and he will do whatever he feels is best. I go back to Animal Farm days, George Orwell, they say all animals are equal and later on in the same book they say some animals are more equal than others. Maybe that applies in some cases,” Garner said.
