Cricket:Former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott has blamed the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the ugly confrontations which have marred the second Test between England and India at Trent Bridge.
Players have been seen to verbally abuse each other at regular intervals over the first four days of the current contest, while seamer Shantha Sreesanth has been fined for barging Michael Vaughan at the non-striker's end yesterday.
The same bowler was also accused of running through the crease - bowling from far over the popping crease - at Paul Collingwood and bowled a beamer at Kevin Pietersen, while Zaheer Khan accused England players of dropping jellybeans on the wicket when he was batting on Sunday.
The incidents have reopened the debate over what levels of gamesmanship are acceptable in cricket, and Boycott believes the ICC should have set out clear guidelines for officials before matters came to a head.
"The ICC are to blame for not telling umpires to be much firmer with the players. They are the guardians of the game, they run it," he told BBC Radio Five Live.
"You bowl a beamer, it can slip out of your hands, he said sorry and I accept that. You can be cynical and say he meant it but I don't accept that.
"What I don't accept is when he runs a yard through the crease, that's deliberate, and the umpire should have got hold of the captain straight away and said I'm not having it, if he does it again he's off, he's not bowling again."
Boycott would also like to see an end to sledging, or on-field verbal abuse, insisting he was never subjected to it during his time as Test batsman.
"With verbals, I ask myself why do people carry on abusing players when they're batting," he said. "It can only be because they are frustrated they can't get him out because he is batted in, or they think he's a new batsman they're not going to get out and they want to upset him.
"I never had it in my day and I faced some of the greatest bowlers there has ever been.
"I faced the great West Indians (Joel) Garner, (Michael) Holding, (Malcolm) Marshall and (Colin) Croft and (Andy) Roberts and I never had one abusive word off them.
"They won as champions and they were champions. They would knock your block off and get you out but they would never abuse you.
"So why do these lesser players think they can do it?"
The Test resumes today with England holding a narrow lead of just 72 ahead of play after Zaheer Khan bowled India to the verge of victory with five stunning wickets yesterday.