Cricket:Ireland captain William Porterfield has been reprimanded by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after publicly criticising umpire Asoka de Silva's handling of a video review during his side's 44-run defeat against West Indies.
Porterfield pleaded guilty to a charge of contravening the ICC Code of Conduct after he claimed the decision to give right-hander Gary Wilson out lbw had cost his side a chance of victory in Mohali.
Ireland had been within chasing distance of West Indies’ 275 when Wilson reviewed a lbw decision, which TV replays suggested had hit him outside the line of off stump.
After consultation with the third umpire De Silva decided, however, that Wilson had failed to play a shot.
After pleading guilty Porterfield was handed the minimum sanction for the Level One offence which relates to “public criticism of, or inappropriate comment in relation to, an incident occurring in an international match or any player, player support personnel or match official”.
Commenting on his decision, Roshan Mahanama of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees, said: “Although it may not be unusual for a captain to feel aggrieved or frustrated by what he feels is a rough decision, it does not give him any right to criticise the umpire as William did.
“The umpire’s decision is final and it is a long-standing pillar of our game that the match officials should receive absolute respect for their decisions.
“In giving my verdict, I took into account that this was William’s first such offence.”
After the match Porterfield had said: “The decision was crucial and cost us the game. When you have the technology and advantage of TV replays, that is supposed to eradicate mistakes.
“The on-field umpires have watched the replay on the big screen, the third umpire has watched the replay and then it has come back to the on-field umpire and he’s determined he wasn’t playing a shot.
“How you can get that from that video footage I’m not sure - you’d have to ask him.”
Meanwhile Ireland's experienced paceman Trent Johnston is set to return from injury for tomorrow’s match against South Africa at the Eden Gardens.
The 36-year-old seamer had picked up a knee injury against India and sat out the West Indies game in Mohali.
The Australia-born Johnston, who has picked up six wickets in the tournament, is crucial for Ireland as they need to win both their remaining matches to have any hopes of advancing to the next stage.
They play winless Netherlands on Friday in Kolkata.
"If Trent's fit, he plays. He's one of our first picks. He's a massive player for us. He trained today and as long as he has got no reaction to anything then he will be fine," said Porterfield.
Johnston may replace 35-year-old all-rounder Andre Botha, who has been hit by a stomach bug.
"Botha has been struggling the last couple of days with a bit of a bug. We will wait and see how he fares in the morning," Porterfield said. "He's the only one who's really down with any kind of bug at the minute."
South Africa's leading batsman AB de Villiers has undergone a scan on his left thigh after picking up an injury during their win over India and is now a doubt to feature against Ireland.
The right-handed player has been the most successful batsman for his country in the showpiece event and is currently placed third with 318 runs in the list of highest scorers. He has notched up two hundreds and a half-century from four matches.
"He got a scan done on his thigh. I can't update the details till he gets the scan report," the South African team spokesperson said.
De Villiers needed a runner during his 52-run knock against India on Saturday during South Africa's thrilling three-wicket win against the co-hosts.
The 27-year-old has been in sensational form, hitting back-to-back centuries against West Indies and the Netherlands, but additional wicket-keeping workload has been taking a toll on his back.
He handed over the wicket-keeping duties to Morne van Wyk in South Africa's last two matches - against England and India - to help his ailing back recover.