England's witnesses Ben Stokes and Matt Prior accuse Ravindra Jadeja of raising his bat against James Anderson
England have identified Matt Prior and all-rounder Ben Stokes as witnesses to support their case regarding Ravindra Jadeja’s “aggressive” and “threatening” walk towards pacer James Anderson, according to ESPNcricinfo.
Prior informed that Jadeja did raise his bat in a dangerous manner as he turned to face Anderson and Stokes even claim that the Indian had pushed his teammate first. Match referee David Boon after hearing their stands, reduced the charge to a Level 1 offence instead of the original Level 2 claimed by the England Cricket Board (ECB). The Australian referee stated that he is "not comfortably satisfied" with the 25-year-old’s Level 2 charge before handing him a fine of 50% of his match fee for "conduct contrary to the spirit of the game."
England’s angle of the Jadeja incident focussed on him turning towards the 31-year-old bowler, as per sources. Another fact is that the specified incident took place at the narrow passage inside the pavilion beyond the staircase – which was initially assumed to be the spot of misbehaviour.
Anderson’s hearing for “pushing” and “abusing” Jadeja is about to take place on August 1. The Lancashire cricketer will miss a minimum of 2 Test matches if found guilty for his Level 3 offence.
During the press conference ahead of the Test match at Rose Bowl, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni reiterated that the Saurashtra lad did no wrong and called the verdict “hurtful”.
“If somebody is saying something to you from behind, and you just turn and look, that’s not being aggressive,” claimed Dhoni. The BCCI have confirmed that they will be filing an appeal against the fine imposed on their player.