Ian Chappell calls Darren Lehmann a 'hypocrite'

Ian Chappell

London, Aug 23 (IANS) Former Australia cricket captain Ian Chappell has called current national coach Darren Lehmman a “hypocrite” after he accused England fast bowler Stuart Broad of “blatant cheating” in the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge.

Chappell’s comments come after Lehmann told radio station Triple M that Broad was a blatant cheat for not walking after clearly edging the ball during the Test, which England won by 14 runs.

Lehmann was found to have breached the ICC’s code of conduct and was fined 20 percent of his match fee for the ongoing fifth Test, which equals around 3,000 AU dollars ($2,700), for publicly criticising and making inappropriate comments about Broad.

Chappell said that even Australians were not known to walk and Lehmann should have been careful with his choice of words.

“I don’t like to be called a cheat and basically he (Lehmann) is calling all people who don’t walk a cheat, which would include himself,” Chappell told BBC Radio Five Friday.

“Cheat is not a word you should use very light-heartedly, and even if you are being light-hearted that’s a word you should steer away from.

“And even when you’ve got your tongue in your cheek it’s pretty hypocritical for an Australian to complain about somebody not walking,” the former captain added.

Lehmann told the radio station Wednesday: “Certainly our players haven’t forgotten, they’re calling him (Broad) everything under the sun as they go past.

“I hope the Australian public are the same because that was just blatant cheating. I don’t advocate walking but when you hit it to first slip it’s pretty hard.

“From my point of view I just hope the Australian public give it to him right from the word go for the whole summer (during the return series in Australia starting in November) and I hope he cries and he goes home,” Lehmann had said.

Triple M have said they will pay the fine on behalf of Lehmann.

“Triple M can’t let Boof (Lehmann) take all the blame for something that happened on our station,” said the Australian radio network on its website.

“He’s a mate and a great bloke and we’ll be coughing up the match fine on his behalf.”