Pietersen hit with fine for Twitter rant
DROPPED England batsman Kevin Pietersen has been fined after pleading guilty to posting a foul-mouthed rant on Twitter.
Pietersen made an unreserved apology to the England and Wales Cricket Board at a disciplinary hearing at Lord’s yesterday afternoon.
The South Africa-born star angered his employers last week when he vented his ire at being left out of the squad for the limited-overs fixtures against Pakistan. To make matters worse, his tweet revealed his omission hours before the ECB was due to announce the team.
Pietersen wrote: “Yep.. Done for rest of summer!! Man of the World Cup T20 and dropped from the T20 side too.. It’s a f*** up!!”
The 30-year-old has insisted he posted the remark on the micro-blogging website by mistake, having intended to send it as a private text message to a friend.
An ECB statement said: “The hearing considered his comments to be prejudicial to the interests of Team England and ECB and a significant breach of the England player conditions of employment.
“He has been fined an undisclosed sum in accordance with the terms and conditions of his England central contract.”
Pietersen is not the first cricketer to attract punishment for a tweet, after England Under-
19 captain Azeem Rafiq was fined £500 and banned for a month earlier this year for criticising coaching staff.
And Hampshire all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas on Sunday became the latest, with his
expletive-laden tirade at national selector Geoff Miller yesterday prompting his county to fine him £1,000. Chairman Rod Bransgrove said: “Hampshire Cricket regrets the entire incident which, although thoroughly out of character for Dimitri Mascarenhas, breaches the club’s code of conduct.”