Butcher fined for 'chucker' remark

Friday 28 June 2002 00:00 BST
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Mark Butcher has been fined for his controversial comments about the Sri Lanka seamer Ruchira Perera.

The England batsman was fined £1,000 plus £500 costs at a disciplinary hearing at Lord's yesterday. A three-man England and Wales Cricket Board panel imposed the punishment for remarks in a ghosted newspaper column, which suggested the left-armer was a "chucker".

In making the remarks, in which he said Perera "just runs up and throws it at you" when bowling short, Butcher broke the International Cricket Council's code of conduct. Initially, the Surrey player refused to accept a fine imposed by the ECB, thought to be around £1,600, which led to yesterday's two-and-a-half hour hearing.

Butcher said: "I realise it caused some trouble to the Sri Lankan board and Perera and I realise the comments were perhaps inappropriate. As soon as the story came out I knew I had made an error of judgement."

* Darren Gough could be back in England colours sooner than expected. Despite claims that his troublesome right knee was "back to square one", England now hope he may be fit for Tuesday when they take on Sri Lanka at Headingley.

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