Reports say Slater fined by match referee over radio interview

Australian opening batsman Michael Slater has been fined and given a suspended ban after giving a radio interview during the week, according to reports from India on Friday night.

PTI (Press Trust of India) has reported that Slater has been fined fifty per cent of his match fee by ICC match referee Cammie Smith following an interview that the Australian gave to a Sydney radio station during the week, in which he discussed a verbal altercation with Indian batsman Rahul Dravid during the First Test in Mumbai a week earlier. The radio interview was reported to have been found in breach of the ICC's Player Code of Conduct.

Slater was also reported to have been given a one-match suspension as part of the penalty inposed by Smith, this suspension itself being suspended for six months on the condition of Slater's good behaviour.

Some reports from India incorrectly implied that Slater had been suspended from playing in the Second Test, due to start at Eden Gardens, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) on Sunday.

Though no official statement on the penalty against Slater has been made by the ICC, BCCI or ACB at this stage, PTI reported that Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president, Jagmohan Dalmiya, had told them that "Smith had intimated the decision to him". The CAB is the local association which is hosting the Second Test between India and Australia.