Nicholas Pooran banned for four matches by ICC for ball-tampering

The West Indies batsman was seen scratching the ball with his thumbnail during his country's third one-day international against Afghanistan at Lucknow

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Nicholas Pooran has been suspended for four matches by the ICC after admitting a charge of ball-tampering.

The West Indies batsman was seen scratching the ball with his thumbnail during his country's third one-day international against Afghanistan at Lucknow.

Pooran's actions breached article 2.14 of the players' code of conduct, and he admitted the charge labelled against him by on-field umpires Bismillah Shinwari and Ahmed Durrani, third umpire Ahmed Pakteen and fourth umpire Izatullah Safi.

He will now miss West Indies' next four T20Is as well as having five demerit points added to his record.

"I want to issue a sincere apology to my teammates, supporters and the Afghanistan team for what transpired on the field of play on Monday in Lucknow," he said.

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Nicholas Pooran was caught on camera altering the condition of the ball

"I recognise that I made an extreme error in judgement and I fully accept the ICC penalty. I want to assure everyone that this is an isolated incident and it will not be repeated. I promise to learn from this and come back stronger and wiser."

Pooran will now miss the T20s against Afghanistan as well as a further short-form game against India at the start of December.

The incident took place 18 months after cricket's last major ball-tampering controversy - the so-called Sandpapergate affair at Newlands when Australian captain Steve Smith and teammates David Warner and Cameron Bancroft conspired to attempt to alter the condition of the ball during a Test match against South Africa.

Bancroft had been caught on camera rubbing the ball with sandpaper and was later handed three demerit points, in addition to a 75 per cent of match fee fine.

The decision hit Pooran with a heftier penalty relates to the difference in charges laid against each player.

While Bancroft was trying to change the condition of the ball in Cape Town, the on-field umpires - Richard Illingworth and Nigel Llong - decided against replacing it, having decided that no damage had been done.

The Australian was therefore punished for a level 2 breach of the code of conduct, relating to article 2.2.9 - carrying a foreign object onto the field of play with the intention of altering the condition of the ball.

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Pooran has been banned for four matches

By contrast, Pooran accepted the charge of a level 3 breach, incurring a stronger punishment.

Cricket West Indies president Ricky Skerritt said: "Mr Pooran is a young player who has made a grave error of judgement. He will suffer the penalty and will be missed from the team. I am confident this situation will be used by him, and all concerned in CWI, as a learning experience."

Cricket Australia reacted to the Sandpapergate affair by undertaking a root-and-branch cultural review of the elite men's game Down Under.

Smith and Warner were suspended from international and state cricket for a year, while Bancroft received an internal ban of nine months. The suspensions related to bringing the game into disrepute, after the players had initially lied about their involvement in the plot.

Head coach Darren Lehmann resigned his post in the wake of the scandal, while CA chief executive James Sutherland also stepped down.

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