Match referee Chris Broad has been reprimanded by the International Cricket Council after tweeting a photo mocking son Stuart’s latest dismissal of David Warner in the Ashes.
Warner has now fallen to the junior Broad 17 times in his career after twice edging to Zak Crawley in the slip cordon early in both innings during the ongoing third Ashes Test at Headingley.
His father Chris, a former England opening batter who became ICC match referee in 2003, marked the occasion by taking to Twitter and posting a now-deleted image in which Warner’s head was inserted on to Bart Simpson’s body and writing the same line on a chalkboard: “Stuart Broad has got me out again.”
The ICC declined to comment on the matter but the PA news agency understands the 65-year-old has been spoken to internally, with his standards falling below that expected of someone in his position.
Warner, who intends to retire from Tests next January and all international cricket by June next year, has been dismissed three times in this series by Broad after being terrorised by him in 2019.
His place has come under greater scrutiny with just one half-century in his last 12 Test innings but Australia head coach Andrew McDonald on Friday argued he has been instrumental to their success so far with three half-century stands alongside fellow opener Usman Khawaja.
“When you’ve got an opening bowler bowling to an opening batsman, they’re more likely to get them out with the new ball at times,” McDonald said of Warner’s record against Broad.
“The three 50-plus run opening partnerships that Usman and David have put on in the series have been telling and had great impact. So I’m not here to discuss to David Warner at this stage.”
