The bowling coach of the Victoria state cricket side, Mick Lewis, has been fined for ball tampering after raking it over concrete during the final of Australia’s domestic Sheffield Shield competition on Monday.
Lewis, a former seamer who played seven one-day internationals for Australia, had already cost his team a five-run penalty against South Australia but on Tuesday, he was slapped with an A$2,266 ($1,710.60) fine.
The incident came in the 10th over of South Australia’s second innings when Lewis “kicked the match ball into the gutter beyond the boundary rope and raked the ball across the concrete whilst retrieving it”, read a Cricket Australia (CA) statement.
“Ball tampering is a very serious offence and simply won’t be tolerated at any level of the game,” CA’s Head of Operations Sean Cary said.
“We acknowledge that he has apologised to the South Australian team and the match officials and hope the matter deters others from doing anything like this in the future.”
Victoria are chasing a second successive Sheffield Shield title against South Australia, who have not won the annual domestic interstate competition since 1995-96.
The five-day match in the Adelaide suburb of Glenelg is scheduled to conclude on Wednesday.
