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Sydney Sixers captain Moises Henriques stated that his teammate, England all-rounder Tom Curran, was dealing with an "assassination" of his character after being handed a four-match ban for allegedly intimidating an umpire, even as BBL officials struggled to organise a hearing for the appeal.
Curran was banned for four Big Bash League (BBL) matches after being found guilty of intimidating an umpire in a pre-match dispute. Curran was involved in an argument with an official before the Sixers' penultimate match against the Hobart Hurricanes on December 11 in Launceston, when he attempted to finish a practice run-up on the pitch during the warm-up. The fourth umpire, who is in charge of supervising the pitch during pauses in play, is said to have tried to stop Curran, which resulted in the Englishman being charged with a Level 3 infraction under Cricket Australia's code of conduct. "I didn't [think much of it at the time]. I don't think anyone else did," he told Fox Sports before Sixers' match against Adelaide Strikers on Friday as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. "I've seen the ten-second clip; it doesn't look great but... you can't quite understand the context there either. There was a bit of communication before and after, that probably hasn't been released either. I've known Tom for a long time, played with him at Surrey, he's been a big part of the Sixers for a long time. He's a great man, he's a real leader in the community, he's a leader among our team. I'm still struggling to comprehend that sort of penalty for what he's done," he added. Henriques claimed that the incident and ensuing ban had taken its toll on Curran. "It's been a pretty tough time for TC - the last 11 days - sitting on this and knowing what he's like," he said. "He's taken it to heart; he's really worried about the assassination of the character there. It's a big claim. I'm wishing him the best," he added. "It took ten days to get a hearing in the first place, which is very unusual anyway. We're definitely going to appeal. All of the players and all of our staff are behind him," Henriques said. (ANI)
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