England captain Stuart Broad has vowed to keep his opinions to himself in future after being fined for his criticism of match officials following the World Twenty20 defeat by New Zealand on Saturday.
Broad was fined 15% of his match fee after describing the umpires' call to allow play to continue while lightning struck close to the ZACS Stadium in Chittagong as "distinctly average decision-making".
Broad felt players and fans were put in danger by the decision and considered leading his side off in protest, but he admitted on Twitter that from now on his views might have to stay private to avoid any future sanctions.
He said: "Shame to be fined. Back to bland and unopinionated press conferences I'm afraid. Draw a line on to the next game!" Broad had said on Saturday night: "To be as polite as I possibly can be I think it was distinctly average decision-making keeping us on after the first lightning strike at the start of the fifth over, keeping us on throughout that.
"I asked the umpires for a bit of clarity on the decision-making at the end of the game and they said they didn't see the lightning and didn't think it was a threat; you can guarantee from our team we felt like it was a threat.
"With a batsman pulling away from a delivery after 4.2 overs I think the batsman saw it as well. At the end of the day it's a game of cricket so I wouldn't be putting the crowd and players' safety under threat."
A thunderstorm ended the game after 5.2 overs of the Black Caps' pursuit of 173, giving New Zealand victory on Duckworth/Lewis, but several flashes of lightning had already been seen uncomfortably close to the ZACS Stadium.
Javagal Srinath, the match referee who sanctioned Broad, explained the reason for the fine. "Umpires are the final judges of the fitness of the ground, weather or light for play," he said in a statement.
"Such public criticism is not good for the spirit of the game. Mutual respect between players, match officials and administrators is paramount to the game of cricket."
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