International Cricket Council match referee Chris Broad has become embroiled in a Headingley Ashes Test controversy after mocking Australian opener David Warner in a now-deleted social media post.
Broad took to social media on Friday after Warner was dismissed by his son Stuart for the 17th time in Test cricket.
Broad posted Warner’s faced transposed onto an image of cartoon character Bart Simpson writing blackboard lines declaring: “Stuart Broad has got me out again”.
The ICC refused to comment on Saturday but AAP has been told that the post did not go down well in the Dubai-based organisation.
There is a view that Broad’s post does not meet the conduct required from an official.
The 65-year-old had deleted the post by Saturday morning, but the issue is expected to be dealt with internally by cricket’s bosses.
Broad, himself a former England Test opening batsman, is not officiating on the Ashes series.
He has presided over four Australian Tests in the past year and would be likely be a match referee at this year’s ODI World Cup in India.
Broad has found himself in the rare position of officiating over a Test involving his son during the COVID-19 era.
He fined him 15 per cent of his match fee in one game for inappropriate language.
Warner’s two dismissals to Broad at Headingley left him with the equal-third worst record of any batsman against a single bowler.
Only Michael Atherton’s 19 times out to Glenn McGrath and Arthur Morris’ 18 dismissals by Alec Bedser make for worse reading in Test history.