Cricket: ICC to review conduct code as Saltires lose fiery I-Cup final

The Scots went down to a seven-wicket defeat at the Dubai International Stadium on Saturday as their hopes of glory were decisively dashed. But the action was overshadowed by a series of on-field misdemeanours as tempers boiled over in the desert heat.

Fiery Scotland fast bowler Matty Parker was reprimanded for pointing an Afghan batsman on his way to the pavilion after taking his wicket on Saturday. The previous day, Afghanistan's Sami Shenwari had been warned for excessive appealing.

Last night tournament organisers were still looking into a number of other incidents that marred the showpiece final. Richard Done, ICC High Performance manager, declared: "What we saw was unacceptable. Clearly we'll have to look again at our Code of Conduct."

Match referee David Jukes said of Parker's outburst: "It is very unfortunate that Mr Parker acted in this way. Whilst I am certain he was highly elated - following the fall of such an important wicket - he must take responsibility for his actions and learn that this type of behaviour will not be tolerated in international cricket."

Wicket-keeper Mo Shahzad appeared to be the ring-leader of the Afghan antics which Cricket Scotland president Bob McFarlane described as "intimidation".

Last night ICC officials were still studying evidence to decide whether further charges would be brought against players from either side. However, McFarlane said: "I don't think I've ever seen such inflammatory behaviour on a cricket field and it amounts to intimidation."

McFarlane insisted that the umpires Kumar Dharmasena and Buddhi Prabhu had failed to act against the Afghans, yet when some Scottish players responded they issued several on-field warnings to skipper Gordon Drummond. "Unless you have strong umpires you don't stop the problem. You are looking for parity but I didn't see that," said McFarlane.

Scotland coach Pete Steindl made no apology for the actions of his players, saying: "That's international cricket and I'm proud of the fact that our guys came hard as well. It's what you have to do - you have to meet fire with fire. It's competitive stuff and I've got no problems at all."

Steindl was more concerned with the batting collapse that wrecked his side's chance of a first I-Cup success in six years. The Saltires were in pole position after building a 41-run first innings lead, only to be bowled out for 82 - their lowest I-Cup total.

Scotland's problems can be traced back to the loss of six wickets on Friday evening as they tried to build on their advantage.Instead, the run-out of Durham's Kyle Coetzer appeared to spark panic as they closed on 64-6.

There was no improvement on Saturday morning as the Afghan bowlers, for whom man-of-the match Hamid Hassan claimed eight wickets in the game, ruthlessly mopped up the tail. Only 18 runs were added, leaving Afghanistan a simple task to knock off the 124 runs needed for their first I-Cup win.

Steindl added: "I'm extremely disappointed. We put ourselves in a good position after the first innings when we fought back from a really tough start with the bat to post a competitive score.

"But we let it slip in the last hour of play on the second day and after that we were always up against it and didn't recover. This year our lower order have bailed us out a number of times and you can't expect that to happen every time, and this morning Afghanistan had their tails up and came in hard.

"What the guys faced this morning was quite brutal - so I can't fault the guys for their effort, and to be honest a lead of 124 just wasn't enough. That is the nature of cricket: you can work hard for two-and-a-half sessions and in the space of half a session you can get yourself in a position where you are in trouble."

Saturday's reverse was Scotland's second cup final defeat of the year following their runners-up finish at the World Cricket League in July.

SCOTLAND Second innings

(First innings 212)

F Watts c Mangal b Shenwari ...........................................28

P Mommsen lbw b Shenwari ...............................................9

K Coetzer run out ..................................................................11

G Maiden c Mangal b Shenwari ..........................................4

N McCallum c Shahzad b Hassan .......................................0

M Parker b Hassan...................................................................0

R Berrington c Stankzai b Hassan ...................................10

M Haq c Mangal b Ashraf .....................................................3

S Smith not out .....................................................................10

G Drummond b Ashraf ..........................................................4

R Lyons c Shahzad b Ashraf ...............................................3

Extras (b1 lb2) 3

Total (all out, 47.3 overs) 82

Fall: 1-22, 2-41, 3-55, 4-55, 5-55, 6-64, 7-67, 8-77, 9-82, 10-82.

Bowling: Hassan 17-6-39-3 Zadran 3-0-13-0 Shenwari 14-7-15-3 Mazari 5-3-2-0 Nabi 2-1-2-0 Ashraf 6.3-4-8-3.

AFGHANISTAN Second innings

(First innings 171)

Karim Sadiq c McCallum b Parker .......................................7

Shabir Noori c Smith b Lyons ............................................35

Mo Shahzad not out .............................................................56

Nawroz Mangal lbw b Parker ..............................................17

Mo Nabi not out .......................................................................6

Extras (lb3) 3

Total (for three, 26.4 overs) 124

Fall: 1-22, 2-79, 3-108.

Bowling: Parker 9.4-1-42-2 Coetzer 2-0-12-0 Lyons 8-3-31-1 Haq 7-0-37-0.

Afghanistan won by seven wickets