Steve Bresnan fined over show of frustration

ENGLAND have been fined for their slow over rate during Sunday's tied World Cup match against India and paceman Tim Bresnan has been separately reprimanded by the ICC for hitting stumps in frustration.

England were one over short of their target at the end of the match when time allowances were taken into consideration. Accordingly, captain Andrew Strauss has been fined 20 per cent of his match fee while his team mates would lose 10 per cent.

Bresnan was officially reprimanded after hitting the stumps after he was bowled by Piyush Chawla in the 49th over of the see-saw match in Bangalore. "While giving my verdict, I took into account that Bresnan admitted his mistake, apologised for his action and that it was his first offence," match referee Roshan Mahanama said.

The offence could have invited a maximum fine of 50 per cent of the match fee for the player. "It was encouraging to note that Bresnan on his own initiative met the umpires concerned and reiterated that his action was unintentional," Mahanama said.

Ian Bell, meanwhile, has nominated Bresnan above centurions Andrew Strauss and Sachin Tendulkar as the outstanding performer in the epic World Cup tie.

Bell, who shared a stand of 170 with his captain after Indian master Tendulkar had become the first man to make five World Cup hundreds, believes Bresnan's five for 48 on a near-perfect batting pitch deserved the most praise.

Bresnan, 26, managed to bowl a maiden to Tendulkar in full flight at one stage and returned at the death to take three wickets in four balls as India faltered just slightly on their way to 338 all out.

"The wickets have been very hard to bowl on," said Bell.

"It is difficult to have a go at any bowler who goes the distance on those kinds of wickets.

"To have a guy who gets five for 48 in ten overs for me is the outstanding performance, not someone who scores at six an over or more. His was the performance of the day on that kind of surface. It was an incredible effort."