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NEWS Cricket World Cup 2007>Afridi to miss World Cup matches 11th Feb 2007 10.00 IST By Agencies Pakistan's World Cup hopes suffered a jolt after their cavalier all-rounder Shahid Khan Afridi was Saturday banned for four one-dayers for bringing the game into disrepute. Afridi was charged with a Level 3 offence after an incident, which took place following the batsman's dismissal during the first ODI against South Africa at Centurion on February 4.
The disciplinary hearing took place today in Cape Town and was be presided over by ICC Match Referee for the series, Chris Broad. "I took into account what I considered to be the mitigating circumstances of a spectator in close proximity to the player shouting at him as he returned to the dressing room," Broad said in a statement in Dubai. "I also spoke to the spectator in question ahead of the hearing to get his version of events. "However, I found it impossible to escape the conclusion that Afridi's actions were a clear threat to that spectator and had that person not taken evasive action then the bat would almost certainly have hit him." "Such an act is completely unacceptable and on that basis I found the player guilty of the Level three offence," Broad said. Broad, however, believed that the authorities needed to keep the spectators away from such proximity to players. "I do not believe spectators should be that close to the players or that they should feel they can shout whatever they like and think that is acceptable," he said. "That is a view I have expressed to Cricket South Africa." As per the ICC rules, the ban has to be served in the immediate matches to follow. Since only two ODIs remain in the current series, Afridi will have to sit out of Pakistan's first two matches of the World Cup. But Afridi can appeal against the ban since he was charged with a Level 3 offence. And he has to do so in the next 24 hours. If Afridi decides to appeal he will continue to be eligible to play until the appeal is heard. The rejection of the appeal, however, would mean that he could end up missing more matches at the quadrennial event. Also View In-Depth Coverage: Cricket World Cup 2007 Team Page: Pakistan Team Page: South Africa | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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