England’s Sophie Ecclestone sanctioned for Commonwealth Games incident

World's No. 1 T20I bowler Sophie Ecclestone has been reprimanded and docked one demerit point following an incident during England's loss in the Bronze medal match against New Zealand at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

"Ecclestone was found to have knocked over her chair on the way back to the pavilion after being dismissed in the 18th over of England's innings, with the incident deemed to have breached Article 2.2 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel," an ICC statement read.

"The breach was found to be a Level 1 incident, with Ecclestone admitting the offence and accepting the sanction proposed by match referee GS Lakshmi."

This was Ecclestone's first offence over the last two years. She will now need to ensure no further sanctions as suspensions can follow should players offend on multiple occasions. Otherwise, as per ICC rules, when a player reaches four or more demerit points within a 24-month period those are converted into suspension points and two suspension points consider to be a ban of one Test match, two ODIS or two T20Is.

Ecclestone had scored 18 for England before being bowled by New Zealand captain Sophie Devine, with her side eventually missing out on the medals after falling to a thumping eight-wicket defeat at Edgbaston.