Cricket: Australia Suspends James Faulkner For Drink-Driving

Australia has suspended all-rounder James Faulkner after the cricketer was charged with drink-driving in Britain this month. The 25-year-old has been handed down a ban of four-matches on Tuesday according to a report from Eurosport.com.

Faulkner will miss a one-dayer and a Twenty20 international against Ireland next month. The right-hand batsman will also be excluded in Australia’s first two ODIs against England in September.

Faulkner, who starred in Australia’s World Cup triumph over New Zealand earlier this year, will undergo alcohol management counselling programme and pay for property damages he caused during the incident at Didsbury in England.

He will also face court in Manchester on July 21 after being detained earlier this month. Cricket Australia said that Faulkner will be unavailable for a significant component of the international series and considered as a replacement for an injured player if required.

"Faulkner has been charged under the code for conduct that is unbecoming of a representative... Given he will be unavailable for a significant component of that series, Faulkner will not be considered for the Australian T20 or one-day international squads when announced in mid-August,” CA said in its statement.

Faulkner, who was playing for English country Lancashire at the time of the incident, crashed his car after a night out drinking in Manchester with Tasmania teammate Tim Paine, who also got rebuked by CA. The cricketers were found to have been more than twice over United Kingdom’s legal blood alcohol limit of 35mg returning a reading of 100 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath as per Stuff.co.nz.

CA executive general manager of team performance Pat Howard expressed his disappointment at the two cricketers. However, he confirmed that Faulkner has acknowledged the seriousness of his actions and accepted the consequences for his actions according to the reports of ESPNcricinfo.com.

Howard added that the Tasmanian cricketer was deeply apologetic and will fully cooperate with the disciplinary procedure. He also reminded Faulkner that his actions had "serious potential" to cause harm to him and other people.

“Aside from the suspension handed down, he has been formally reprimanded for his behaviour. In saying that, we do acknowledge that James has been a player with a good track record and we would like to think that this episode is very much out of character,” Howard added.

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