Referee Broad was foul-tempered as a player

NEW DELHI: Chris Broad as a match referee appointed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) may be justified in handing a one-Test ban to Gautam Gambhir for elbowing Australian all-rounder Shane Watson, but the former England batsman was far from a gentleman in his playing days.

On more than one occasion Broad provided hints of his temperament, or the lack of it, as a player. During the 1986-87 Ashes series, even after scoring a century, Broad was so irritated on getting out in Sydney that he smashed a stump to bits.

Playing against Pakistan in a Test series in 1987, Broad was given out caught behind off Iqbal Qasim, but he refused to leave the crease and instead debated with the umpire and the bowler.

In 1988, while playing against the West Indies, when he was given out leg before off Malcolm Marshall at Lord’s, Broad did not spare the umpire a few harsh words.

But the flamboyant lefthander never got punished by the game’s governing body for his on-field antics as the ICC code of conduct was only introduced in the early 1990s.