ICC set to slap sledgers with 'serious' penalties at WC

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has warned players to refrain from sledging, saying that serious penalties and fines will be meted out to players involved in heavy sledging at the World Cup, which gets underway from Saturday.

ICC chief David Richardson said that the penalties would be a bit more serious than before, adding that for a first offence, a player would be required to hand back most of his match fee and a repeat offence would be punished with a suspension, the BBC reported.

Richardson further said that the behavior in some matches by some players few months back was deemed to be unacceptable and not a good example to young fans watching the game, adding that the crackdown had already started, the report added.