Australian coach Darren Lehmann will reportedly not face any sanctions by Cricket Australia (CA) for an outburst in which he accused England pacer Stuart Broad of 'blatant cheating' and encouraged Australian fans to get stuck into him in the return Ashes series in Australia.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the fallout from Broad's confession that he had nicked the ball and still refused to walk in the Ashes opener at Trent Bridge led Lehmann to call on the Australian public to vent their ire by sending Broad home in tears from Australia.
Although Lehmann will not be sanctioned by the CA for his outburst, however, the report said that he is expected to be quietly reminded of the need to be more careful in his public comments about opponents.
But the report added that the International Cricket Council (ICC) can still sanction the former Australian player and fine him up to half his match fee for a breach of its code of conduct for 'language that is obscene, offensive or of a seriously insulting nature to another player'.
However, Broad is unapologetic despite his confession and has even said that he thrived on such attention, adding that along with him, a number of Australian players like David Warner, Chris Rogers, Usman Khawaja, Brad Haddin, captain Michael Clarke, Ashton Agar have also nicked a ball and not walked.
Broad's teammate James Anderson agreed with him, saying that such comments would not affect Broad as he is a world-class bowler and does not need any extra firing up given that he has played a lot of cricket.