The International Cricket Council (ICC) has charged West Indies bowler Shannon Gabriel after he was accused by England captain Joe Root of making a homophobic comment. The incident occurred during day 3 of the third and final Test in St. Lucia.
In the third Test on Monday, Root was picked up on a broadcast feed saying to Gabriel: "Don't use it as an insult. There's nothing wrong with being gay." The preceding comment by Gabriel could not be heard on the clip posted by British broadcaster Sky Sports.
The ICC said Tuesday that Gabriel had been charged with a breach of its code of conduct. The governing body tweeted that "the charge, which was laid by match umpires, will now be dealt with by match referee Jeff Crowe."
British sports minister Mims Davies praised Root "for doing the absolute right thing to properly call this out."
England earned a consolation Test win by 232 runs in four days in a lost cricket series and still managed to be upstaged by the West Indies on Tuesday.
The English set the West Indies 485 and most of two days to win the third and final Test, and bowled out the home side for 252 to prevent being whitewashed. The West Indies won the series 2-1 in brilliant style, and despite losing on Tuesday it finished with smiles.
England had been certain of victory since day two on Sunday when Mark Wood took 5-41 to earn a first-innings lead of 123. After making the target unreachable on Monday, captain Joe Root declared early Tuesday as soon as he was out for 122. They had a massive 484-run lead.
(With AP Inputs)
