Vaughan apologises - but delivers bouncer to bad-boy Sreesanth

[King]

Michael Vaughan yesterday apologised for the jelly bean incident that overshadowed England's defeat by India as coach Peter Moores admitted his team's conduct had 'got out of hand'More... Vaughan apologises - but delivers bouncer to bad-boy Sreesanth By PAUL NEWMAN - More by this author » Last updated at 22:04pm on 31st July 2007 Comments Michael Vaughan yesterday apologised for the jelly bean incident that overshadowed England's defeat by India as coach Peter Moores admitted his team's conduct had "got out of hand." India's seven-wicket victory in the second npower Test at Trent Bridge, wrapped up 25 minutes before lunch, was only their fifth in England, but the aftermath was dominated by the behaviour of both sides and the almost surreal saga of the two jelly beans placed on the wicket by an England fielder, thought to be Alastair Cook. Scroll down for more Down but not out: Michael Vaughan Read more...

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Vaughan also criticised paceman Sri Sreesanth for what appeared to be a deliberate no-ball bouncer aimed from round the wicket at Paul Collingwood on Monday. Zaheer Khan, named man of the match for the world-class swing bowling that earned him nine wickets, was so enraged to find sweets by his stumps when he emerged to bat that he brandished his bat at Kevin Pietersen in one of many ugly incidents in a bad-tempered match. England captain Vaughan said: "The guys left a couple of jelly beans on the floor as a prank to greet the new batsman but if it offended Zaheer Khan in a huge way we apologise. It's a great story for you but in the bigger picture it's not the reason why we lost." England escaped punishment from match referee Ranjan Madugalle for that and constant sledging, as did Zaheer for his bat wielding, but India bowler Sri Sreesanth was fined half his match fee, around £1,300, for barging Vaughan. Vaughan initially admitted that England "may have gone over the line" here but then defended the conduct of his team, who are attracting more and more criticism for their attitude. "No match referee has talked to me about any wrong-doing," he said. "It's just gamesmanship. I don't think we've said anything untoward. The two games have been proper Test match cricket with both teams playing hard." But Moores said on Sky TV the puerile jelly bean prank was ill-advised and added: "It got out of hand but everyone has learned from it and hopefully we won't see anything like it again. It's clouded a very good Test match." On the Sreesanth no-ball, Vaughan added: "A beamer was bowled and he said it was an accident, so we take his word for that, but more of a concern was the huge no-ball Sreesanth bowled. I hope to God he didn't mean it because that is something we don't want to see in the game." Madugalle will remind the teams of their responsibilities before next week's third Test at The Oval.

[King]

Vaughan's still talking about Sreesanth. Get over it already... I guess Sreesanth has well and truly got under the skin of England cricketers. I quite like it considering Vaughan is someone that doesn't seem to get ruffled when batting. Sreesanth really did disintegrate him mentally. Even the likes of aggressive KP went up to Rahul and spoke to him about controlling Sreesanth's anger. I guess they can't take Sreesanth anymore. Sreesanth himself didn't do much with the ball but he really did ruffle some of the England players up.

[King]

Naseer was very severe on the jelly bean stuff. He mentioned it was school boy stuff and in test cricket such dribble doesn't have any place. I thought it was a prank but I reckon it did deviate the players from their attention on the test match a bit. Test cricket is not fun and throwing jelly beans around sounds pretty childish now.

[varun]

lol, finally an indian bowler getting under the opposition's skin ! He did it to the saffies too, though there he delivered as well.

[Ram]

Whatever said and done , Sreesanth is probably the first Indian cricketer who has had the guts to face the opposition eye-for-eye and talk his mind. His energy and passion is an valuable asset , though unfortunately , it can be easily manipulated to make him look like as someone with sly intentions. This guy is great for the Indian team and whats more he bowls well too.. Go Sreesanth ! , for the third test..

[talksport]

Sreesanth is Dravids secret weapon..... Remember he gave the crucial last over to sree in WI ....Hope he is consistent with his bowling and repays the faith

[Guest dada_rocks]

he will deliver , on fourth day he did bowl well