ADELAIDE - Australian fast bowler Brett Lee has been fined A$3125 ($3630) for excessive appealing during the second Ashes cricket test against England at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday.
Match referee Jeff Crowe rejected Lee's claim that he thought umpire Steve Bucknor had given England's Kevin Pietersen outlbw early on the second day of the match.
"Brett is confused about this verdict in that he thought he saw the umpire gesture that it was out," Crowe said in fining Lee 25 per cent of his match fee.
"The simple fact is that Brett did not stop and wait for the umpire's actual decision, out or not out, before starting his celebrations, something that has been stipulated over the past three years."
Lee's fine continued a poor disciplinary record for the Australian team over the past 18 months.
Captain Ricky Ponting was fined 75 per cent of his match fee for dissent when he was run out by England substitute fielder Gary Pratt at Trent Bridge last year. Batsman Simon Katich was docked half his match fee for showing dissent towards an umpire's decision in the same match.
Lee, Glenn McGrath and Adam Gilchrist were all penalised for incidents last summer while Ponting has also tested the patience of match referees in 2006.
He was fined 25 per cent of his match fee for showing dissent in a Test in Bangladesh in April, and was docked his entire match fee for dissent during a day-night match against the West Indies in Kuala Lumpur.
