Date-stamped : 07 Jul96 - 22:16 8 July 1996 Illingworth will appeal against #2,000 fine By Christopher Martin-Jenkins RAY Illingworth confirmed yesterday that he is to appeal to the Cricket Council against the #2,000 fine imposed on him last month by the Test and County Cricket Board for criticising the England fast bowler Devon Malcolm in a newspaper serialisation of his recent book. He was also reprimanded and ordered to pay #500 of the legal costs of the disciplinary hearing. Illingworth said yesterday that he has notified the TCCB of his intention to appeal in a letter to Alan Smith, the chief execu- tive, which should arrive at Lord`s this morning. He will be represented legally at the Cricket Council hearing, but it will be some time before a date is known. The appeal is likely to be heard by Desmond Perrett, QC and an independent panel. In the most recent precedent, in 1992, Allan Lamb had a #5,000 fine reduced to #4,000, half of which was suspended, and costs of #1,000 halved by the Council when he appealed against his pun- ishment for articles on ball tampering. The chairman of the Board`s disciplinary committee, Gerard Elias QC, told Illingworth that his punishment would have been even more severe but for his record of service to En- glish cricket. Incensed that Malcolm was not punished for tabloid articles under his name in which he gave his side of his disagreement with the chairman of selectors during last winter`s tour of South Africa, Illingworth said yesterday: "I am determined to see that natural justice is done. I have been offered a lot of money this weekend to write my side of the story, but I am not interested in money at the moment. "The important thing is to clear my name of this disrepute charge. I have been involved in the game for 45 years or so and I don`t want to leave it without restoring my reputation for straight dealing." A working party under David Acfield is due to report to the Board in August about the future management and selection of England teams. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)