Mark Butcher apologised after being fined £1,000 ($1,470) and £500 costs ($735) after making allegations in a local newspaper that Sri Lanka's Ruchira Perera was a 'thrower'. Butcher issued his apology after appearing before an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) disciplinary panel at Lord's. His comments were made in the Croydon Advertiser after Perera's suspect action was reported to the International Cricket Council (ICC) by match officials following last month's Lord's Test.

Butcher broke both the ICC code of conduct and his England contract, which prohibits players' making personal attacks. At first Butcher refused to accept a fine imposed by the ECB, thought to be around £1,600 ($2,352 dollars).

But after the hearing Butcher was in a more conciliatory mood. "The matter has been discussed at length," he said. "I have already apologised for the comments that were made in the article and the decision was made that it was a breach of my contract, so I shall stand by that.

"I realise it caused some trouble to the Sri Lankan board and Perera himself and I realise the comments were perhaps inappropriate. As soon as the story came out I knew I had made an error of judgement."

In a statement the ECB, "The panel took into account that an immediate apology was made after the publication appeared."

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