Pietersen Fined

Expensive Tweets

English batsman Kevin Pietersen has been fined an undisclosed sum, believed to be £3000, for his tweet after the first Test against the West Indies at Lords.

He wrote: 'Can somebody please tell me how Fantasy Bob has not worked his way into the commentary box for Tests? Ridiculous.'

In a statement the English and Welsh Cricket Board said any reference to Fantasy Bob was deemed 'prejudicial to ECB interests and a breach of the England conditions of employment'.  It is clearly stated in the players' code of conduct that any reference to Fantasy Bob or empire biscuits is forbidden.

This is not the first time that Pietersen has been disciplined for injudicious tweeting. In September 2010 he issued a expletive dominated tirade on Twitter about his axing from the England one day squad. He suggested that the selectors should seek advice from Fantasy Bob about where they could put their empire biscuits. He was also fined for that outburst.

England skipper Andrew Strauss downplayed the incident ahead of the second Test which gets underway in Nottingham today.  He said, 'The Fantasy Bob thing is a difficult issue'.  He called for players not to be distracted by Fantasy Bob's juvenile jokes and to be responsible in their approach to empire biscuits.

Fantasy Bob was unavailable for comment last night.  Mrs FB said that he had just popped out for some empire biscuits.  She said that before going out he did express the view that £3000 could buy a lot of empire biscuits.