UGLY scenes marred the third day of the Test match between Pakistan and New Zealand at Hamilton yesterday.
New Zealander Dipak Patel, fielding at short leg, appeared to enrage Pakistani wicketkeeper Rashid Latif with a comment and he angrily gestured to umpires, who spoke to Patel and New Zealand captain Ken Rutherford.
Finger-pointing and angry words continued, and Rashid had to be physically restrained from approaching Patel by New Zealand umpire Brian Aldridge.
Rutherford declined to comment on the incident, but said it was one of several during Pakistan's two-week tour of New Zealand.
''Whenever you play the Pakistanis there's always that over-competitive edge to the game. There's always some banter going on, some of it not all that happy . . . there have been quite a few incidents over the two-week tour,'' Rutherford said.
Australian Peter Burge, referee for the one-off Test match, said in a statement he would implement ICC code of conduct regulations to punish any more displays of temper.
Burge said in his statement: ''I have had a concern at the amount of 'sledging' between players that appears to have occurred at various times during this Test match.