SYDNEY: Cricket Australia (CA) said on Friday that former England Captain Kevin Pietersen, who is playing in the Twenty20 Big Bash league, has been charged with a code of conduct breach and fined. Pietersen was reported to have made a comment considered detrimental to the interests of cricket while playing for his team, the Melbourne Stars, against the Perth Scorchers in a BBL semi-final on January 24. He made the comment on the umpire’s decision when Sam Whiteman was given not out following an appeal for caught behind, with his words being recorded and broadcasted through the microphone he was wearing on field. During the television coverage, when Whiteman appeared to edge the ball from paceman Scott Boland, he was heard to say, “He says it could have been glove or pad, and I said ´well, he´s got big gloves and big pads to reach that´ massive nick.” Afterwards, match umpire Shawn Craig admitted to making an error, with the batsman also accepting that he had hit the ball. Under the code procedure, match referee David Talalla considered the umpires´ report as well as the proposed sanction of Aus$5,000 ($3,800). He accepted the charge but elected to dispute the sanction. The match referee set a hearing for Thursday and announced on Friday that the decision had been upheld. Pietersen has been given 48 hours to decide whether he will lodge an appeal against the decision, taking up the matter with the CA code of conduct commissioner.