Colombo: Umpires warned England batsman Kevin Pietersen twice for changing his stance to attempt a switch hit during day three of the second Test against Sri Lanka on Thursday. Pietersen was spoken to by Bruce Oxenford and Asad Rauf after the Sri Lankan bowler Tillakaratne Dilshan had to stop twice in his run-up as the batsman turned around in his stance.
The laws of the game say that the switch hit - a right-hander playing a shot with a left-hander's grip - is legal but a batsman cannot change stance before the bowler has delivered the ball. Match referee Javagal Srinath of India confirmed that Pietersen had been officially warned twice.
A third offence by him or any other England batsman will result in five penalty runs being awarded to Sri Lanka, Srinath said.
Pietersen scored 151 on the third day of the Colombo Test as England, replying to Sri Lanka's first-innings score of 275, scored 460, which gave them a healthy first innings lead of 185 runs.
There was no immediate comment from the England camp on the incident.
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