England's Tom Curran has been banned for four Big Bash games after being charged with intimidating an umpire.

Curran, who is playing for Sydney Sixers in Australia's flagship cricket tournament, has denied the offence and is planning to appeal against the suspension.

The incident occurred during a warm-up for a game against Hobart Hurricanes in Launceston.

Cricket Australia's code of conduct commissioner Adrian Anderson found that the 28-year-old, who last played for England in 2021, became involved in a disagreement with an umpire while going through his run-up.

The match official told Curran not to run on the pitch and stood next to the stumps to block him as he attempted to continue.

Anderson found that Curran "attempted to perform a practice run up and run at pace straight towards the umpire, who stood in the bowling crease facing Curran. The umpire stepped to his right to avoid the risk of collision".

Footage that has been posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, showed the umpire informing Curran that he could not use the match surface for warm-ups and Curran bounding towards him before both moved to avoid impact.

That was deemed a level three offence under clause 2.17 of the CA code – which covers "intimidation or attempted intimidation of an umpire or match referee" – leading to four penalty points and a four-game ban.

Rachael Haynes, the former Australia Women's captain and head of the Sixers, said the franchise would contest the ruling.

"Tom and the club maintain that Tom did not knowingly or intentionally intimidate a match official and, on legal advice, we will exercise our right to appeal the decision," she said in a statement.

"We will support Tom during this period and look forward to him returning to the field."