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| Sunday, 13 January 2002 |
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Cricket crisis looms as ICC delivers triple snub to India by KULDIP LAL NEW DELHI, Jan 11 (AFP) - Cricket's world governing body thumbed its nose at India thrice on Friday over the Mike Denness affair, raising fears of another crisis engulfing the sport. The International Cricket Council (ICC) rejected names proposed by India to sit on the newly appointed Referees Commission to probe the penalties imposed by Denness on six Indians during the Port Elizabeth Test against South Africa in November. India, furious about the penalties, forced hosts South Africa to dump Denness as match referee for the final Test, leading the ICC to declare the match unofficial. The Commission, however, will not review the actual disciplinary penalties imposed by Denness as demanded by India, the ICC said. In a third snub to the Indians, the ICC appointed Denness as match referee for the Test and one-day series between the West Indies and Pakistan starting in the Gulf emirate of Sharjah on January 31. That the former England captain has been given another assignment without the ICC waiting for the recommendations of the Referees Commission has not gone down well in Indian cricket circles. India's cricket supremo Jagmohan Dalmiya is expected to give a formal reaction, but another senior official saw the ICC moves as a clear snub to the country's cricket authorities. "The ICC has not considered our sentiments and this can have very serious consequences," the official told AFP. The ICC named two former cricketers, Majid Khan of Pakistan and Andrew Hilditch of Australia, and Justice A.L. Sachs of South Africa on the Referees Commission. India had rejected all three names and instead nominated former Test captains Richie Benaud, Ian Chappell (both Australia) and Imran Khan (Pakistan) besides Justice Ahmed Ibrahim of Zimbabwe. The ICC said none of India's nominees was available. "Benaud and Imran Khan were approached with a view to joining the panel but for personal and business reasons were unable to accept the invitation," ICC president Malcolm Gray said in a statement. "Our commission is one of quality and integrity and one which combines outstanding cricket pedigree with a high degree of legal and administrative expertise," Gray added. "I am entirely confident that it will fulfil its brief to the satisfaction of all parties." Justice Sachs is a member of South Africa's Constitutional Court, the country's highest judiciary and has been a member of the ICC's Code of Conduct Commission since its formation in 1999. Majid is a former Pakistan captain and batsman who played in 63 Tests from the mid 1960s to the early 1980s. He has been both an ICC match referee and chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board. Hilditch won 18 Test caps as an opening batsman and was vice-captain of the Australian team of the late 1970s to mid 1980s. He is an Australian national selector and a practising solicitor in Adelaide. The Referees Commission will probe: - If there should be a right of appeal against a decision of a match referee. - If there is to be a right of appeal, the best way to structure the system of appeals so that it is not used to obtain an unfair advantage. - If there should be an ICC Code of Conduct for Match Referees. - How consistency can best be achieved in penalties imposed by match referees. - If it should be obligatory for ICC referees to explain their decisions to the media and the public. - If the ICC Match Referee followed the procedures laid down in the ICC Code of Conduct during last November's second Test between South Africa and India in Port Elizabeth. The panel will meet in February and its recommendations will be considered at the next meeting of the ICC's Executive Board in Colombo in March. |
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