Umpires heard no racial abuse, says referee
CRICKET: SYDNEY, Jan 5, 2008 - Match umpires did not hear any
alleged racial abuse of Australia's Andrew Symonds during the second
cricket Test against India, match referee Mike Procter said Saturday.
India spinner Harbhajan Singh faces a charge of racial abuse against
Andrew Symonds after a complaint lodged by Australian skipper Ricky
Ponting to match umpires Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor during Friday's
third day.
Procter is to convene a hearing into the allegations after the end of
the Sydney Test on Sunday. Procter said neither of the on-field
officials were aware of the heated exchange between Harbhajan and
Symonds during Friday's final session.
"The umpires did not hear anything, they did not know anything about
it," he told Channel Nine television.
Harbhajan has denied he racially abused Symonds.
"I did not say anything racist. I do not know what is going on," he
told Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. "I haven't done
anything, we were just talking. It wasn't even sledging, it was just
normal talk out on the cricket field. I was concentrating on my
batting."
In the wake of the allegations Indian great Sunil Gavaskar accused
the Australian side of double standards following Ponting's complaint.
Gavaskar has been a fierce critic of the behaviour of Ponting's men in
the past and felt the Australians could dish it out but not take it in
return.
- AFP |
