SA sparks cricket crisis

By Neil Manthorp, Sapa, Reuters Centurion

AN international cricket crisis erupted last night after a day of drama sparked by South Africa’s shock banning of controversial Test match referee Mike Denness.

Now South Africa and India, due to play their third Test in Centurion today, are locked in a showdown with the International Cricket Council, the game’s ruling body.

It is a clash that will have severe repercussions for South Africa’s relations with the ICC, but United Cricket Board chief executive Gerald Majola said he was willing to risk the wrath of cricket’s controlling body as the playing of today’s Test match was of paramount importance.

Majola said he did not believe the UCB’s stand would jeopardise the upcoming tour of Australia, nor the World Cup to be hosted in South Africa in 2003.

In a show of defiance, the UCB had earlier bowed to South African government pressure and banned Denness from the Centurion ground in a bid to placate the Indians, who were refusing to play after the ICC turned down requests to replace the referee.

In a sharp retort, the ICC said the ban on Denness was “an unacceptable precedent” and warned South Africa that their third Test against India would be struck from the records if Denness was barred from officiating. ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said: “Mike Denness was properly appointed by the ICC for this series and approved by both South Africa and India.

“No cricket board has the authority to remove Mr Denness from his position.”

Denness, a former England captain, found Sachin Tendulkar guilty of doctoring the ball and also punished five other Indian players, including captain Saurav Ganguly, for excessive appealing.

The ICC’s hard line is now sure to bring the crisis to a head with just a few hours to go before the Centurion game. The ICC said it would also order its other referees and umpires not to take part.

“It would not be recognised by the ICC as a Test match,” said the ICC. “It would not be officiated by an ICC referee or umpire and neither the result nor statistics would be included in Test match records."

Today’s Test, the series decider with South Africa leading 1-0, was thrown into even greater doubt when Jagmohan Dalmiya, head of the Indian Cricket Board and the former head of the ICC, rubbished Speed’s comments, saying only the ICC executive committee could make such a decision. “We (the Indian and South African cricket boards) feel that it qualifies to be an official Test match,” he said.

George Sharp, the English umpire who was meant to officiate in today’s Test, is now likely to stand down. Another South African umpire, Dave Orchard, will replace Sharp as Rudi Koertzen’s partner in the middle, with Dennis Lindsay as the referee. If Tendulkar’s suspended one-match ban – he was shown on television apparently scratching the seam of the ball with his fingernail – sparked the situation, it was the South Africans’ surprise response yesterday which transformed it into a full-blown crisis.

The UCB, its arm twisted by Pretoria which feared a boycott could hit diplomatic and trading links with India, told Denness he would be barred from the ground after he refused a request to stand down voluntarily.

Both teams agreed to the unofficial appointment of former South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman Denis Lindsay, a member of the ICC match referees panel, as a replacement. A statement from Majola said that he had told Speed that he had “no alternative”.

Majola added: “We were informed this morning by the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya, that the Indian team will not take the field if Mike Denness is acting as match referee.” The UCB said South African cricket and its public could “not afford the cancellation of this Test match”. “The South African government, through Sport Minister Ngconde Balfour, has instructed the UCBSA to take whatever action is necessary to ensure that the Test match goes ahead.”

Mr Balfour later conceded the decision was “pragmatic” and that he had “tremendous respect” for the ICC and “this in no way should be viewed as an attempt to discredit the integrity of Mr Denness”.

Denness was disappointed by the UCB’s decision. “I certainly won’t be going to the ground tomorrow (today) but that is all I can say,” he said.

Street protests, meanwhile, raged for a second day in India yesterday. In Calcutta, protesters paraded a straw effigy of Denness astride a mule before burning it.

Politicians in India’s lower house of parliament called for financial pressure to be exerted on the ICC by suspending broadcasts of overseas matches, although there was no clear call to bring the team home because relations with South Africa are cordial.

“The situation in South Africa is very, very serious. It is unjust and partial and it seems there is a racist element,” said former Test cricketer Kirti Azad, who belongs to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

The crisis has mushroomed partly because of Tendulkar’s standing in the game, and in his home country in particular. Widely regarded as the best batsman in the world, he has an unblemished record and is revered by India’s passionate fans.

Many players and officials in the sub-continent also feel they have been discriminated against for years, even though the game is now much more popular in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka than England, the traditional home of the sport. See back page