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Waugh supports Denness decision
`No player was above the laws of cricket and Indian superstar Sachin Tendulkar had to pay the penalty for ball-tampering,` Australian captain Steve Waugh said on Wednesday.
"No player was above the laws of cricket and Indian superstar Sachin Tendulkar had to pay the penalty for ball-tampering," Australian captain Steve Waugh said on Wednesday.
Tendulkar was fined 75% of his match fee and given a suspended one-match ban by English match referee Mike Denness after being accused of tampering with the ball in the drawn second Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday.
Sanctions were also taken against five other Indian players for irregularities during the match, including skipper Saurav Ganguly. Furious Indian officials have demanded that Denness be replaced as referee for the final Test which starts in Johannesburg on Saturday, a call supported by the South African authorities. Waugh, a staunch cricket traditionalist, applauded the decision to punish Tendulkar for ball-tampering, saying it showed the International Cricket Council (ICC) was no longer prepared to tolerate on-field misbehaviour.
"If he`s picked the seam (of the ball) then he has got to pay the penalty like everyone else," Waugh said on the eve of Australia`s second Test against New Zealand.
"There shouldn`t be any favours because of your reputation or the way you play the game.
"If you do something wrong then you have to get pulled up for it." Waugh said, in the past ICC match referees had been too lenient in handling similar issues.
"I think it`s been going on too long, the ball-tampering, affecting the state of the ball," he said.
"It`s about time people starting paying the penalty. If someone does something wrong they have to be penalised and in the past I think a lot of the players were let off, it wasn`t consistent.
"As long as they are consistent, that`s fine by the players."
While the on-field behaviour of his own side has often been questioned, Waugh said he had made his players aware he would not tolerate ball-tampering. "If they are caught picking the ball they are on their own," he said of his team-mates.
Bureau Report
Tendulkar was fined 75% of his match fee and given a suspended one-match ban by English match referee Mike Denness after being accused of tampering with the ball in the drawn second Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday.
Sanctions were also taken against five other Indian players for irregularities during the match, including skipper Saurav Ganguly. Furious Indian officials have demanded that Denness be replaced as referee for the final Test which starts in Johannesburg on Saturday, a call supported by the South African authorities. Waugh, a staunch cricket traditionalist, applauded the decision to punish Tendulkar for ball-tampering, saying it showed the International Cricket Council (ICC) was no longer prepared to tolerate on-field misbehaviour.
"If he`s picked the seam (of the ball) then he has got to pay the penalty like everyone else," Waugh said on the eve of Australia`s second Test against New Zealand.
"There shouldn`t be any favours because of your reputation or the way you play the game.
"If you do something wrong then you have to get pulled up for it." Waugh said, in the past ICC match referees had been too lenient in handling similar issues.
"I think it`s been going on too long, the ball-tampering, affecting the state of the ball," he said.
"It`s about time people starting paying the penalty. If someone does something wrong they have to be penalised and in the past I think a lot of the players were let off, it wasn`t consistent.
"As long as they are consistent, that`s fine by the players."
While the on-field behaviour of his own side has often been questioned, Waugh said he had made his players aware he would not tolerate ball-tampering. "If they are caught picking the ball they are on their own," he said of his team-mates.
Bureau Report