- News>
- Cricket
ICC appreciates our stand on Denness issue: Dalmiya
Kolkata, June 27: The cricket board today said it had agreed to forget the Mike Denness issue on humanitarian grounds and has received appreciation from the ICC for its `gracious action`.
Kolkata, June 27: The cricket board today said it had agreed to forget the Mike Denness issue on humanitarian grounds and has received appreciation from the ICC for its 'gracious action'.
BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya told newspersons here that the decision was taken following a request from new ICC president Ehsan Mani that the matter be best forgotten since Denness has had a heart surgery.
"We were told that Denness wouldn't be able to withstand hearings due to ill-health. How could we have reacted differently to such a request?" Dalmiya said.
"The ICC has, in a write-up, appreciated our 'gracious action,'" Dalmiya said.
Match-referee Denness had brought world cricket on the verge of split two years ago by holding Sachin Tendulkar guilty of ball-tampering and punishing five other Indian cricketers, including captain Sourav Ganguly, for excessive appealing during India's tour of South Africa in 2001.
The worst affected was Virender Sehwag, who was given a one-Test suspension and had to miss out on the first Test of the home series against England later that year.
Furious with the harsh punishments -- especially since excessive appealing by South African cricketers during the same series was not taken note of -- the Indian board had demanded that Denness be removed as match-referee and the decisions overturned.
The resultant furore had threatened to split world cricket on racial lines with nearly all the national boards aligning with one side or the other.
Bureau Report
"We were told that Denness wouldn't be able to withstand hearings due to ill-health. How could we have reacted differently to such a request?" Dalmiya said.
"The ICC has, in a write-up, appreciated our 'gracious action,'" Dalmiya said.
Match-referee Denness had brought world cricket on the verge of split two years ago by holding Sachin Tendulkar guilty of ball-tampering and punishing five other Indian cricketers, including captain Sourav Ganguly, for excessive appealing during India's tour of South Africa in 2001.
The worst affected was Virender Sehwag, who was given a one-Test suspension and had to miss out on the first Test of the home series against England later that year.
Furious with the harsh punishments -- especially since excessive appealing by South African cricketers during the same series was not taken note of -- the Indian board had demanded that Denness be removed as match-referee and the decisions overturned.
The resultant furore had threatened to split world cricket on racial lines with nearly all the national boards aligning with one side or the other.
Bureau Report