Charge against Tendulkar misunderstood

By Ted Corbett

LONDON, NOV. 27. A `saddened' Mike Denness has returned to England from South Africa to report that he only had the best interests of the game at heart when he took action against six Indians during the second Test in Port Elizabeth, that he did not charge Sachin Tendulkar with ball tampering and that he followed the law as laid down in the ICC yellow book.

Denness, a quietly-spoken Scot, a former Test captain and chairman of Kent and chairman of the England Cricket Board pitches committee who celebrates his 61st birthday two days before the first Test between India and England starts in Mohali, has clearly been shaken by the way Indians have reacted to his decisions. He claims that the charge against Tendulkar has been misunderstood and that Tendulkar was punished not for tampering with the ball but for failing to call up an umpire to supervise his attempts to clean the ball.

``Tampering seems to be the instant word that everyone wants to use,'' says Denness. He also points out that Tendulkar had not attempted to dispute the fine nor the one-match suspended ban.

Denness says: ``I have been terribly saddened for the game of cricket. If someone says you have got your decisions wrong and they can justify it you can have a discussion and you can learn from it. From my point of view, whenever you do anything you have to sit back and say to yourself `how well did I do that? Where can I improve if at all?' You've got the game of cricket at heart, you've got natural justice to look into. I'm not a judge, I'm not qualified in the legal profession, but I do have a great interest in the game of cricket.''

As chairman of the ECB pitches committee-which rules whether county championship pitches are fit for play, Denness has never been afraid to make unpopular decisions and it looks as if he carries that determination into his role as match referee.

As the ICC sought a diplomatic solution to the problems that have arisen from the second Test-the replacement of Denness by the United Cricket Board of South Africa for the third Test which was then declared unofficial and the dispute between India and the ICC about whether Virender Sehwag has served his ban and the threat to the series against England-it became clear that the only way out of this Catch 22 situation was a full inquiry.

There are important questions to be answered and an inquiry under either a lawyer with cricketing knowledge or a former Test captain of high repute is one way to stop the misunderstandings and rumours that are flying around the cricket village. Such an inquiry might also make recommendations about the way justice is dispensed at Tests and one-day Internationals, perhaps with an appeals system.

We ought to be told what part the South African government played in the United Board's decisions, whether Denness made an attempt to cool tempers before he laid his charges against the Indian Six, how far the umpires went to stop the appeals getting out of hand and why John Wright, the Indian coach, was refused permission to attend the disciplinary hearings.

It would also be interesting to know why the ICC failed to ask Sunil Gavaskar, the chairman of its cricket committee, to try to solve the dispute.

Denis Lindsay, the former South African wicket-keeper who took Denness' place as referee for the third match of the series will continue to oversee the India-England series.

An ICC spokesman explained that Lindsay had made his position clear before he agreed to referee the third `Test' and that the ICC had not quarrel with his decision.

``He is a freelance match referee and we cannot tell him what to do,'' is the ICC verdict.

England will wait until the ICC has made a decision before taking any action but several counties will wait anxiously to see if the team pulls out of the tour. It has been said that 18 million pounds sterling might be lost if the series is not played and India drops out of the tour of England next summer. Several counties are so close to financial disaster that they cannot afford to take a cut in their ECB hand-out.

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