The Hindu : Gilchrist seeks to control damage

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 28, 2002

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Gilchrist seeks to control damage

By Steve Whiting

MELBOURNE May 27. Australian vice-captain Adam Gilchrist said on Monday night that he was up until 1.30 a.m. the night before trying to telephone Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan in London to apologise for saying he was a chucker.

Gilchrist had earlier been told by the Australian Cricket Board that they were considering charging him over comments he made at a lunch at the Optus Oval in Melbourne on Sundaybefore the Aussie Rules match between Carlton, whom Gilchrist supports, and Adelaide.

"One thing I will say is that I was up until 1.30 this morning ringing Murali in London as I wanted to explain to him what had happened. He is in London with the Sri Lankan tour and trying to track down a little Sri Lankan man in London is not easy.

``He is an awesome bloke - terrific fun. In the end I spoke to him and it was hilarious - one of the best conversations I'd ever had. He kept saying `OK' and `OK.' He didn't want to know what I was trying to say. He kept saying `are you playing soon?'

Then Gilchrist explained how he had come to make the remarks about Muralitharan that he had - and how he felt he had been let down by a reporter who had recorded his remarks without telling him. "I'm on report, so I can't talk about the actual incident,'' he said.

``But I can certainly tell you what led up to it. I was at a very casual, laid-back, enjoyable sort of lunch and the Carlton president John Elliott was interviewing me. He said would I mind answering a few questions and basically it came out that he asked my opinion on whether I thought Murali threw the ball - was he a chucker, though I've never used that term or that word myself.

``That's where it all spelled out what I said and I can't sort of go on about that any more. But the thing that disappoints me about it is that I was speaking at a casual luncheon and I was asked - I had no obligation to get up there and talk. There was about 250 people there who were terrific people. I had mingled with them all day and they were great.

``But there were obviously one or two people there and I think I have an idea who they were, but again I won't say, who just happened to be journalists and just happened to have tape recorders on them and recorded what I felt to be honest comments which I thought were going to stay in the room.

``I'm not blaming the ACB. Obviously they think I've got a case to answer and that's fine - that's part of the code of conduct and I will answer to that and face whatever happens afterwards. It disappoints me that you try to be honest and open and not come up with the cliché" said the dashing batsman..

AP & Reuters report

Wicketkeeper batsman Adam Gilchrist was charged by the Australian Cricket Board on Monday with making public comments detrimental to the interests of cricket following remarks about the bowling action of Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan.

The ACB said the charge was laid following vice-captain Gilchrist's remarks about Muralitharan's bowling action that appeared in the media. ACB chief executive officer James Sutherland said he had sought and received an explanation from Gilchrist about his comments.

``After reading the statements attributed to Adam, I rang him and asked him to provide me with more details about the accuracy of the comments and how they came to be in the public domain,'' said Sutherland.

``After considering Adam's explanation, I have issued a charge under the ACB Code of Behaviour. An ACB commissioner will determine whether Adam's comments are in breach of the code.''

Sutherland said the ACB did not support Gilchrist's comments.

``Muttiah Muralitharan's action has been cleared by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after an exhaustive review,'' said Sutherland. ``The ICC has a rigid and comprehensive process in place to continually assess the legality of bowling actions and the ACB supports this process.''

The time and venue for the ACB hearing over the Gilchrist charge has not been announced. .

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport