Date:19/01/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/01/19/stories/2003011903410100.htm

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Australian cricketer suspended for casting racial slur

Adelaide Jan. 18. Australian batsman Darren Lehmann was today suspended for five one-day international cricket matches for making racial remarks during a one-day match against Sri Lanka. Lehmann was found guilty of breaching the International Cricket Council's (ICC) racial vilification code by ICC match referee Clive Lloyd during a three-hour hearing here today.

He will miss four or five remaining matches in the triangular one-day series against Sri Lanka and England, along with possibly Australia's opening match at the World Cup, starting next month in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Lehmann is the first international cricketer to be suspended for breaching the ICC's racial code of conduct.

Lehmann reportedly referred to Sri Lankan players as ``black'' in a two-word obscenity shouted by him when entering the Australian dressing room after being marginally run out in a one-day game with Sri Lanka in Brisbane on Wednesday. He offered verbal and written apologies to the Sri Lankans which were immediately accepted.

— AFP