Sport

Charge against Brad Hogg dropped

— Photo: AFP

Signing truce: Ricky Ponting and Anil Kumble at the captains’ meeting in the presence of Chief Match Referee Ranjan Madugalle.

Perth: India withdrew the Level Three charge against Australian wrist-spinner Brad Hogg (for abusive language aimed at Anil Kumble and M.S. Dhoni) at the hearing with match referee Mike Procter here on Monday.

Kumble, the Indian captain, rescinded the complaint, which had been lodged by manager Chetan Chauhan. “It’s time to move on, so we dropped the charges,” Kumble told media persons on Monday evening. “Cricket is larger than individuals.”

It is reliably learnt, however, that the pre-series agreement between Kumble and Ricky Ponting regarding contentious catches has been scrapped. The captains had agreed to take the word of the fielder, but after the incident involving Michael Clarke in Sydney, it has been decided to leave it to the umpires.

An evening of rapid developments, which began with the captains’ meeting in the presence of mediator and ICC chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle, ended with the Hogg hearing which lasted less than 15 minutes.

Hogg, who looked relieved, said, “It’s a kind gesture, a lovely gesture by the Indian team, much appreciated by myself and the Australian team. Hopefully, any future games between India and Australia are going to be close contests, good viewing for the spectators and played with much enjoyment by the teams.”

Procter termed it a “magnificent” gesture.

“I was tendered a letter from the captain and the manager, stating that they were withdrawing their complaint,” he said. “That’s all behind us now and we can get on with the cricket, which is great news. A wonderful gesture by India, showing the sportsmanship they possess and the way they play their game.”

Madugalle’s joint meeting with the two captains succeeded the ones he had had with them separately. Kumble, describing the meetings, said, “I value the meeting with Ranjan and also the one with Ranjan and Ricky together. We have agreed that we must uphold the interests of the game and it will be our collective responsibility to ensure that the game of cricket is played by both teams as role models of this glorious game of cricket.”

Madugalle was confident the third Test would be played in excellent spirit. “I am in no doubt both Ricky and Anil want to move forward and draw a line under what happened in the past couple of weeks,” he said.

“The two captains know they are role models for millions of people and are aware of their responsibilities in projecting the game in a positive way.”

The final act of closure will be Harbhajan Singh’s appeal against the three-Test ban, imposed by Procter who had found the off-spinner guilty of racial abuse.

According to several reliable accounts, there was no corroborative evidence against Harbhajan.

A date hasn’t yet been fixed for the Justice Hansen hearing, which will involve a re-telling of the evidence.

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