Cricket: Referee's sacking sees South African test downgraded

CENTURION - South Africa's third and final test against India was stripped of its official status by the sport's world governing body yesterday in response to the sacking of match referee Mike Denness.

In a unprecedented move, the International Cricket Council downgraded the game after South Africa's United Cricket Board bowed to appeals from India - as well as to pressure from their Government - and barred Denness from officiating.

"Mike Denness was properly appointed by the ICC for this series and approved by both South Africa and India," ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said.

"No cricket board has the authority to remove Mr Denness from his position."

The South Africans sacked Denness in an attempt stop the Indian touring side boycotting the game after they complained about his handling of the drawn second test.

Both teams agreed to the unofficial appointment of former South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman Denis Lindsay, a member of the ICC match referees panel, as a replacement.

The ICC said neutral umpire George Sharp would be withdrawn.

The other umpire appointed was South African Rudi Koertzen, with compatriot Dave Orchard as third umpire.

"Koertzen will still stand, and Orchard will be his co-umpire," South African director of cricket operations Brian Basson said.

Denness, a former England captain, found Sachin Tendulkar guilty of doctoring the ball after studying video evidence, and also punished five other Indian players, including captain Saurav Ganguly, for excessive appealing.

The game will now go into the record books as no more than a first-class tour match.

South African skipper Shaun Pollock, whose side have now effectively won the official series 1-0, expressed sympathy for the ICC stand, adding: "It's going to be a game of cricket that we will have to play. It's disappointing, but we've got to do something for the spectators."

The affair, which has escalated rapidly from molehill to mountain over the past two days, looks set to poison relations for some time.

There will be plenty of opportunity for the ill-feeling to fester, with the ICC's executive board not due to meet again until March.

"I'm sure this whole saga will be hotly debated at the next meeting," Speed said, although he confirmed that an emergency executive board meeting could be called.

Speed's relationship with Jagmohan Dalmiya, head of the Indian cricket board and the former head of the ICC, has taken a battering, in particular.

When Speed announced the downgrading of the game, Dalmiya countered by arguing that only the ICC executive committee could make such a decision.

"We [the Indian and South African cricket boards] feel that it qualifies to be an official test match."

Speed responded: "I disagree with him. I believe I can [do it], and I have done it, with the authority of the president of the ICC, who I spoke to today."

He said he felt "acute disappointment" over the affair, but added: "Where there are strong emotions, things can get out of hand."

Things, indeed, "got out of hand" rapidly.

If Tendulkar's suspended one-match ban on Wednesday - he was shown on television apparently scratching the seam with his fingernail, although India argued he had not damaged the ball and was therefore not guilty of tampering - sparked the situation, the South Africans' surprise response quickly transformed it into full-blown crisis.

Instructed by their Government to protect the country's good relations with India at all costs, the United Cricket Board turned on Denness in what was later described as a "pragmatic way of addressing an issue."

A statement from UCB chief executive Gerald Majola said he had told Speed he had "no alternative" after Dalmiya had threatened that India would not take the field with Denness in position.

The UCB argued that South African cricket and its public could "not afford the cancellation of this test match."

It did not hide the fact, however, that the decision was fundamentally political.

A disappointed Denness was left to confirm: "I certainly won't be going to the ground. That is all I can say."

India's passion for the game - and its historical suspicions of the London-based ICC - also clearly played their part in the affair mushrooming out of control.

Widely regarded as the best batsman in the world, Tendulkar has an unblemished record and is revered by India's fans as a cricketing icon.

That reverence was reflected in street protests for a second day running. In Calcutta, protesters paraded a straw effigy of Denness astride a mule before burning it.

Politicians in India's lower House of Parliament, meanwhile, called for financial pressure to be exerted on the ICC by suspending broadcasts of overseas matches.

There was speculation in South Africa, meanwhile, that their staging of the 2003 World Cup could be in jeopardy over the affair.

"South Africa was awarded the privilege of staging the eighth World Cup," tournament executive director Ali Bacher said. "Nobody should assume that that right is automatic. The World Cup, the event, is owned by the ICC."

- AGENCIES