LONDON (Reuters)
England will back the International Cricket Council (ICC) in any power struggle with India and South Africa following the Mike Denness controversy, according to Lord MacLaurin.

MacLaurin, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), said: "The ECB view is absolutely clear: we stand full square behind the ICC.

"I have spoken to (ICC president) Malcolm Gray this morning and pledged our full support, as I guess most of the Test-playing nations will do."

South Africa, reacting to Indian demands, sacked ICC match referee Denness on Thursday, prompting cricket's world governing body to hit back by stripping the third match between the sides of its Test status.

India had earlier threatened to boycott the Centurion game which started on Friday after criticising Denness - a former England Test captain - for punishing six of their players, including Sachin Tendulkar, in the second Test.

MacLaurin added: "They (the ICC) control world cricket - we have anarchy at the moment."

England are currently touring India before the start of a three-Test series in December but MacLaurin added: "I don't think we want to talk about pulling out of tours because that would be very sad indeed. We will just see how things develop over the next few days."

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