LONDON (Reuters)
India's cricket board has not acted in defiance of the International Cricket Council (ICC) over the Mike Denness affair, board president Jagmohan Dalmiya has insisted.

"It is not a defiance," he told BBC World Service radio. "We are respecting, we will respect in future all decisions of the ICC. It is our parent body."

India and South Africa began an unofficial test in Centurion on Friday, after the ICC stripped it of its test status in response to South Africa's decision to replace official referee, Mike Denness.

Dalmiya said the ICC decision breached protocol, arguing that chief executive Malcolm Speed should have consulted the ICC's executive board.

"The chief executive has taken a decision. This decision lies within the jurisdiction of the executive board," he said.

The executive board would address the whole matter when they next met, he added. "If they feel that anything was done wrongly by any of the [India and South Africa] boards then they can take action."

"People have to live with the democratic principles," Dalmiya said. "If any individual does not like the ICC, he may leave."

But he insisted that there would be no such breakaway by the Asian nations. "This is one of the things that amuses me most," he said. "Why should there be a breakaway?"

India protested bitterly when Denness punished five Indian players for excessive appealing and handed Sachin Tendulkar a suspended one-match ban for ball tampering.

Dalmiya said public opinion had been roused by the affair. "It was discussed in parliament," he said. "For three days everything came to a standstill."

He backed the decision to continue with the match being played in Centurion since only the referee had changed. "It is maybe too harsh on the players if their statistics are not allowed to go in the record book," he said.

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