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Your say
Wisden CricInfo staff - November 27, 2001

As the Denness rumpus rumbles on, we publish another selection of e-mails from Wisden.com readers Feedback: Day 4 | Day 3 | Day 2 | Day 1

Sree Tangella - Why not say "Wisden Supports ICC" and we will ask questions on our site accordingly. This issue is the boiling over of several months of wrong accusations and illegitimate bans and fines. No white man can see the bias in this since it is not something that is happening to them. If you see it happen constantly knowing fully well that your money supports the ICC (70% of ICC funds come from India) your blood will boil.

VJ Menin - The current happenings are good for the future of Test Cricket because it forces the ICC to work the severe bugs out of a very autocratic rules book. In the short term the soap opera is very bad for the game...but in the long run-one of the best things to happen.

Amit C Patel - India needs to understand they are not bigger than the game. Even though Denness's decision was too harsh, you have to take it until you fix the process. That is the rule of a civilised system. I say fine India big-time (maybe one year of income) and SA to a lesser extent. Sehwag should be out of the next Test and the other suspended bans stand as is. Meanwhile, ICC needs to clean up its act and fix the process. There has got to be a way to appeal against a referee's ruling. But, until that is done (through a democratic voting system), live with the flawed system.

Vasantha De Silva - The problem with the ICC regulations is that the umpires and the match referees are not accountable. Does the ICC have a system to audit their activities on the field? I don't think so.

Saurabh Rajadhyax - Why should we accept punishments just because the referees do not understand our culture? I am deeply suspicious of the real intentions of Dalmiya and his ilk, but I'm also disappointed with the attitude of ICC office bearers. I am not asking for fair play because India is the largest market for cricket or because Sachin is a demi-god in India, I am asking for it because that it is the only way this game will survive. Chandu Why is this site not addressing the issues raised by Indian people such as why Players from other countries (specially from Aus/Eng/SA/NZ) are not punished though they commit similar offences on the field. We cannot go on taking this punishment and it is the time for us to act and show the ICC what we can do. As an Indian citizen I fully support the stand taken by the Indian Cricket board and we are ready to face the consequences. Saumil Kapadia - If Sachin Tendulkar tampered with the ball, he should be punished. But the important questions are how is the decision made and how clear is the evidence surrounding the incident? The TV footage on which the referee relied appears to be inconclusive and no rational person would have delivered a guilty verdict. In 1994, Michael Atherton, then captain of England was involved in a similar incident. At the time his word was accepted as truth and he was declared "innocent". Why should the same principles not applied to an Indian player? Sam Raj - Just as Englishmen were outraged at Holyfield being awarded victory in his first bout with Lewis, I am outraged as an Indian fan that no South African has been booked for offences committed in the 2nd Test - you'd have to be Don King to deny this.

K.L Bhaskaran - For too long, the match referees have targeted and punished the members of teams from subcontinent more harshly, wittingly or otherwise. One day the bubble had to burst. It's time ICC realised the problem; if not, the only alternative for teams from the sub-continent is to bleach their skins white.

Imran Ahmed No player is bigger than the team, no team bigger than the game it plays. Both India and South Africa have brought the game of cricket into disrepute: India by it's childish reactions and South Africa by its willingness to bow down to India's threats. The sooner Mr. Dalmiya is removed from his position the better off the world of cricket will be. Richard Kendall What exactly does Mr Dalmiya hope to achieve by completely defying the ICC, and writing his own rule book? This will not solve any problems, it will only tear cricket apart. If he wants a code of conduct for referees, then I am sure no-one else will dispute it now, but by riding roughshod over the only ruling body of the game we have, he undermines everything and threatens the whole fabric of the game across the globe.

Matt Hewitt Tendulkar was guilty of an error of judgement (and, technically speaking, a breach of the laws) in not telling the umpires what he was doing to the ball. Whilst the punishment of Tendulkar does seem a bit harsh, it cannot be described as excessively so. The captain of the team was then punished, on the perfectly reasonable grounds that if half of his team are being warned, then it suggests the captain has no control over his players. The captain is, at the end of the day, responsible for the team he leads (even if in practical terms, he cannot control them). The accusation of racism may or may not be true, but in the past people have shied away from penalising the Indians for fear of being accused of racism. Samjay Sarma Much in recent history points to an asymmetry towards dark-skinned cricket players. I need only mention the Muralitharan affair, the Warne-Waugh cover-up, the Lord MacLaurin-Stewart denial, the initial and impulsive denial of Cronje-gate, the speed to judgement towards Pakistani players, and so on. South Asians have a very strong statistical case which deserves the attention of the cricket world.

Is ICC right to insist that Virender Sehwag must miss the Mohali Test, or is the Indian board entitled to pick him? And should England stay in India if the match loses its Test status? E-mail us at feedback@wisden.com with your comments.

Views expressed are those of the reader concerned and not of Wisden Online. Please note that Wisden reserves the right to edit e-mails.

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