December 29, 2001	Saturday	Shawwal 13, 1422

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

KOLKATA, Dec 28: India’s simmering row with the International Cricket Council (ICC) over match referee Mike Denness took a new turn on Friday when the Indian board said it was unhappy with the proposed make-up of a panel to review the affair.

Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), told a news conference: “We have not been able to resolve the panel’s names and discussions are still going on. The panel has not been formed.”

The row began last month when the India board, upset by some of Denness’s decisions during the country’s tour of South Africa, initiated his sacking for the last Test in the series.

The world governing body, which appointed Denness, responded by stripping the third and final Test between South Africa and India of its official status. The game, however, went ahead in open defiance of the ICC.

An uneasy truce was only brokered when the ICC agreed to review Denness’s performance, which included the sanctioning of six Indian players, Sachin Tendulkar among them, during the second test at Port Elizabeth.

India was allowed to have a say in the appointing of this ICC panel.

Dalmiya, himself a former head of the world governing body, added: “There are names suggested from both sides (for the panel) and so far we have not been able to agree.”

Many pundits have forecast that the controversy could lead to a split in the world game.

Dalmiya has insisted India would regard the third test in South Africa as official, despite the ICC ruling, but has denied trying to lead a breakaway.

India argued that Denness showed bias in sanctioning so many of their players during the test series while not curbing South African excesses.

ENGLAND COMMITTED: England have agreed to play an additional sixth one-day international during their series in India starting next month, following agreement by the cricket boards of both countries over the make-up of future matches.

The compromise ends a long-running dispute between the two countries, and Dalmiya confirmed India would now honour their commitment to play four Tests during their tour of England next year.

“England has confirmed it will play an additional one-day game. The series will now start on Jan 19, with the first game to be played in Kolkata,” Dalmiya told reporters Friday.

The one-day series was originally scheduled to start on Jan 22.

The second one-day international will now be played in Cuttack on Jan 22, followed by matches in Madras on Jan 25, Kanpur on Jan 28, New Delhi on Jan 31 and Mumbai on Feb 3.

“I’m pleased that, after some lengthy and quite difficult negotiations, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and BCCI have reached an agreement finalising tour arrangements between England and India,” ECB chief executive Tim Lamb said in a statement.

“In my discussions with the BCCI, I insisted on behalf of the England team that, if an additional one-day international was to be played in January, then the first match of the series had to be played in the same venue where England will be warming up.

“This important concession was made by the BCCI, and the first match will now give England eight clear days’ acclimatisation after arriving in Calcutta.”

But the ECB have refused a further Indian request for England to play a five-Test series during their planned tour of India in 2005-6.

Dalmiya said England would either play four Tests and five one-dayers in India or three Tests and a triangular series that may feature seven one-day internationals.

“This to ensure both teams are on a reciprocal basis for these tours,” he said.—Reuters