October 14, 2007	Sunday	Shawwal 1, 1428

NAGPUR, Oct 13: Australian captain Ricky Ponting said on Saturday the International Cricket Council (ICC) should take action over the alleged racial abuse of Andrew Symonds by Indian fans.

Cricket Australia (CA) said on Friday that Symonds complained about noises made by some sections of the crowd as he fielded near the boundary during the game against India in Baroda on Thursday.

However, the team refrained from lodging a formal complaint, leaving the local authorities to solve the matter.Ponting said the ICC, the game’s governing body, which adopted a stringent, new anti-racism code last November, should take the lead.

“I know the match referee knows about it. If the ICC gets it in his report, they will have a chance to do something about it,” Ponting told reporters. “I think for us to be saying anything about it, we need for the ICC to be doing something about it first.

“Racism is unacceptable anywhere in the world. You don’t expect it to happen when you step out on the field. We did not deserve it and we don’t expect it to happen again.”

Spokesman of the ICC James Fitzgerald said match referee Chris Broad’s match report had been discussed at length and the Indian board may be asked for an explanation.

“There may be questions that we will need answered from the (Board of Control for Cricket in India),” Fitzgerald said. “We may seek clarification on certain aspects of the anti-racism code and whether it has been implemented fully. If not, the question will be, ‘Why not?’

“We’re very keen to get this matter sorted to try and prevent it from recurring. Too much is left of this series.”

BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said local authorities denied any racial taunts were directed at Symonds.

“The Baroda police, who were looking after the situation, have denied this story,” Shah said. “The code was implemented at the ground as per guidelines.”

The abuse was widely reported in Australian newspapers, with the Sydney Morning Herald saying the monkey chants were similar to those that have plagued European football.

Daily Telegraph said thousands of spectators were involved in the abuse, prompting ground authorities to flash the ICC’s anti-racism code on the replay screen.—AFP