October 19, 2007	Friday	Shawwal 6, 1428

DUBAI, Oct 18: Malcolm Speed, the International Cricket Council (ICC)’s chief executive officer, has urged its member countries to follow a zero-tolerance policy towards racism and adhere to the Anti-Racism Code.

In the wake Andrew Symonds being subjected to monkey chants during the tour of India, Speed said on Thursday: “If people are seen or heard behaving in a racist way then our message to the ground authorities and host boards is clear: find the culprits, throw them out and keep them out because racism has no place in our sport.

“It is pleasing to hear that some offenders in Mumbai were ejected and that is the type of zero tolerance we want in relation to this despicable behaviour.”

The Mumbai police had held four spectators for allegedly passing racist comments against Australian players at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai during the seventh ODI of the series.

The four, who were booked under Section 110 of the Bombay Police Act (behaving indecently in public), were immediately released after paying a fine of Rs1,200 each as per the provisions of the law.

Speed also confirmed the ICC had received a response from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to a previous request for information on reported incidents during the fifth ODI between Australia and India in Baroda on Oct 11.

“The BCCI has undertaken to obtain reports from independent sources concerning that match and we look forward to receiving those reports as soon as possible,” Speed said.

He had written to the BCCI again on Thursday to get its comments concerning the behaviour of sections of the crowd at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday when Symonds was subjected to alleged racial abuse.

An Australian photographer captured on camera certain spectators in the North Stand enacting monkey chants, a complaint that had been first made during the one-dayer in Baroda.

Meanwhile, the BCCI has said that it will take measures to prevent bad crowd behaviour during the Twenty20 international between India and Australia at the Brabourne Stadium on Saturday.

“The BCCI has appointed chief administrative officer Professor Ratnakar Shetty to deal with the crowd-control issue and it will be done in consultation with the Mumbai police,” BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi was quoted as saying in PTI.

“We can only persuade the crowd to control themselves but cannot make any arrests. All we can do is to eject people from the ground.”

Another BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla said that police personnel would be posted in various enclosures to prevent poor behaviour.—Agencies