January 16, 2008	Wednesday	Muharram 06, 1429

PERTH, Jan 15: Australia and India have decided to abandon their agreement of trusting the word of fielders on contentious low catches for the rest of the series.

The two teams agreed before the first Test that batsmen would accept the word of the fielder rather than refer them to the third umpire because the replays were almost always inconclusive.

But the sides have dropped the agreement after a number of disputed catches in the Sydney Test, saying they would now leave the verdict to the umpires.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting said India skipper Anil Kumble had asked that the agreement be cancelled after the pair held a meeting to iron out their differences.

“It’s been scrapped,” Ponting said on Tuesday. “That wasn’t the way I wanted to play, I wanted to continue the way it was, but the feeling through the Indian team, and probably just not necessarily Anil’s thoughts on it, were that they would like it to go back and be in the hands of the umpire.

“I’ve just had a chat with both umpires on the ground now about the whole thing and they’ll be endeavouring to make the call between themselves on the field rather than just referring everything which is the way I prefer it to be.”

Umpires have been facing increased criticism in recent years as their mistakes are caught on camera but Kumble said he would still prefer them to have the final say.

“I think it’s best left to the judgement of the umpires and the match referee and the technology that we have,” Kumble said. “I think it’s a professional sport and everybody is under equal pressure...players are always under pressure to perform.”

Relations between the teams have improved after their bitter fallout in Sydney last week with Ponting and Kumble meeting face to face.

Meanwhile, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh will be able to play through the acrimonious series as his appeal against a three-match ban was on Monday set for after the final ball has been bowled.

However, the 27-year-old will face Appeals Commissioner Justice John Hansen on Jan 29 and 30 ahead of the Twenty20 series and the tri-nation one-day series – Sri Lanka being the other participants.

While Chief Executive of the ICC Malcolm Speed said it was regrettable that the appeal could not be heard before the end of the Test series but it proved impossible to organise.—Agencies