March 27, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 18, 1429

MELBOURNE, March 26: In a move that will put it in direct confrontation with the BCCI, Cricket Australia has made it clear that it would not support a total ban on sledging as the existing ICC code of conduct was good enough to deal with the issue.

“Cricket Australia’s (CA) position is that the ICC code of conduct already covers this issue,” a CA spokesman was quoted as saying in The Herald Sun. “A total ban on sledging had not been supported,” he added.

The CA official argued that even if a total ban is imposed, conflicts related to verbal abuse would be decided only on the basis of the existing code and therefore it was not necessary to completely do away with on-field banter. “The code makes it an offence to use language which is obscene, offensive or insulting. It is also an offence to make an obscene gesture,” he said.

“The code, under level 2 offence details, also notes that the ICC acknowledges that there will be verbal exchanges between players during the course of play,” he said.—Agencies