CENTURION, Nov 27: South African captain Shaun Pollock Tuesday called for players to have a say in the running of world cricket.

Speaking after his side had won the unofficial Test against India by an innings and 73 runs here, Pollock said there were lessons for the International Cricket Council to be learned from the controversy over match referee Mike Denness which led to the game losing its official Test status.

“The players are the ones out there and we should have a say,” said Pollock.

The South African captain said one of the main lessons for the ICC was that there should be a uniform list of penalties for on-field offences.

“It should be prescribed what the punishment is for each offence, not left to each match referee,” said Pollock, who said that despite his side’s good performance the players still did not regard the match as an official Test.

Stand-in Indian captain Rahul Dravid and coach John Wright both said India had approached the match as though it were an official Test.

“We went in fully focused and tried to win,” said Dravid.

“The best thing that can happen, whether it be excessive appealing or whatever, is that there should be a prescribed punishment for each offence,” Pollock said.

“Then it’s not left up to each match referee to make his own assessment. If someone appeals excessively it needs to be written down what the punishment will be.

“Then everyone will accept it because they know what the consequences are before it happens.”

Pollock added: “The ICC can maybe learn from this that everything should be set in place so that if anything does happen you have a code of conduct to deal with the situation.”—AFP/Reuters