ICC rapped on Sarwan-McGrath tiff

LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief executive Rameez Raja has rapped the International Cricket Council (ICC) for their “surprising” failure to take action against Australian Glenn McGrath and West Indian Ramnaresh Sarwan for their on-pitch altercation during the fourth Cable and Wireless Test match in Antigua earlier this month.

Raja said the ICC are not displaying consistency in the application of their own laws. In the wake of Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar’s two-match ban for ball-tampering, Raja said the interpretation of the laws surrounding the ICC’s code of conduct was not being put to use universally. He said match officials should have charged McGrath and Sarwan with punishment similar to Akhtar. “I do not want to defend the acts of Shoaib Akhtar because his action was discouraging to Pakistan cricket, and that too at a time when we are trying to introduce a new culture in the new team. He has been reprimanded and he has shown his remorse.”

Shoaib was suspended and fined after being caught scratching the ball on television pictures, and Raja is concerned that McGrath and Sarwan were not disciplined for their angry confrontation, replayed internationally on television, even though both ball-tampering and sledging are Level Two offences, according to the ICC code of conduct. “Both rules are to be interpreted by the match referee,” continued Rameez. “In the West Indies recently, it was proved beyond doubt that there was a just and undeniable case of a Level Two offence regarding sledging. Surprisingly, no action was taken either by the umpires or the match referee. If TV is considered a fact-finding mission, then it has to be universally followed as part of the standard playing conditions applicable universally,” Raja said. It is expected that the matter will discussed at the ICC meetings in London next month.