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Bucknor would not be - umpire third Test in Perth

2008-01-08

Bucknor won't umpire third Test in Perth

January 8, 2008 - 5:21PM
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Umpire Steve Bucknor will not stand in the third cricket Test between Australia and India in Perth, International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Malcolm Speed said on Tuesday.

Bucknor will be replaced by New Zealand's Billy Bowden.

India had demanded Bucknor be stood down from the Test following their anger towards his performance in the second Test in Sydney.

Umpiring was one issue India were unhappy with following that match, along with the three-Test suspension imposed on spinner Harbhajan Singh.

Speed acknowledged some people would be unhappy given India had requested Bucknor be stood down.

"I can understand that people will take that view," he said.

"It is an extraordinary set of circumstances and we want to take some of the tension out of the situation."

Harbhajan was on Monday suspended for three Tests after he was found guilty of racially abusing Australia's Andrew Symonds in Sydney by calling him a "monkey".

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has suspended its tour pending the outcome of Harbhajan's appeal hearing.

But Speed could not say when that hearing would be held.

He was hopeful it would be held before the next Test, starting on January 16.

If the hearing was not held before then, he said, Harbhajan would be eligible to play in Perth.

Speed was hopeful India's tour would continue, but could not guarantee that.

Speed said the ICC needed to take a "pragmatic view" towards the issue, and needed to be "flexible" to resolve the crisis.

He was confident Bucknor, 61, would umpire again at Test level.

Speed said match referee Ranjan Madugalle, the former Sri Lankan captain, would also be appointed as a mediator between the Australian and Indian sides.

Meanwhile, a racism hearing against Australian spinner Brad Hogg will also go ahead, after the Indians alleged he called captain Anil Kumble a "bastard" in Sydney.

Hogg's hearing will be heard some time before the third Test by match referee Mike Procter.

Speed said Procter and an ICC-appointed code of conduct commissioner would re-hear the Harbhajan case, with the witnesses to be again called.

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