ICC chief blasts own president over ‘fixing’ claims
21 March 2015 11:52 PM GMT
International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive David Richardson on Friday slammed his organization’s Bangladeshi president for questioning the integrity of umpires, saying allegations of fixing were “unfortunate” and “baseless”. Mustafa Kamal claimed decisions made by officials during Bangladesh’s 109-run loss to India in their World Cup quarterfinal in Melbourne on Thursday seemed to have been “pre-arranged”. Kamal was angry that India’s Rohit Sharma, who top-scored with 137, had not been given not out on 90 when he was caught at deep mid-wicket off the bowling of Rubel Hossain, only for umpires Aleem Dar and Ian Gould to signal a no-ball for what appeared to be a legitimate waist-high delivery. But Richardson defended Dar and Gould from all accusations of biased officiating.
“The ICC has noted Mr Mustafa Kamal’s comments, which are very unfortunate but made in his personal capacity. As an ICC president, he should have been more considerate in his criticism of ICC match officials, whose integrity cannot be questioned. The no-ball decision was a 50-50 call. The spirit of the game dictates that the umpire’s decision is final and must be respected. Any suggestion that the match officials had ‘an agenda’ or did anything other than perform to the best of their ability are baseless and are refuted in the strongest possible terms,” said former South Africa wicketkeeper Richardson. Kamal said he was considering quitting his post in protest. “As the ICC president, whatever I have to say I will say it in next meeting. It could happen that maybe I will resign. There was no quality in the umpiring. It looked like they took the field after it (the outcome) was pre-arranged,” Kamal said in comments aired on Bangladeshi television.
“The ICC has noted Mr Mustafa Kamal’s comments, which are very unfortunate but made in his personal capacity. As an ICC president, he should have been more considerate in his criticism of ICC match officials, whose integrity cannot be questioned. The no-ball decision was a 50-50 call. The spirit of the game dictates that the umpire’s decision is final and must be respected. Any suggestion that the match officials had ‘an agenda’ or did anything other than perform to the best of their ability are baseless and are refuted in the strongest possible terms,” said former South Africa wicketkeeper Richardson. Kamal said he was considering quitting his post in protest. “As the ICC president, whatever I have to say I will say it in next meeting. It could happen that maybe I will resign. There was no quality in the umpiring. It looked like they took the field after it (the outcome) was pre-arranged,” Kamal said in comments aired on Bangladeshi television.
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