Wisden.com readers continue to react to Mike Denness's shock decisions Feedback: Day 1

Abhilash Nair (a South African of Indian origin)
Everything is really getting blown out of proportion. I am a South African and I was watching the scene live when Sachin apparently abused the seam. One of our commentators said quite clearly that " Sachin is cleaning the seam." This is clearly an unlawful act.

Saif, Dallas, USA
During Pakistan's last tour of Australia, Abdur Razzaq, the Pakistani allrounder, made an assertion that he saw Tendulkar tampering with the ball during the one-day triangular series. Razzaq was ridiculed then. But events at Port Elizabeth have vindicated him. Denness did his job honestly - without caring about the big name involved.

Sumit Sahai, Cambridge, UK
The Indian players should register their extreme displeasure at the conduct of Mike Denness and the ICC by playing the third Test match wearing black armbands.

Dr Ashok Malur, New Zealand
If the refereeing system really was fair the whole Australian team would have been made to sit out entire Test series. Steve Waugh is just upset that his team of abusers and cheats couldn't win in India. He is also displacing his anger against Sourav Ganguly towards Sachin.

Natarajan, Mumbai, India
No-one who is fair will agree with Mike Denness. India should protest against the decision not by withdrawing from the tour but by playing the last Test with 10 players (to protest against Sehwag's suspension) and by not appealing except for whispering in the umpire's ear.

Kartikeya Date
Aren't people reading too much into what Steve Waugh said? "If he is guilty of ball-tampering, then he must be penalised". This in no way amounts to an agreement with Mike Denness's actions. As for all the accusations, it is the explicit implication that Sachin Tendulkar was guilty of cheating that has rankled and given rise to the suspicion of racism.

Diljeeth SN, Ahmedabad, India
When an experienced Pollock was jumping up and down five times for a single appeal, it was upheld. When a young Sehwag became a little over-enthusiastic he was given a ban. This is either pure racism or yet another tactic to bring down the morale of the Indian cricketers. The reason? Nasser & Co are in India.

Amit Goel
Is Steve Waugh allowed to speak about ICC rulings? I thought the code of conduct prevented players from commenting.

Aman Misra
The people who are sitting at the helm of ICC need to be removed and the ICC Headquarters should be moved to India. These kind of incidents are not helping the game, and they are too grave to be ignored. What we are witnessing is the frustration of the white cricket world, who cannot accept the fact that the best players are coming from the brown community.

Dr B Rabindra, Herts, UK
When the match referee and/or ICC bring the game into disrepute, whom should one complain to?

Mairaj Ghaus, Karachi, Pakistan
I totally agree with Steve Waugh's views regarding the banning of a player for ball-tampering. And I also agree with the strict penalties given by Mr Denness to the Indian players for excessive appealing. I think that had any other Indian player been involved in ball-tampering, there would not have been so much hue and cry. The Indians should realise that even the great Sachin Tendulkar is a mortal and can commit a mistake.

Rob Bruce, Australia
Just because Denness imposed fines and bans doesn't mean he's racist. Look at the video - Sachin and Co are as guilty as it is possible to be. Denness's decision might just start to make the referee's position a valid one. And not before time.

Giriraj Pathmanaban, Ann Arbor, Michigan
The ICC is very stringent in not allowing captains to talk about umpires and referees to the media. So how can Steve Waugh make a comment praising Denness for his decision?

Jim (an Indian from Sydney, Australia)
It appears to me that the e-mails to Wisden.com are coming from some Indians who have a chip on their shoulder about their skin colour. Why should they feel that this incident is racially motivated? Colour has nothing to do with it. Video evidence clearly shows Sachin lifting the seam in a very deliberate way. It takes a big man to apologise for his actions. Let us see just how big a man Sachin really is.

Saty Warty, Sydney, Australia
The umpires did not report the incident and did not find anything wrong with the ball. Any person who has watched Sachin knows that he is a compulsive nail-biter and does not have nails! So where did Mike Denness find the evidence of ball-tampering?

Vik Uppal, London
The Tendulkar punishment was the correct decision under the new ICC rules. Even if he did not attempt to tamper with the ball, any cleaning will raise an eyebrow or two.

Lee Carson
Perhaps if other ICC referees had taken a firmer line over previous incidents in other games involving all countries there wouldn't be the outcry over Mike Denness' actions.

Giriraj Pathmanaban, Michigan, USA
If you are going to punish the Indians for excessive appealing, then why on earth was Shaun Pollock spared? He practically did a war dance every time the ball hit the pads. The sledging the South Africans have indulged in has been the most I have ever seen even including the Aussies. So why haven't they been punished? If this is not prejudice, then I don't know what is.

Jaidev
I agree with what happened to Sachin. Obviously he wasn't tampering with the ball, but the law says he can't even clean the seam. So fine. No worries there. But consider the following. 1) In 1992 Kepler Wessels hit Kapil Dev on the shins for running out Peter Kirsten for backing up after giving him a couple of warnings. Action taken against Wessels? None.

2) In 1997 Allan Donald admitted to verbally abusing Rahul Dravid after being beaned over square leg for six. Action taken? None. 3) In 1999, during the Melbourne Test I don't think anyone will forget the send off Glenn McGrath gave Sachin. For the same offence against Michael Slater, Venkatesh Prasad was fined £900. Why? 4) In the Bombay test this year we all saw Slater argue with the umpire and then abuse Dravid. This when the catch that he was claiming was clearly a bump ball. Action taken? A suspended ban. All this clearly shows that Indians have been discriminated against by the racist ICC. Not to mention the sorry Shoaib and Murali sagas. Perhaps the time has come for England, Australia and South Africa to play among themselves. All the money in cricket is in the subcontinent any way. We'll see how long cricket lasts in the West without our TV money.

Nikhilesh Bhattacharya, India
As far as intimidating the umpire by charging at him is concerned, it has been observed that this is a peculiar habit that subcontinental players have. The foul-mouthed appealing of the South Africans and Australians make your hair stand on end: but they seldom advance towards the umpire. The reason lies in the different bowling styles. Australia and South Africa rely on fast bowlers and when a close-in fielder takes a catch the bowler follows through to the catcher. A spinner usually has a somewhat stalled follow-through, and remains rooted in his place while the close-in fielders complete the catch and come running to him, and the customary hops, skips and jumps take place on the bowler's half of the pitch. So it is an instinctive reaction for these fielders to run towards the bowler while still appealing. This can be easily misinterpreted as charging the umpire. Mike Denness is not biased, he simply failed to read the nuances of the game.

Anooj Vadgama
I feel extreme anger towards the double-standards employed by the white Test nations. The attitudes of Messrs Waugh, Greig and Denness are testimony to this. First, Waugh believes Tendulkar is guilty of cheating. So if he is such a fair player and captain, will he encourage his batsman to walk and his bowlers to not appeal when they all know that it was not out? Second, where was Tony Greig's opinion during the Atherton incident? Third, there were several long and protracted appeals by the South Africans too, and several verbal incidents. Yet Denness can find six Indian players guilty, and not one single South African? The whole thing stinks.

Rajesh Adusumalli
Steve Waugh! Ain't he the wiseguy that the cricket world has been waiting for all these years. He seems to have an opinion on every incident in the cricket world (most of which he is not involved in). I can't understand how the media can revere this dude who shoots off immature statements from all the wrong places.

Does anyone else feel that Sachin was wronged? Or that Denness did the right thing? E-mail us at feedback@wisden.com with your views.

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