Wisden.com readers continue to react to Mike Denness's shock decisions Feedback: Day 2
Feedback: Day 1 Sharan
Jagmohan Dalmiya was too hasty, and both India and SA should be removed from the ICC Test Championship immediately to teach them a lesson.

Vivek Srinivasan, Chennai, India
In the current mass hysteria many Indians have given reasons why Mike Denness was wrong. But none of those lamentations hold water. First, the excessive appealing. The charges also included intimidating the umpire and using abusive language. Our lament seems to be that Shaun Pollock did it as well. But consider these points:

1 Pollock appealed long and hard, but he didn't charge the umpire like Sehwag. His follow-through actually took him further away from the umpire.

2 His appeals against both Laxman and Das were upheld. So this has to be seen as justified rather than excessive appealing. If Sehwag's appeals had been successful, this whole mess might never have happened.

3 Pollock might have used colourful language at the batsmen, but never at the umpire. But Sehwag and Harbhajan appeared to utter the forbidden word after one bat-pad appeal was turned down.

4 ICC decided to get tougher with the players when it convened in July. So making references to the Australian series in March is like comparing apples to oranges. The rules then were different.

Next, Tendulkar. Was he within the Laws of the game? No. He should have asked the umpire. He didn't, so he must receive some punishment. If anybody had had the wisdom to suggest what this punishment should have been - according to ICC guidelines - we could then have compared it with the 75% fine and suspension and said that it was too harsh. But that didn't happen. So exactly what is Denness's sentence excessive in comparison to?

Neither has the media highlighted the loopholes in Mike Denness's procedure - that the umpires were not called during his second hearing. Instead, they harp on about the fact that neither the umpires nor the batsmen complained. Well, as for the umpires, the incident happened behind their back, while the other was more than 50 yards away so he could not have noticed. Why didn't the batsmen complain about the condition of the ball? Quite simply because they are not allowed to touch and see. And remember, even if the ball was unscathed, an attempt to tamper is as grievous an offence as tampering itself.

Make no mistake: I am the biggest supporter of Indian cricket there is. But by pointing our finger at all the wrong targets, the result is that we have lost an opportunity to square the series. The third Test has become quite meaningless.

Rakesh Nair
Sachin was just cleaning the ball. He did not tamper with it. If we are saying that he did tamper with it, then applying saliva and sweat should be defined as ball-tampering as well. The term has to be more clearly defined.

Chris Budd, Bristol, England
It seems to me that one delicious irony has been missed in all this. Several of the Indian players were fined for trying to influence the umpire's decision, and/or not accepting that decision. The Indian authorities then refused to accept the match referee's decision, and tried to influence this by threats. This surely compounds, if not overrides, the crime of the players. The question is, who will fine the administrators?

Vipin Punna
The decision by Mike Denness to suspend six Indian players is ridiculous. It smacks of a bias which becomes obvious when you see that Shaun Pollock was not even cautioned let alone warned for his behaviour. Also, neither the South African team nor the umpires complained to the match referee about the Indian players. There have been innumerable instances when South African, Australian and English players have behaved deplorably and have got away scot-free.

Ian MacIntyre, UK
The most disgraceful part of this saga has been the complete vilification of Denness. Is it his fault that ICC rules state he is not allowed to speak? No. Is it his fault there is no appeals procedure? No. ICC - with the full participation of India - set out the procedures for referees and those governing the laws of the game. But now, after falling foul of them, India are making a scapegoat of a man specifically prohibited from defending himself in the public domain.

Nishanka Chandrasekera
Dalmiya is again trying to manipulate ICC, and Tendulkar is not as innocent as he pretends to be. No-one should be bigger than the game.

Amit Itagi
ICC will eventually have to look into the issue of referees being biased and unaccountable, and the players not having a right to appeal against their ruling. The issue is not just whether Dennes was right or wrong. The issue is more about the nature of the ICC code.

Rohan Nicholls
You can't have Test countries overruling the referee, whether he's right or wrong. Both India and South Africa should be suspended for playing this Test without ICC sanction. And Denis Lindsay should be sacked.

Ad Cosijn, the Netherlands
It is not so much the fact that the Indians and their hero Tendulkar have been disciplined that concerns me, but the fact that others aren't or haven't been. Cleaning up cricket is long overdue, but we should start with the biggest culprits - the Australian and South African sledgers. By not punishing Shaun Pollock, Mike Denness has done himself and cricket no favours and should resign forthwith.

Sandeep, USA
I am a great fan of Steve Waugh but he is taking this too far. Who has given him the authority to comment on the game when he is not involved in it?

Jaideep Varma, Mumbai, India
Why hasn't anyone produced the ball that was reportedly tampered with? It would then be obvious whether or not the seam was removed. And it would shut everybody up.

Richard Kendall, Warrington, England
ICC must stand its ground, and show the world of cricket that it is at last a force to be reckoned with, and that the shiny new logo does not hide the same rickety old house of cards. If Denness, for all his alleged faults, is not allowed to do his job, which was agreed before the series, then the game will mean nothing.

Saurabh Rajadhyax, Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, USA
ICC should realise that there have been lots of biased judgements against Asian cricketers. Remember Lord MacLaurin taking a self-righteous position when some Pakistanis were accused match-fixing by then issuing an ultra-fast not-guilty verdict when Alec Stewart was accussed. ICC should tackle this problem as a fair arbiter.

Divyesh Patel, London, UK
While I don't believe that Mike Denness's decisions are in any way racist, they do seem to be biased against the Indian side. Everyone saw how Pollock managed to get a positive decision from the umpire against one of the Indian batsmen by a long, drawn-out appeal, yet he was not censured in any way. The Indians have a very good reason to feel aggrieved. However, I also think that the BCCI has reacted dismally to the situation by petulantly refusing to accept the referee's decision. One of the reasons Tendulkar is widely respected is that he has never shown dissent against an umpire's decision however atrocious. As a full member of the ICC, the BCCI should follow his example, accept Denness's decisions and get on with the game.

David Marschke, Australia
I do not propose to comment on the guilt or otherwise of Sachin. But some of the comments made in respect of Steve Waugh are ill-informed. Waugh clearly states that if Tendulkar has picked the seam then he should be punished. Nowhere does assert Sachin's guilt. The most disturbing matter is the us-and-them polarised debate (west v subcontinent) that has evidenced little objectivity.

Was Sachin wronged? Was Denness right? Should India and South Africa have insisted on his removal? And were ICC right to respond by stripping the current match of its Test status? E-mail us at feedback@wisden.com with your views.

Views expressed are those of the reader concerned and not of Wisden Online.

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