Thursday, November 29, 2001 Yesterday evening, Jagmohan Dalmiya finally responded to the fax from Malcolm Speed of the ICC, and what he said inadvertently revealed the weakness in his position.

"The chief executive officer is asking for details of the team," Dalmiya told a press conference in Calcutta. "I can't tell him that. I do not know where this deadline has come from. Who can dictate a deadline to anyone? The team will only be named on the morning of the match."

Dalmiya does know where the deadline has come from: from the boss of ICC, anxious not to let the stand-off go to Monday morning, when fans will be at the ground and security could be at risk. This is set out in the fax.

And Speed didn't ask Dalmiya to name India's team by the deadline. He asked him to give his decision on whether or not they would accept the ban on one player - Virender Sehwag.

In order to keep talking the talk, Dalmiya has had to twist the facts. Just as he has been forced to make out that the match at Centurion was an official Test, when clearly, to the impartial observer, or even the South African one, it was not. So the winner of this little skirmish is ICC.

We hesitate to say so now that some readers have accused Wisden of blindly siding with the cricket establishment. The answer to that is: you should see what we have said about ICC in the past. In fact, from this week, when all the articles from the Almanack are added to this site, you CAN see what we have said about ICC in the past. In the five years that I have been working for Wisden, it has seldom been complimentary.

Even now, we feel that ICC could be doing more to address the feelings that lie behind the stand-off - although the Indian board, in its turn, needs to acknowledge its own part in the setting-up of the system, including the appointment of Mike Denness.

We are supporting ICC on the Sehwag issue, with certain provisos and reservations, because they are right. Referees have to be independent of national boards, and therefore their decisions, however ill-aimed, have to be accepted. The grievances held by many Indian supporters over the whole disciplinary process are legitimate and reasonable. Dalmiya's continued defiance is neither of these things. And it is desperately unfair on Sehwag.

More From the Editor
Indian Board wrong about Sehwag

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd