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Mumbai; Sydney: Australia spinner Brad Hogg has been summoned to a hearing by match referee Mike Procter following an incident during the ill-tempered second Test against India in Sydney.
A statement from the International Cricket Council (ICC) yesterday said the spinner was accused of making an offensive remark to India captain Anil Kumble and vice-captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on the final day of the Test on Sunday.
Hosts Australia won the match by 122 runs to equal their own record of 16 consecutive Test victories. But the was overshadowed by poor umpiring and a ban on India spinner Harbhajan Singh for the alleged racial abuse of Australia's Andrew Symonds.
Hogg's alleged offence falls under the same category as Harbhajan's - 3.3 of the ICC code of conduct - which refers to players or team officials "using language or gestures that offends, insults, humiliates, intimidates, threatens, disparages or vilifies another person on the basis of that person's race, religion, gender, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin".
The penalty for a Level 3 offence is a ban of between two and four Test matches or between four and eight one-day Internationals, the statement said. The preliminary date for the hearing is set for Jan 14 in Perth, two days prior to the third Test.
Seething tensions
Meanwhile, the ICC yesterday scrambled to save India's crisis-hit tour of Australia, axing a top umpire and announcing plans to fly in a top official to ease seething tensions between the two teams.
ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said umpire Steve Bucknor would be replaced by Billy Bowden for the third Test in Perth, following complaints from the Indian team about his performance in Sydney.
Bucknor was criticised for bungling key decisions in the explosive match which ended in accusations of bad sportsmanship and racism, overshadowing Australia's record-equalling 16th straight Test win.
"The tour will go on, we never said it won't," the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) source said. "A formal announcement will be made tonight."
The damaging row has threatened to derail one of cricket's biggest series, at a reported cost to Cricket Australia of up to $43.5 million in compensation payments to TV broadcasters.
Speed said ICC chief referee Ranjan Madugalle would attend the Perth Test from January 16 "to make sure the ill feeling that has evolved between the teams dissipates."
The ICC has also decided to appoint a code of conduct commissioner to adjudicate on India's appeal against Harbhajan's ban.
Speed said Harbhajan would be eligible to play while his appeal against the ban was pending.
The BCCI president, Sharad Pawar, yesterday thanked the ICC for removing controversial umpire Steve Bucknor from the third Test.
"I'm grateful that ICC has taken this decision and removed him. The Indian Board is quite happy about that," Pawar said yesterday.
Ministerial efforts
The Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, urged cricket authorities to settle the matter "at the first available opportunity."
Rudd's cabinet colleague, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, also joined the efforts to soothe the frayed nerves when he said it is time for "cool heads" to prevail.
Smith affirmed that the tensions following the controversy-ridden Sydney Cricket Test will not hurt relations between the two countries.
The Australian team, meanwhile, have rallied behind skipper Ricky Ponting who is facing attacks from the local media and whose removal has been demanded.
"Ricky has got the full support of everyone in our team and probably every cricketer around Australia," leading batsman Michael Hussey said, even as cricket columnist Peter Roebuck demanded that be be sacked as captain.
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