Dalmiya rubbishes ICC's threat

The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Thursday night rubbished the International Cricket Council's threat to derecognise the third cricket Test between India and South Africa, saying there are certain parameters for resorting to such an action.

"It cannot be done like that. There are certain parameters for this which have to be followed," BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya said, while reacting to the threat of ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed.

He said the system of appointing match referees was started hardly five years ago.

"Does that mean all the Test matches held for more than 100 years before that were unofficial?"

He said there are certain rules and provisions under which a match is recognised as official or unofficial.

Earlier, in a statement issued in London, Speed, while reacting to the joint decision of the Indian and South African cricket boards to remove Mike Denness as match referee for the third Test, threatened to derecognise the match, beginning on Friday in Johannesburg.

Dalmiya also emphasised that the third Test is very much "official", saying "there are certain rules and provisions for that and both the boards feel that it qualifies as an official Test."

He also rejected the notion that a match referee is a vital part of the game. "Suppose a referee is sick or absent, will the status of a match change from official to unofficial?"

The BCCI chief also said the presence of Mike Denness as match referee is not important and a bonafide match referee would be on duty at the Johannesburg Test.

"If a particular gentleman is not there, that does not make an official match unofficial. We don't believe in this," Dalmiya said.

He said the issue would ultimately come under the scrutiny of the ICC Executive Board and a majority verdict there would decide the final outcome.

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Mail Cricket Editor