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InDepth headlines national business sports cricket regional entertainment technology world travel autos health | in-depth coverage > Indian Cricket Team's South Africa Tour > South African Cricket Board ‘stumped’ ICC for money! 17.00 IST 25th Nov 2001 By IndiaExpress Bureau Well, this is how the cookie crumbled, and it is official now. If the International Cricket Council had agreed to pay 40 million rands, the South African Cricket Board would have abided by its decision, it was revealed on Sunday. Details of the goings on behind the scene shows clearly that South African decided to support India because of financial and political compulsions. UCBSA Chief Executive Gerald Majola reportedly told ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed "If the ICC can pay me 40 million rands, I am willing to abide by you". That was the sum the UCBSA would have lost if the match had been canceled. This did not include the 3 million expenses for legal suits by television companies which would have followed. Majola admitted that the South African Government was keen to ensure that India was not antagonized. "The Sports Minister rang me up on the day of this stand-off to express concern about the demonstration outside South African embassy in India... India is South Africa's strongest trading power." "We were caught up in a situation where we had to make a decision whether there is a match or no match... Our objective was to save the game." Mr. Majola sprang a surprise by saying that the UCBSA is taking the ongoing test as an unofficial one. Also, they won’t be pressing the ICC to declare it as official. The inflexible stand taken by the ICC complicated matters, said Majola. "They thought they were strong but I think they have lost ground here by being unflexible... The system has been proven wrong," he said. "The ICC could have said they are appointing a review committee." The SA official said he had requested Denness to stand down on his own. The match referee seemed inclined to agree in the beginning, but, after speaking to the ICC president, said he could not let him down. Majola termed the decision of Denness against Sachin Tendulkar "funny" because the ground umpires had not complained at all. "I spoke to Denness after that and said if Sachin Tendulkar was tampering with the ball, the South African innings was only 19 overs old and he could have an inspection of the ball through the umpires. Why do it after the end of day's play when 75 or more overs have been bowled and you can't tell if the ball was really tampered. "I spoke to the two umpires as well and they said they didn't find anything to report. They didn't even warn anyone. Even a few of our guys went overboard but there was no action taken against them. "I said all this to Denness but he said he knew his job and all that," Majola said. in-depth coverage > Indian Cricket Team's South Africa Tour > |
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