Bhajji fined 50 per cent match fee, no ban

Bhajji fined 50 per cent match fee, no ban: "Bhajji fined 50 per cent match fee, no ban
New Delhi: The hearing in Harbhajan Singh's appeal against a three-Test ban commenced at the Adelaide Federal Court on Tuesday and according to sources, a compromise formula has been worked out between the two teams.

The racial abuse charges against Harbhajan Singh were dropped after India's Sachin Tendulkar and Australian captain, Ricky Ponting wrote a letter to the presiding judge, Justice John Hansen, to reduce Harbhajan's charges from Level 3.3 to level 2.8 — from charges of racial abuse to using offensive language.

Level 2.8 carries a fine of 50 to 100 per cent of the match fee and can also result in a one Test or two ODI ban. Harbhajan Singh has been fined 50 per cent of the match fee.

Harbhajan had been accused of making a racist remark against Australian player Andrew Symonds during the second Test in Sydney earlier this month.

Match Referee Mike Procter had subsequently slapped a ban on the Indian off-spinner. The series was jeopardised when the Indian team protested against the ban, threatening to pull out of the series if the charges of racism against Harbhajan Singh were not dropped.

ICC-appointed Justice Hansen had said on Monday that additional evidence — including chat transcripts — available from the stump microphone, would be taken into account.

The BCCI, however, opposed the move, fearing the such evidence could be tampered and doctored.

BCCI had kept open its option of curtailing the tour, even if invited a fine, in case Harbhajan was not cleared of the racist slur.

India is scheduled to meet Australia in the first match of the tri-series on Sunday.

During the course of the hearing, Justice Hansen heard all witnesses who had appeared before Mike Procter after the Sydney Test.

Tendulkar, who was batting with Harbhajan when the spat between Harbhajan and Symonds happened, acknowledged the waiting media outside the Adelaide court room but did not make any comments.

He has admitted to a brawl between Harbhajan and Symonds but has vehemently denied hearing Harbhajan using any racially abusive term against the Australian.

Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke and Matthew Hayden — who also attended the hearing — were not immediately available for comment.

New Evidence May Be Heard In Harbhajan Appeal Case

Cricketworld.com | New Evidence May Be Heard In Harbhajan Appeal Case: "New Evidence May Be Heard In Harbhajan Appeal Case
28 January 2008
New Evidence May Be Heard In Harbhajan Appeal Case

The New Zealand judge who will hear Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh's appeal against his three-match ban for racism has said he may allow new evidence to presented at the hearing.

Harbhajan was found guilty of making racist remarks about all-rounder Andrew Symonds, Australia's only black player, during the second test in Sydney earlier this month.

Harbhajan has denied the charges and Indian board (BCCI) lodged an appeal on his behalf, which will be heard in Adelaide from Tuesday.

New Zealand high court judge John Hansen said he planned to review all the evidence from the initial hearing and may also consider some additional evidence unavailable to the match referee Mike Proctor at the original hearing.

'This will be a re-hearing with evidence given by all of the witnesses who gave evidence to the adjudicator Mr Procter,' Hansen said in a statement.

'There may also be some additional evidence such as the transcript and video available from the stump cam that was not available to Mr Procter.'

The BCCI briefly suspended its team's tour of Australia and threatened to cancel the rest of the trip unless Harbhajan was cleared on appeal.

They later withdrew"

Cricket World® Player Of The Week - Nasir Jamshed

Cricket World® Player Of The Week - Nasir Jamshed
Young Pakistan opening batsman Nasir Jamshed has been named as the Cricket World® Player Of The Week after exploding onto the international scene against Zimbabwe.

Young Pakistan opening batsman Nasir Jamshed has been named as the Cricket World® Player Of The Week after exploding onto the international scene against Zimbabwe.

Jamshed, who scored a big century in the four-day game leading into the one-day series, earned a call up to the one-day squad and responded with innings of 61 from 48 balls and 74 from 64 balls as Pakistan cruised to a 2-0 series lead.

His belligerence at the top of the order on both occasions put Pakistan in a strong position and although he only managed to score 32 in the third match, he still did so at a good pace, complementing opening partner Salman Butt's more steady approach.

Also in the running for this week's award was Jacques Kallis for his unbeaten century in the third one-day international against the West Indies, Indian centurions Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag and Ross Taylor who thumped 111 for the Central Districts in a Twenty20 game.

Jamshed's remarkable impact for a player with just 22 first-class games behind won the vote, however.

The Cricket World ® Player Of The Week is judged by the www.cricketworld.com E"


Source :http://www.cricketworld.com/media_centre/article/?aid=14549

Mobilink 2008 series

[Official] PAK vs ZIM 4th ODI, Faisalabad, 2008.
Mobilink 2008 series

Pakistan vs Zimbabwe
4th ODI of 5 match series, Pak 3-0 up

Date: 30th Jan 2008
Time: 11:00 local, 06:00 GMT
Venue: Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad


As expected, Pakistan have made a number of changes to their squad for the fourth ODI against Zimbabwe, to be played in Faisalabad on January 30.

Pakistan wrapped up the five-match series in Multan with a comfortable 37-run win and the plan had always been to try out as many new faces as possible. With that in mind, four players have been dropped and three players come in to a 14-man squad.

Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal are the most high-profile absences; Akmal making way for Sarfraz Ahmed was always on the card once the series had been secured, but Butt's poor returns haven't helped his case. Rao Iftikhar Anjum, who has had a poor series, and Yasir Arafat, who only played in Multan, are the other casualties.

In their place come opener Khurram Manzoor, the second-leading first-class run-scorer this season, Sarfraz and Wahab Riaz, the left-arm pace bowler who has taken over 50 wickets for National Bank of Pakistan this season.

It is expected that one of Khalid Latif or Manzoor will open with Pakistan's find of the series Nasir Jamshed, while Sohail Khan might also get a chance to add some bite to what has been a toothless pace attack so far.

Pakistan squad: Shoaib Malik, Nasir Jamshed, Khalid Latif, Khurram Manzoor, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam, Sarfraz Ahmad, Sohail Tanveer, Kamran Hussain, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz
DISCUSS HERE

PONTING ON INDIA

orkut - Messages: "India proved their No. 2 status: Ponting
Mon, Jan 28 02:33 PM

After scraping past a spirited India to win the engrossing home Test series, Australian captain Ricky Ponting and his retiring deputy Adam Gilchrist said Anil Kumble and his teammates have confirmed their status as the second best team in the world.

Ponting said though his team won the Border-Gavaskar trophy after winning the four-match series 2-1, India could return home their head held high.

'It was an enjoyable series, a hard-fought contest over the last one month. India played some very good cricket and proved that they are the No. 2 team in the world,' Ponting said.

Gilchrist, who hung up his gloves after the Test, said though his side had surrendered the Ashes to an England team in 2005, the Indian side under Kumble was second only to Australia.

'This team is right up there. Maybe we lost the Ashes in 2005 to an England side that was a terrific combination but this Indian side is even better,' Gilchrist said.

According to him, new crop of fast bowlers had lent balance to the Indian side, which looked formidable even when playing abroad."

BAJJI IS BANNED

orkut - Messages: "Bhajji Case.. Is it a CONSPIRACY / FRAUD.....
http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/ausvind/content/current/story/333733.html

Extract from the link is as follows :
Another curious information to have emerged today is that the feed to the stump microphone was withdrawn from ESPN-Star by Channel 9, the host broadcaster, on the third morning of the Sydney Test, the day which the exchange between Harbhajan and Symonds took place.

1. Can it be a SHEER COINCIDENCE of withdrawing the FEED during 'that' day...???
2. Earlier it was reported in the so-called HEARING that there was no evidence of STUMP-Mic..
3. Why did it take SO-LONG to provide the so-called evidence..? Is is CONCOCTED..?

Well... everything now looks to be completely PRE-PLANNED-CONSPIRACY...
Hell with ICC... ASIAN teams fetch them their BREAD-&-BUTTER and they act so funny...?

Request MEMBERS to POST their views on this NEW-EVIDENCE and the CONSPIRACY-ANGLE..
."