Ganguly fends off bouncers

Sourav Ganguly doesn't enjoy a big reputation against short-pitched deliveries, but the India captain was forced to fend off a few testing balls off the field of play here yesterday.

To his disappointment, the India players were stopped by a high-ranking local administrator when they attempted to take part in a light fielding session at the Antigua Recreation Ground just after midday.

"It's difficult when you don't get to practise on the Test match ground before the day's play. That's how it goes," Ganguly told reporters when asked if he was disappointed about the move taken by the Antigua Cricket Association official who threatened to call in police.

"We would have loved to practise, but if that's the way their rule is, it is the same for both teams."

With those opening remarks out of the way, Ganguly was given two bouncers. One stemmed from remarks in the Indian parliament that he was among a group of cricketers who had defaulted on taxes.

"They make so much money. I can't remember all these things," Ganguly responded when asked if those charges could have a negative effect on his men at a critical stage of the Cable & Wireless series which is locked at 1-1 ahead of the fourth Test starting here today.

The other bouncer Ganguly was forced to fend off surrounded comments he made on the quality of umpiring in the third Test at Kensington Oval.

Under the International Cricket Council's Code of Conduct, players and team officials are not allowed to publicly comment on the performance of umpires.

But Ganguly, in a newspaper column in the Hindustan Times, said mistakes made by the TV replay umpire were unacceptable.

"One can understand mistakes made by the umpires in the middle, because they have a fraction of a second to decide, but not when you have 50 replays for something that was so obvious," the India captain wrote.

Asked if he reckoned he could face a fine from the authorities for his actions, Ganguly said: "I didn't comment on anything."

A few minutes earlier, he told reporters: "I don't want to stress on it. Everybody makes mistakes, but I hope it doesn't happen again."