ICC President delays departure as crisis talks continue

The president of the International Cricket Council, Malcolm Gray, has delayed his departure for Malaysia as discussions continue to settle the Virender Sehwag row.

The ICC yesterday extended today's deadline for a decision by the Board of Control for Cricket in India on whether the banned batsman plays in the first Test against England at Mohali.

Gray and the ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed are due to meet the BCCI President Jagmohan Dalmiya in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow.

While Gray has delayed his departure from Australia by four hours with talks continuing, Dalmiya today confirmed he is prepared to meet on Saturday.

Malcolm Speed said: "We are making progress but we still have a considerable way to go.

"It's a strange sort of negotiation. It's two steps forward and one step backwards, sometimes it's two steps forward, three steps backwards, sometimes we end up further backwards than when we started."

Sehwag has been included in the 14-man squad for the first Test, despite being given a one-match ban earlier this month by match referee Mike Denness for excessive appealing in India's second Test against South Africa.

The ICC insist Sehwag has not served his ban, as they ruled India's third Test against South Africa (which Sehwag missed) to be unofficial after neither team would accept Denness as referee.

Speed indicated that that future legislation of match referees was crucial to the talks.

"It's one of the things we'll be looking at. From April 1, 2002, we have in place a completely new system for referees.

"What we're looking at is some of the regulations whether there should be a right of appeal and if there is how we bring that in without having a system where players or teams might take unfair advantage of the system. That's one of the reasons why the negotiations and discussions have gone on so long.

"We don't want this going down to the last moment with the teams being presented to the opposing captain just before the toss with an excited cricket ground full of fans. With the safety of players, officials and the public we can't afford to let that happen."

The England and Wales Cricket Board have backed the ICC's stance, saying they will pull out of the Test if Sehwag is named in the India XI.