Indian newspaper story without foundation - ICC

The International Cricket Council today dismissed a story appearing in an Indian newspaper alleging that it had acted outside its own rules in the case of Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly, as inaccurate and misleading.

The ICC said that it was unfortunate that the newspaper relied on an unidentified source and did not take the opportunity to check the allegation with the ICC before publishing the article.

ICC Chief Executive, Malcolm Speed, said that the ICC's responsibility was to apply the rules that all countries had agreed to and it had done so on this occasion.

"There was a full and considered debate involving all countries over the issue of slow over rates and all captains have been repeatedly made aware of the importance of maintaining the over rates.

"The ICC's role is to apply the rules without fear or favour and this has been the approach taken in Mr Ganguly's case," said Mr Speed.

"As he has done previously, Mr Ganguly exercised his right to appeal the suspension and the decision was reviewed by one of the world's foremost sports lawyers, Mr Michael Beloff QC, a member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who found that the ICC Match Referee had acted properly in imposing the penalty that he did.

"In addition, at the request of Mr Ganguly, Mr Beloff reviewed his original determination with specific reference to Clause C1 of the ICC Code of Conduct which is the issue referred to in today's article.

"Mr Beloff carefully considered all the arguments, including the suggestions made today and provided the ICC with a detailed 25 page judgment on the issue and in which he upheld the decision of the ICC Match Referee. A copy of the determination and the review has been provided to Mr Ganguly.

"It is therefore disappointing to see that a newspaper in India is prepared to rely on an unidentified and uncorroborated source and was not willing to contact the ICC to establish the facts of this matter before these unfounded allegations were published."