ICC to stick by Denness
The International Cricket Council says it will investigate match referee Mike Denness' sanctions against six Indian cricketers during the Second Test against South Africa but it's unlikely it will overrule on the issue.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India protested after Denness penalised Sachin Tendulkar for ball tampering and five other players for various other misdemeanors, including "excessive appealing" during the Port Elizabeth Test, which finished in a draw.
Meanwhile, anger in India spilled onto the streets today following the Tendulkar controversy.
Discontent has mounted since Denness handed Tendulkar a suspended one-test ban for doctoring the ball.
Five other Indian players, including skipper Saurav Ganguly, were also sanctioned for "bringing the game to disrepute" by their excessive appealing.
Protestors in Calcutta raised banners reading "Go to hell, Denness" and "No to racism in cricket".
Waving posters of local hero Ganguly and Tendulkar, some of the protestors, dressed in cricketing whites, enacted a match where one person played the role of Denness - a former England test captain - and another that of Tendulkar, with the match referee making a string of ridiculous decisions to the delight of by-standers.
"We want to tell 'Denness the Menace' that he is biased against Indians and to stop conspiring against the Indian team, which will defeat the English cricket team," said Madan Mitra, chairman of the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Society, a social organisation behind the protest.
England are already in India for a three-test series starting on December 3.
In another demonstration in Calcutta - home to the famous Eden Gardens cricket ground - protesters held up garlanded portraits of Indian players as they marched close to Ganguly's home.
