27.02.2008
Australia batsman Matthew Hayden was reprimanded by his
national board on Wednesday for describing Indian spinner
Harbhajan Singh as an "obnoxious weed".
Hayden was found guilty after a three-hour hearing in
Melbourne of breaching Cricket Australia's (CA) strict
code of behaviour for publicly denigrating an opponent.
The 36-year-old had faced the possibility of a ban or
a fine but escaped with a warning after saying his comments
were not intended to be offensive. "I maintain my
innocence, my intentions were never to denigrate cricket
or anyone," Hayden said in a statement after the
hearing. "But the umpire has made his decision...and
in the spirit of cricket I respect and accept the decision."
The
charges were laid after Indian officials lodged a formal
complaint over Hayden's comments, which included a light-hearted
challenge for teenage fast bowler Ishant Sharma to join
him in the boxing ring. "We condemn such comments
by the Australian players," the Indian board's chief
administrative officer, Ratnakar Shetty, told Reuters.
"Our secretary has already communicated our feelings
to Cricket Australia. "We've advised our players
to show restraint but despite that if such comments are
being made it is really unfair."
Hayden
delivered the verbal attack during an interview with a
Brisbane radio station, claiming the Australian players
were fed up with being painted as the instigators in their
bitter public feud with the tourists.
Three Indian players, including Harbhajan and Sharma,
have been found guilty of breaching the International
Cricket Council's code of conduct during the ill-tempered
tour but maintain the Australians provoked them.
Long-running battle
Hayden
said his dispute with Harbhajan dated back long before
this series but claimed the reason the Indians were complaining
so much on this tour was because "they are losing
every game they are playing".
"It's been a bit of a long battle with Harbhajan.
The first time I ever met him he was the same little obnoxious
weed that he is now," Hayden told the radio station.
"His record speaks for itself in cricket. There is
a certain line that you can kind of go to and then you
know where you push it and he just pushes it all the time.
"That's why he has been charged more than anyone
that's ever played in the history of cricket."
Hayden, who was named on Tuesday as Australia's best one-day
player for the past 12 months, also took a swipe at Sharma,
who was fined 15 per cent of his match fee after an ugly
exchange with Andrew Symonds at the Sydney Cricket Ground
on Sunday.
"He is just young. I have said to him many times,
'You are 19, take it easy'," Hayden said. "He
is 19, why doesn't he just worry about his bowling for
a while? "I like the idea of actually getting into
the ring. I like that, let's bring that one on."
Harbhajan wasted little time firing back at Hayden, saying
the Australian was disliked by most international opponents
and his comments were borne out of the frustration the
Australians felt at being pushed by an improving Indian
team.
"Maybe they realise that they no longer are the undisputed
champions of the world. Maybe they feel the crown is slipping,"
Harbhajan told the Indian news agency PTI. "Otherwise,
why would a cricket veteran ask a 19-year-old to join
him in a ring?
"I don't want it to be a slanging match ... but you
only need to speak to international cricketers and international
teams to know in what opinion they hold Hayden."
(Additional
reporting by Sanjay Rajan and N Ananthanarayanan; Editing
by Ken Ferris)
Courtesy - Hindustan Times