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India's tour is on

Bucknor removed; Harbhajan can play

Cricket AFP, Sydney
iHi
World cricket chiefs Tuesday scrambled to save India's crisis-hit tour of Australia, axing a top umpire and announcing jjlans to fly in a top official to ease seething tensions between the two teams.
International Cricket Council (ICO head Malcolm Speed said umpire Steve Bucknor would be replaced by Billy Bowden for the third Test in Perth following complaints from the Indian team about his performance in Sydney.
Bucknor was criticised for bungling key decisions in the explosive match which ended in accusations of bad sportsmanship and racism, overshadowing Australia's record-equalling 16th straight Test win.
India had effectively put the four-Test tour pn hold while they appealed a three-Test ban for bowler Harbhajan Singh, who was
accused of racially abusing Andrew Symonds, the only black player in the Australian side.
But a senior Indian cricket official told AFP that after the ICC's moves, the tour would continue as planned.
"The tour will go on, we never said it won’t," the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) source said. "A formal announcement will be made tonight."
The damaging row has threatened to derail one of cricket's biggest series, at a reported cost to Cricket Australia of up to 50 million Australian dollars (43.5 million US) in compensation payments to TV broadcasters.
Speed said ICC chief referee Ranjan Madugalle would attend the Perth Test from January 16 "to make sure the ill feeling that has evolved between the teams dissipates."
The ICC has also decided to
appoint a code of conduct commissioner to adjudicate on India's appeal against Harbhajan's ban.
"What this does is give us an opportunity to move on," Speed told reporters in Melbourne.
"Over the last week we've seen the best and the worst of our game," he admitted.
India were incensed by Australia's behaviour on Sunday's tense final day, with captain Anil Kumble accusing the hosts of not living up to the spirit of the game.
He found an unusual ally in Australian newspapers on Tuesday, who called Ricky Ponting's team "boorish" and "arrogant" fortaunt-ing the visitors, pressuring the umpires and indulging in ungracious victory celebrations.
However, Australia’s Mike
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Hussey defended Ponting and said he had the backingof his team.
Speed said Harbhajan would be eligible to play while his appeal against the ban was pending, although he could give no date for the hearing.
"I believe that the final two Tests will go ahead," he said.
India continued to deny Harbhajan had called Symonds a "monkey" as tlie team, ordered to stay in Sydney rather than travel to Canberra as planned, took a day off to go to Bondi Beach.
The history of matches between Australia and India is littered with controversial incidents.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, who heads the ICC’s rule-making cricket committee, almost forfeited a Test match in Melbourne in 1981 before a timely intervention from the team manager.
India's brilliant come-from-behind victory in the home series in 2001 was marred by Australian captain Steve Waugh accusing his Indian counterpart Sourav Ganguly of "disrespect" for making him wait at the toss during the series.
Monkey chants greeted Symonds during the one-day series in India last year, prompting the tourists to accuse local crowds of racist comments against the star all-rounder.
Cricket-mad India accounts for an estimated 70 percent of the game's revenues while Australia have been the dominant force in the game for more than a decade.