The International Cricket Council have confirmed Harbhajan Singh has been cleared of making a racist comment to Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds.
The 27-year-old was initially found guilty of racially abusing Symonds by ICC referee Mike Proctor after allegedly directing a "monkey" insult at the mixed-race all-rounder during the second Test of the four-match series at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
But at an appeal in Adelaide on Tuesday, New Zealand High Court Judge John Hansen ruled there was not sufficient evidence to prove an offence under rule 3.3 of the code of conduct, which relates to racially insulting behaviour, but decided Harbhajan should be charged with a Level 2.8 offence.
advertisement
The off-spinner pleaded guilty to that charge and accepted a fine of 50% of his match fee.
Prior to the hearing, a letter signed by all the players involved - from both Australia and India - was tendered into evidence as an agreed statement of facts as to what took place at the SCG.
Audio and video evidence was presented at the trial, while a full explanation of Justice Hansen's decision will be made on Wednesday.
The Commonwealth Bank triangular series will also go ahead, with the Board of Control for Cricket in India pleased with the outcome of the hearing.
Cricket Australia spokesman Peter Young is keen for both sides to put the unsavoury incident behind them and concentrate on the triangular series involving the two teams and Sri Lanka.
"All parties will move on with the cricket," Young said. "The game is the important thing."
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
Comment
