ICC May Appeal Anderson Verdict

Manchester: The countdown for an ICC appeal against judicial commissioner Gordon Lewis' 'not-guilty' verdict on the spat between James Anderson and Ravindra Jadeja has begun.

With Lewis listing the submissions and his own concerns in the case, ICC chief executive Dave Richardson has seven days to file an appeal if the world cricket body feels unhappy with the verdict.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had gone straight to the ICC and pressed Level 3 charge against Anderson after the team management had insisted on it.

The ICC, now headed by N Srinivasan, must quickly decide whether justice had been done in the case after Lewis let both Anderson and Jadeja off the hook. If the ICC bosses are unhappy with the verdict, they have a right to appeal.

If they exercise their right to do so, a three-member appeals panel will be constituted to hear the matter afresh and Anderson will be back in the dock. He can, however, continue to play till the appeal, if filed, is disposed of.

Jadeja's case will not be under review even if the ICC appeals against Lewis' verdict because his part of the hearing was conducted under a different clause and on an appeal from BCCI, whereas in Anderson's case, the ICC was the prosecutor.

This complex situation would not have arisen had the whole issue, which is now three weeks old, had been handled more prudently by the BCCI as well as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

By turning down ECB's request to tone down their charge against Anderson from Level 3 to Level 2, the BCCI not only overplayed their hand but also invited a tit-for-tat countercharge against Jadeja by the hosts. More so, because there was no clinching audio or video evidence to prove who was the guilty party in spat between the two players.

With fellow players appearing as eye witnesses for either side choosing to be highly biased towards their teammates, the judicial commissioner was quick to discard their testimony.

In fact there was so little evidence before Lewis that he had no choice but to let both players go. That is something Lewis has admitted to, if a report based on his leaked verdict is to be believed.

What remains unexplained is Lewis' reluctance to even book the duo for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct for players. After all, the ECB had admitted that Anderson had pushed Jadeja, but had done so in self-defence after the Indian all-rounder had turned aggressively towards him.

Indian captain MS Dhoni is believed to have stopped Jadeja and shepherded him back to the dressing room. Even if there was no concrete evidence of physical contact, there are enough pointers to conclude that whatever happened between the two was certainly not gentlemanly and in the spirit of the game.

The ICC, in the past, has fined and punished players for lesser offences. Letting Anderson, who has never been a model cricketer, and Jadeja, who celebrated his 50 at Lord's by waving his bat like a sword, go without even a rap on their knuckles sends out a wrong signal.