Procter bowled off the wrong foot

Mike Procter has defended his decision to ban Harbhajan Singh without actually being able to justify it with the statements he made to the press. In fact, it has now become all the more clear that he backed his instinct rather than any conclusive evidence.

What the former South African all-rounder is forgetting is that members of the team alleging a racial slur are themselves the witnesses in the case, which goes against the basic principles of justice.

He claimed that it was not a matter of the Aussies’ word over the Indians’, but that is what it turns out to be, for Sachin Tendulkar was as much a witness as Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke.

Procter, a superb all-rounder who could not show his prowess much at the international level because his team was out of international cricket due to apartheid, has also claimed that he knows what racism is all about because he hails from South Africa.

Procter, who is remembered as a brave cricketer for his majestic batting, fiery pace bowling and agile fielding, has been bold this time around too in his role as an official, but definitely not just.

The 61-year-old, who was known to bowl almost on the wrong foot with his left foot in the air at the point of delivery, planted his foot firmly at Sydney, deciding to give the benefit of doubt to the accuser.

The Indian cricket Board is very right to have raked up the points to be noted during the process and it is not just the ban that matters here but the fact that a player will have to live with the stigma of being a racist and that too one hailing from a country that has detested racism down the years.

In fact, it would have been a shame had not the BCCI gone the full hog in backing its team both in the racial slur episode as well as for the poor umpiring during the Sydney Test.

A cricket Board that used all possible means to hurt the rebel Indian Cricket League, including pulling strings to deny some Kiwi cricketers roles in a Bollywood flick, certainly needed to go a step further in this issue.

Procter, who played only seven Test matches but had several achievements in first-class and list A matches, including once hitting centuries in six consecutive innings and bagging four hat-tricks during his long career, will not have much to be proud of in his stint as match referee in this series. Just like Bucknor and Mark Benson would much rather forget the Sydney Test.