Steve Bucknor gets the axe

THE ICC has caved in to Indian pressure and removed embattled umpire Steve Bucknor from the third Test in Perth. He has been replaced by New Zealand's Billy Bowden.

ICC cheif executive officer Malcolm Speed announced the move this afternoon, despite having earlier told Indian cricket officials that the West Indian would officiate in the third Test against Australia.

Speed said the move had been made to "take the tension out of the situation".
He acknowledged some people would be unhappy given India had requested Bucknor be stood down.

"I can understand that people will take that view.It is an extraordinary set of circumstances and we want to take some of the tension out of the situation." Speed said the ICC needed to take a "pragmatic view" towards the issue, and needed to be "flexible" to resolve the crisis.He was confident Bucknor, 61, would umpire again at Test level.

Speed said match referee Ranjan Madugalle, the former Sri Lankan captain, would also be appointed as a mediator between the Australian and Indian sides.

Meanwhile, an abuse hearing against Australian spinner Brad Hogg will go ahead, after the Indians alleged he called captain Anil Kumble a "bastard" in Sydney. Hogg's hearing will be heard some time before the third Test by match referee Mike Procter.

Speed said Procter and an ICC-appointed code of conduct commissioner would re-hear the Harbhajan case, with the witnesses to be again called.

The Indians had demanded Bucknor be replaced after what they called his "incompetence" over several decisions which went against them in the second Test in Sydney.

But an ICC spokesman said earlier today: "Neither team has a right to object to an umpire's appointment." He said Bucknor would umpire with Pakistan's Asad Rauf in Perth. Englishman Mark Benson, who stood with Bucknor in Sydney, was not due to officiate in Perth. Now that combination will be Bowden and Rauf.

The standard of umpiring in Sydney, where a number of poor decisions contributed to India's 122-run defeat, is just one of the issues which is threatening to derail the rest of India's tour of Australia.