Both James Anderson and Ravindra Jadeja were found not guilty of allegations of having breached the ICC Code of Conduct during a purported clash at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, by the ICC judicial commissioner Gordon Lewis. James Anderson’s hearing was conducted for a period of over six hours, and it was adjudicated by Mr. Lewis all the way from Australia by Skype. Surprisingly, the judicial commissioner came out with his “Not Guilty” verdict for both Anderson and Jadeja only minutes after the hearing, when it was originally thought that he would take at least a couple of days to make a decision.
The ICC came out with a statement soon after, explaining Mr. Lewis’ verdict: “The Judicial Commissioner reached his decisions following a six-hour hearing, which took place via videoconference. Witnesses, including some Indian and English players, provided evidence and were cross-examined by the respective legal counsels.”
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It was a tit-for-tat fight between the two sides at the hearing. James Anderson was represented by the English team manager Phil Neale and Ravindra Jadeja was represented by the Indian team manager, Sunil Dev. While Mr. Dev raised a ‘Level 3’ violation complaint against Anderson on the behalf of Jadeja, Mr. Neale claimed that Jadeja deserved a punishment under ‘Level 2’. Jadeja had already been punished under a Level 2 violation by match referee David Boon of Australia earlier and fined 50% of his match fee for the Trent Bridge Test, amounting to $3500. This was disputed by the Indian cricket team management and the Indian cricket board, the BCCI. Jadeja had issued an appeal against the decision taken by Boon, which was heard by Mr. Lewis and he was found not guilty. This means that the fine against Jadeja has been rescinded.
But it was James Anderson who was facing the more serious charge of a Level 3 violation. Anderson was accused by the Indian team management of pushing and abusing Jadeja. Aggressive physical contact is a highly punishable offense in cricket, and Anderson risked getting banned for anywhere from 2 to 4 Tests, which would have ruled him out of the rest of the Investec series which is so interestingly poised with both sides tied 1-1 and with 2 matches to go. The next Test begins on August 7 and will be held at Anderson’s home ground, Old Trafford in Manchester.
The Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni in particular seems to be very angry with Anderson, it was Dhoni’s irritation in particular that had got Anderson so close to being punished. Dhoni had described the Anderson – Jadeja incident very clearly in his press conference just before the Southampton Test.
He said, “I don’t want to take any individual’s name, but one used foul language against Jadeja. I had to step in the middle. By that time, we had reached the ropes, and I thought the thing was defused. Then, when we were going through the members’ area, I was ahead of Jadeja, who was a couple of yards behind me. Again, something happened. Something was told to him and he turned across to the individual. After that, he was pushed and he barely gained his balance. Then, he turned to see what was happening.
“On the basis of that, he is fined. We were told it was against the spirit of the game.But we can’t ignore whatever has happened… The bat was under his armpit throughout, and right from the call for lunch till the time he entered the dressing room, not one word was spoken by him (Jadeja). I don’t think there was even a bit of aggression in that and that’s the reason I’m very hurt by the verdict given.”
“Tomorrow (Sunday), if I ask one of my players to not say a word, and that we’ll report it to the match referee, he might be like: ‘Whatever happens, we’ll get fined 50 percent. I’m better off abusing the guy’.”
Well, it doesn’t matter what Dhoni thinks now, because the matter is closed and neither side have a right to appeal. Now both sides can get back to what they do best – play cricket. Cricket fans may have a huge sigh of relief as had James Anderson been banned, it would have brought down the intensity of the contest between India and England by several notches. Now, we may fully expect both teams to go after each other, and hold nothing back. The Anderson vs. Jadeja battle, which has been the highlight of the series so far, is all set reach a boiling point in the next Test at Old Trafford.
