Boards condemn racist insults

Andrew Symonds had been the target of racist abuse by some India supporters © Getty Images

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The Indian and Australian cricket boards have issued a joint statement to condemn racism in the game following incidents of abuse during the recent one-day series between the teams.

Board of Control for Cricket in India president Sharad Pawar and Cricket Australia chairman Creagh O’Connor initiated the move after Aussie all-rounder Andrew Symonds was the target of monkey chants.

The statement urged all cricketing countries to take action against unacceptable behaviour.

The statement said: “Cricket crowds in all the cricketing nations are often noisy and boisterous, which is part of the fun of cricket.

“But all cricket nations have to be on guard to ensure that the fun does not cross the boundary into unacceptable behaviour. If it does, it is our expectation that the specifics of the ICC Anti Racism Code be enforced.

“Spectators, team officials or players should draw that behaviour to the attention of venue authorities immediately so that it can be assessed and, if appropriate, addressed immediately rather than being reviewed via media reports.”

Australia’s cricket supremo has also ruled out boycotting any future tours of India despite the abuse.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland

But Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive officer, believes the incident has been handled well by Indian cricket authorities and does not support any future boycotts of tours to the Asian nation.

"I don't think it has got to that stage or even gets to that stage (of boycotting)," Sutherland said.

"There is an ICC anti-racism policy in place. The ICC and the BCCI, the host of these matches, will no doubt deal with these issues going forward.

"It is really pleasing to see the announcements by the Indian board president to condemn racism in cricket.

"Whilst the incident in the last game in Mumbai was disappointing, it is pleasing to see the officials at the ground are taking the response to evict those people from the ground and take the appropriate action.”

Sutherland admitted he had spoken to Symonds about the racial taunts, and that he felt the 32-year-old had handled the issue well.

"I spoke to him a few days ago since the previous incident and Andrew is remarkable in the way that he is dealing with this matter," Sutherland said.

"His view on it is that it is a matter that he really wants to move on from. It is not something that he is necessarily comfortable with but he sees that there is no cause for reaction because that only further inflames it."