ICC will not overrule Denness decision

The International Cricket Council will not overrule match referee Mike Denness' decision to fine and impose a suspended ban on Sachin Tendulkar for ball-tampering in the second Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth.

TV evidence showed Tendulkar using a fingernail on the seam of the ball, and Denness, a former England captain, made his decision after a meeting with the Indian player.

There has been outrage at the penalty in India, but the ICC's communications manager Mark Harrison said today: "On the match referee's judgement there is no right of appeal."

The Indian cricket board have demanded Denness' replacement as match referee for the final Test in Centurion, but the ICC are playing the situation cautiously.

"We'll certainly be looking at the appeal," Harrison said. "The Indian board have been requested to outline their position in writing to the ICC. As and when that arrives we'll deal with it.

"There's no appealing against the penalties by the players or by the home board. The judgement is that the match referee has found Tendulkar guilty of that offence."

Tendulkar was fined 75% of his match fee and handed a one-match ban, suspended until the end of this year, while five of his team-mates were also punished.

The most severe penalty was handed to Virender Sehwag, who was banned for the next Test and fined 75% of his match fee for excessive appealing. Shiv Sunder Das, Harbhajan Singh and Deep Dasgupta were fined the same amount and given suspended single-match bans for the same offence.

India captain Sourav Ganguly was given a suspended ban for one Test and two one-day international games for failing to exercise control over his team-mates.