It was long overdue and Cricket Australia (CA) finally did wake up from its deep slumber to put an end to the verbal warfare initiated by its players, in what has been an ugly summer against the Indian team. Upholding the charges, it severely reprimanded Matthew Hayden for the ‘breach of code of behaviour’ following his ‘obnoxious little weed’ remarks against Harbhajan Singh on a radio talkshow yesterday.

According to a Cricket Australia press release here, the Australian opener breached the CA Code of Behaviour Rule 9 relating to “detrimental public comment” following the charge made by CEO James Sutherland. Code of Conduct Commissioner Ron Beazley issued a reprimand of Hayden as penalty for the breach.

Small rap, big surprise

Contrary to expectations that the left-hander will be slapped with a fine during the three-hour appeal’s hearing, the simple reprimand came as a surprise. The decision at 11.30 pm Melbourne time brought an end to a hectic day that started with Sutherland promising BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah some serious action after the Indian board had complained against Hayden’s unwarranted remarks and other Australian cricketers. Yesterday, Hayden had called Harbhajan an ‘obnoxious little weed’ and followed it up with a few words of advice to Ishant Sharma.

The Indian team, however, refused to go overboard, instead firing silent barbs at the opener. Harbhajan Singh, who arrived at the Hobart airport in the morning, looked rather relaxed and undisturbed by yet another verbal sling at him. “What’s the meaning of the word, please tell me,” he smiled. “Seriously, who’s Matthew Hayden?” he asked defiantly.

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