Jacobs suspended for "cheating"

West Indies wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs was suspended on Thursday for three matches for "cheating" during Wednesday's One-Day International in the triangular series against India.

However, Jacobs will be able to play in Saturday's final against India as his three-match suspension comes into force after it.

It will extend to three specific one-day matches against Kenya on August 15, 16 and 19, a release issued in Harare by match referee Dennis Lindsay of South Africa said.

The suspension follows Jacobs's stumping of Virender Sehwag. The wicket was broken by the wicketkeeper's right hand while the ball was in his left hand and "nowhere near the broken wicket," as shown later in television replays.

This is in contravention of Players and Team Officials Code C2 which says: "Players and/or team officials shall have no conduct unbecoming to their status which could bring them or the game of cricket into disrepute."

In addtion, the match referee found Jacobs's action against the Spirit of Cricket, point 5 of the official ICC laws of cricket 2000 code. "It is against the spirit of the game to indulge in cheating or any sharp practice."

The match referee, noted in his judgement that Jacobs had every opportunity to recall Sehwag back to the wicket.

While he took into account that Jacobs did not himself appeal, Lindsay, who played Test cricket in the late 1960s and early 1970s, thought this was an exceptional case meriting disciplinary action.

Mail Cricket Editor