Harbhajan cleared of racial abuse

Indian Harbhajan Singh was yesterday cleared of a count of racially abusing Australia's Andrew Symonds, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said.

Harbhajan guilty to a lesser charge of using abusive language and was fined 50 percent of his match fee by appeals commissioner John Hansen, ICC spokesman Sami-ul-Hasan told reporters in Adelaide.

The spinner was originally handed a three-Test ban by match referee Mike Procter after being found guilty of calling Symonds, Australia's only black player, a "monkey" during the acrimonious Sydney Test earlier this month.

The ICC spokesman said Hansen, a New Zealand High Court judge, was convinced Harbhajan was not guilty of a racial slur after a hearing lasting more than five hours.

"Justice Hansen said that he was convinced that on all evidence submitted before him the charge of a level 3.3 offence was not proven, but that Harbhajan should be charged with a level 2.8 offence," he said.

Hansen deliver his full reasons today, the spokesman said, adding: "The ICC will make no further comment."

The appeal decision clears the way for India to continue their tour of Australia where they are due to play a Twenty20 international in Melbourne on Friday before starting a tri-series on Sunday that also features Sri Lanka.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had earlier threatened to abandon the tour if Harbhajan was not cleared of the racial abuse charge.

"The one-day series will go on as scheduled," BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said after the appeal decision was announced.

"Harbhajan has now only been punished for using obscene language and will be fined 50 percent of his match fees," he said.

Indian reports suggested the BCCI and Cricket Australia had worked out a compromise to drop the charges against Harbhajan and salvage the one-day series.

Australian Ricky Ponting and senior Indian player Sachin Tendulkar reportedly wrote letters to Hansen asking him to downgrade the charges.

Harbhajan, Tendulkar, Ponting, Symonds, Michael Clarke and Matthew Hayden all attended the hearing at the Federal Court in Adelaide.

BCCI Sharad Pawar had stressed earlier that the racial charges against Harbhajan were "unacceptable."

"Indians are not racist and do not believe in racism," said Pawar, a senior federal minister. "We are completely behind our team in Australia. The charge against Harbhajan is unacceptable."