By Indian Cricket Fever staff
November 25 2004

India captain Sourav Ganguly has expressed satisfaction with the way that an ICC Appeals commissioner handled the hearing looking into West Indian Clive Lloyd's controversial ban on him for a slow over-rate. The ICC had suspended the 2-Test ban immediately after Lloyd had announced it, giving Ganguly the right to tell his side of the story even before it had received an official appeal from him.

On Thursday, Ganguly along with BCCI's Jagmohan Dalmiya, coach John Wright and 2 top attorneys, Siddartha Shankar Ray and Ushanath Banerjee, spoke with Kiwi barrister Tim Castle in a lengthy 3-hour teleconference, with the disgruntled Lloyd dialing in as well.

Ganguly said that from the way the teleconference went, he is confident of the ban being thrown out.

The Indian captain thanked the BCCI for its support, acknowledging their help in a similar case in the past when ex-referee Deness from England had announced several unfair penalties on Indian players during a test in South Africa. Deness was subsequently barred from officiating in the next Test in that series, and shortly thereafter removed from the ICC panel of referees.

Ganguly also proposed that the BCCI should support all Indian players similarly. He said, "I think the Board should support all players. They have done that in the past during the South Africa series. Then too, they stood by the players. I am thankful to the BCCI for its support."

The ICC is expected to announce Castle's findings tomorrow. It is not known if any further action will be taken against Lloyd by the ICC or BCCI, as in the case of Deness.