Gilchrist charged over Muralitharan comments

The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) announced today that it had charged Australian vice-captain Adam Gilchrist with making public comment detrimental to the interests of cricket.

The charge was laid following Gilchrist's remarks about Muttiah Muralitharan's bowling action appeared in the media.

ACB Chief Executive Officer James Sutherland said he had sought and received an explanation from Gilchrist about his comments.

"After reading the statements attributed to Adam, I rang him and asked him to provide me with more details about the accuracy of the comments and how they came to be in the public domain," said Mr Sutherland.

"After considering Adam's explanation, I have issued a charge under the ACB Code of Behaviour. An ACB Commissioner will determine whether Adam's comments are in breach of the code."

Rule 10 of Section 1 in the ACB Code of Behaviour states:

Detrimental public comment: Players and officials must not make any public or media comment which is detrimental to the interests of the game or to a tour or series of matches in which they are or are likely to be involved.

Mr Sutherland said that Gilchrist's comments were not supported by the ACB.

"Muttiah Muralitharan's action has been cleared by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after an exhaustive review. The ICC has a rigid and comprehensive process in place to continually assess the legality of bowling actions and the ACB supports this process."

The time and venue for the hearing has not been determined.

Also read: Muralitharan's action illegal: Gilchrist