PTI
 
Dubai, Jun 23: Cracking its whip on the five-man playing control team that had reduced the World Cup final to a farce, the International Cricket Council (ICC) today decided not to appoint them in the ICC World Twenty20 championship in South Africa in September.
 
On-field umpires Steve Bucknor and Aleem Dar, reserve umpires Rudi Koertzen and Billy Bowden and ICC match referee Jeff Crowe were made to pay for the blunder that saw Australia beat Sri Lanka under the Duckworth-Lewis system in semi-darkness to lift the World Cup in Barbados.

The unit had incorrectly ruled that, after a stoppage for bad light, the match would have to be completed the following day even though the minimum 20 overs in the second innings had already been bowled.

"In the wake of what happened ICC Manager David Richardson carried out a full investigation which included seeking the interpretation of all five officials. The result is the penalties imposed," ICC said in a statement today.

"It would have been easy to let sleeping dogs lie and pretend nothing happened," said ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed.

``But the reality is that the playing control team made a serious and fundamental error that caused the final of our flagship event to end in disarray and confusion.

"That was not acceptable for such experienced and talented officials and although we do not like to have to take such action, we felt it was necessary to decline to appoint them for our next event, the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa," Speed said.

"We feel that to stand them down for this two-week tournament is a proportionate measure," Speed added.

Reacting to the decision, Crowe said, "While it is never easy to take criticism, I think it is right that there are consequences for our actions as match officials. In this instance I understand that the ICC could not merely let it go.

"We set ourselves high standards as match officials and at the end of that day we did not reach those standards. It was not a pleasant experience for us but hopefully now we can look forward and learn from it."

ICC, however, did not name match referees and umpires for the Twenty20 World Championship. The tournament, involving the ten ICC full members, as well as Kenya and Scotland, is scheduled to take place at three venues - Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg - between September 11 and 24.