Tour clearer after Bucknor replaced

The International Cricket Council called a press conference in Melbourne on Tuesday morning to announce that Bucknor would be replaced by Billy Bowden for the forthcoming match in Perth.

The governing body insisted the decision was not made in response to a complaint by India but it is likely to appease the tourists, who were angered by a number of incidents arising from the ill-tempered second Test at Sydney.

Chief among them was the decision of match referee Mike Procter to ban India spinner Harbhajan Singh for racially abusing Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds. Singh was handed a three-Test suspension after being found guilty of calling Symonds "a monkey".

Indian authorities consequently put their team's schedule on hold, telling them not to travel to Canberra for their next tour match this week while they appealed against the verdict. That action put the remaining two Tests in the four-match series in doubt.

India also complained about the standard of umpiring, the sportsmanship shown by the Australian team and about remarks made by spinner Brad Hogg towards one of their own players.

The tourists wanted Bucknor to be replaced for the third Test after a number of contentious decisions went against them in Sydney. His colleague Mark Benson, also at the centre of the storm, was not due to stand in the Perth match beginning on January 16.

The ICC have also confirmed Harbhajan will be eligible to play in the third Test while his appeal is pending.

Sharad Pawar, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, said on NDTV: "Definitely I'm happy. We had appealed to the ICC to review the performance of the umpires in the last two matches and take appropriate action.

"I'm grateful that ICC has taken this decision and removed him. The Indian board is quite happy about that."