By IANS
London : Captains of England and India will receive an official telling-off before the third and final Test at the Kennington Oval next week after a match of genuinely tough and competitive cricket at Nottingham was overshadowed by poor behaviour in both teams.
The rebuke will come from the International Cricket Council's match referee Ranjan Madugalle, who expressed concern that the match at Trent Bridge would be remembered not for the fine contest it was but more for England's puerile jelly bean prank, for excessive "sledging" and for Indian pace bowler S. Sreesanth's headstrong attempts at intimidatory bowling, wrote Jon Culley in The Independent Wednesday.
Former Sri Lankan captain Madugalle said he will remind England's Michael Vaughan and India's Rahul Dravid of their responsibility as captains to ensure that their players behave within the substance and spirit of the laws of cricket.
Speaking after India had completed their seven-wicket victory, Madugalle said while he had spoken to representatives of both teams about their conduct at Trent Bridge he would not officially address Vaughan and Dravid until the eve of the series decider.
"I'll have a word with the captains then," Madugalle said. "The most important thing is for the captains to realise their responsibilities and for that to cascade down to the rest of the team. People should remember the game for the quality of cricket that is played, that is the bottom line."
The so-called jelly bean incident, in which India's match-winner with the ball, swing bowler Zaheer Khan, reacted angrily to finding sweets placed at the crease when he went out to bat, is unlikely to attract further punishment after being dealt with on the field by umpires Simon Taufel and Ian Howell.
But it has brought further embarrassment for Vaughan, whose leadership this summer has suffered the distraction first of the "Fredalo" affair, for which he had to issue a personal apology over remarks made in an interview, and now this, in which he has felt obliged to apologise on behalf of his team.
Meanwhile, Dravid said, with tongue firmly in cheek, that he would be happy for England to continue to provoke Zaheer Khan.
"If he is going to perform like that can you please get him upset every game," the Indian captain said. "I have never seen him as fired up."