India considering James Anderson verdict appeal

London: James Anderson could still face punishment for his altercation with Ravindra Jadeja if Indian cricket call on the ICC to appeal the decision due to a lack of video evidence.

The England bowler was cleared on Friday of a level three breach of the ICC’s code of conduct after Australian commissioner Gordon Lewis found he had no case to answer following a six-hour hearing into the incident at Trent Bridge.

The decision to throw out the charges confirmed a long-held belief within the England dressing room that the disciplinary charges, instigated by India following the first Investec Test at Nottingham, were a premeditated attempt to destabilise their most experienced bowler and his teammates.

Lewis’ decision to dismiss the charges has angered India — whose captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is understood to have accused Anderson of abusing him when he was batting at Trent Bridge — even though charges against Jadeja were also dropped on appeal.

On Saturday night Indian officials, including Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI) chairman N. Srinivasan, who also serves as the ICC chairman, was understood to be on the brink of requesting that ICC chief executive Dave Richardson appeals Lewis’ decision.

The Indians’ main grievance is over the absence of video footage from the spot inside the Trent Bridge pavilion where Anderson was alleged to have shoved Jadeja following a heated exchange as the pair left the field at lunch on the second day.

ICC Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) cameras installed around the dressing rooms were recording but failed to pick up the incident, while a CCTV camera only in operation during county matches — where ASCU cameras are not installed and security is generally less strict — was apparently not switched on.

Nottinghamshire insist that cameras installed at the far end of the narrow corridor, at the foot of the stairs leading up to the dressing rooms where Anderson and Jadeja clashed, has no footage available but India’s management, including former England coach Duncan Fletcher, are not satisfied.

Reports suggest that BCCI lawyers, estimated to have already run up fees in excess of £200,000 (Dh1.2 million), will consider pressing Richardson — the only man capable of appealing Lewis’ decision — once they have read a detailed report of the findings of Friday’s teleconference hearing.

“We are expected to receive a detailed copy of the order that was passed by the Judicial Commissioner soon,” said BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel.

“We will only be able to take a call in this regard after receiving the order copy. A detailed legal analysis is required before deciding on future course.

“Our legal team will study the report and will give us feedback. In such cases, every point needs to be studied minutely and it will take some time. So it is premature to conclude whether we will appeal.”

England had hoped Friday’s not guilty verdict would allow the squad to concentrate their attention on the last two Tests without the distraction of a disciplinary hearing.

Four England players — Anderson, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes — along with two members of the backroom team, had to report to India’s team hotel in Southampton at 7.45am on Friday for the hearing, which began at 9am.

“We feared for Jimmy because of the politics involved, not because of anything he’d actually done,” said one source. “The confrontation was the sort of thing you see on cricket fields all over the world.”

Meanwhile, paceman Steven Finn has been called into England’s squad for the fourth Test in place of the injured Liam Plunkett, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Sunday.

“Liam Plunkett experienced some left ankle discomfort at the end of the 2nd Test and will miss the 4th Test as this continues to settle,” the ECB said in a statement.

Plunkett did not play in the third Test, which England won to level the five-match series at 1-1. Finn’s last Test was the 14-run victory over Australia in July 2013.