LONDON, MAY 22: The Indian cricket team's appeal to the organisers of the World Cup, the England Cricket Board, regarding the result of the match against Zimbabwe, has little chance of being upheld.The Indians have sought clarification of Rule 5 of the Playing Conditions which deals with Restriction on the Placement of Fieldsmen. The Indian team contends that the field restrictions ought to have been in place for 15 overs, but was erroneously done away with after 13 overs by Zimbabwe, who were no doubt cleared by the umpires and match referee Cammie Smith to do so.The Indian team management has not officially protested, but has sought clarification from the Technical Committee of the ECB. The matter is to be heard on Monday.Even admitting that Smith erred in permitting the Zimababwe team to have the field restrictions for only 13 overs, it is difficult to see what the ECB could do to rectify it.At the moment, it seems the verdict of Wednesday's match would stand and accepted, much like the `Hand ofGod' goal by Diego Maradona against England in the '86 World Cup football finals.While ECB spokesman Andrew Walpole refused to say when the meeting would take place, Indian board secretary Jawant Lele said in Mumbai that the protest would be taken up by the three-member technical committee at 11 am (local time 3.30 pm IST) on Monday.The Indian protest was based on the fact that such reduction only takes place when the match is curtailed. In this case, India was being penalised for slow over-rate. Even if they were to bat 46 overs, no reduction in field-restriction overs should have taken place.India's position is based on the `ambiguity' of the tournament format about the rules which states: ``If the team fielding first fails to bowl the required number of overs by the scheduled time for the cessation of the first session, play shall continue until the required number of overs have been bowled.''The rule continues: ``Unless otherwise determined by the referee, the innings of the team battingsecond shall be limited to the same number of overs that are bowled by the scheduled time for the cessation of the first session..''The rule says only this much and its interpretation by West Indian match referee Smith has upset the Indian camp and led to their lodging the protest.Peter Burge, South African match referee for India's tie against Kenya, however said if needed he would also act as Smith had done at Leicester.
