Australians accused of racially abusing Indian players : International

Melbourne, March 18 - A cricket tribunal in Australia's Geelong city is looking into an accusation that 10 local cricketers racially abused a team with six players of Indian descent, a media report said Thursday.

The Geelong Cricket Association discussed the accusations till early Thursday morning after learning that players from the Thomson club racially abused members of the Waurn Ponds team during a fourth grade qualifying final Saturday, The Age reported.

Waurn Ponds team has up to six players of Indian descent.

Cricket Victoria has sent its code of conduct commissioner Ron Beazley to speak to the players before the hearing officially started in Geelong.

Geelong Cricket Association president Ron Dew said it was the first time the association had heard such charges. The association, he said, had been glad to accept Beazley's expertise.

'He is the most experienced person in Australia to deal with this sort of issue,' he was quoted as saying.

There have been a string of attacks on Indians in Australia since May last year. One of the assaults proved fatal. Nitin Garg was fatally stabbed Jan 2 while walking to his place of work.