Former Australian Test player Dean Jones was sacked from his job as a commentator on Monday after referring to South African batsman Hashim Amla as a “terrorist”.
Jones, who admitted making the comment and apologised, was on a TV commentary team covering the second Test between Sri Lanka and South Africa in Colombo.
According to a statement issued by Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Monday, viewers heard Jones say, “the terrorist has got another wicket” when Amla took the catch that dismissed Kumar Sangakkara.
Amla is a devout Muslim who wears a beard for religious reasons.
“We take the strongest exception to this comment, and we will lodge an official complaint with the host broadcaster, Ten Sports, that employs him,” CSA chief executive Gerald Majola was quoted as saying.
“We will be asking for his immediate suspension and a full apology.”
The match is being broadcast live in South Africa, which has a significant Muslim community.
“The switchboards of both CSA and SuperSport, that take a feed of the broadcast to South African audiences, have been jammed with calls from some very angry people,” Majola was quoted as saying.
“It was a silly and completely insensitive thing to say and, obviously, it was never supposed to be heard over the air,” Jones told reporters in Colombo where he issued a statement apologising for his comment.
{{/usCountry}}“It was a silly and completely insensitive thing to say and, obviously, it was never supposed to be heard over the air,” Jones told reporters in Colombo where he issued a statement apologising for his comment.
{{/usCountry}}“I am truly sorry to have caused offence to anybody and the last thing I intended was to be disrespectful... Everyone needs to get away from perpetuating the myth, publicly and privately, that beards associated with the Muslim faith are somehow suspicious, and I intend to do exactly that,” he said.
The CSA statement said the incident would be reported to the International Cricket Council.