Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh pushes past media and supporters as he boards a bus to leave their hotel in Sydney yesterday. India's cricket board said its team will continue the ongoing tour of Australia and proceed to the national capital, Canberra, for a practice match while banned player Singh's appeal is heard. - AP

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP):

THE International Cricket Council (ICC) defended its decision to remove umpire Steve Bucknor from Australia's third Test against India as necessary to defuse a diplomatic incident.

Bucknor was replaced by Billy Bowden for next week's match in Perth after making numerous errors in the second Test which, along with Harbhajan Singh's three-match ban for making racist comments to Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds, resulted in India suspending their Australian tour for two days.

ICC president Ray Mali said it was important to reach a commonsense solution.

"By standing Steve down for the third Test we have successfully defused the situation, at least for the time being, and so what was a sporting issue has not become a political crisis," Mali said yesterday.

"We noted with concern the enormous reaction to it and realised that we could potentially have a serious international diplomatic incident on our hands.

"We could easily have taken an inflexible stance and gone toe-to-toe with those who were calling for Steve's withdrawal but, instead, we chose to adopt a more diplomatic and reasonable approach. And on balance, it was the right thing to do for the game and for the series."

Also yesterday, the ICC's senior counsel, Urvasi Naidoo, appointed New Zealand High Court judge John Hansen to hear Harbhajan's appeal, but no date or venue has been set for the hearing.

The off-spinner will be allowed to play in the January 16-20 Test at the WACA. Harbhajan was accused of calling Symonds, who has Caribbean heritage, a monkey on the third day of the Sydney Test.

Australia won to take a 2-0 lead in the four-match series and equal the longest winning Test streak at 16.

"The process indicates that the appeal should be heard within seven days of the commissioner being appointed," the ICC said in a statement. "However, this time period may be extended if circumstances dictate."