International Cricket Council (ICC) Judicial Commissioner, His Honor Gordon Lewis AM, found both England's James Anderson and Ravindra Jadeja of India not guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct.
Anderson, who had been at risk of being banned from the remainder of the England-India Test series, is now free to play in the remaining two Tests while Jadeja has had his previously imposed fine of 50 percent of his match fee rescinded.
The Judicial Commissioner reached his decisions following a six-hour hearing, which took place via video-conference. Witnesses, including some Indian and English players, provided evidence and were cross-examined by the respective legal counsels.
The ECB and Anderson were represented in the hearings by Nick De Marco while Adam Lewis QC represented Jadeja. The hearings were also attended by the two team managers, the ECB's Paul Downton, the BCCI's Sundar Raman and MV Sridhar, the ICC's General Manager Cricket, Geoff Allardice, and the ICC's Ethics and Regulatory lawyer, Sally Clark.
It all started when the Indian team management lodged a complaint against Anderson for 'pushing and abusing' Jadeja on the second day of the first Test at Trent Bridge, charging him with a level 3 offence - threat of assault on another player, player support personnel, or any other person (including a spectator) during an international match. It could also amount to conduct which is contrary to the spirit of the game or brings the game into disrepute.
Retaliating to India's complaint, the England management charged Jadeja under level 2 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, claiming that the Indian all-rounder moved towards the England pacer in a threatening manner.
Match referee David Boon found Jadeja guilty of a Level 1 breach - conduct contrary to the spirit of the game, for which he was fined 50% of his match fee while the referee found him not guilty of the offence he was originally charged with.
Being found guilty for a level 1 offence didn't give the offended party any right to appeal against the decision. However India, who were unhappy with the decision, won an important political battle against the ICC after the apex body agreed to hear an appeal against the disciplinary action taken against all-rounder.
The ICC later confirmed that Jadeja's appeal would be heard at the same time as the disciplinary hearing in respect of the charge against Anderson.
