Hogg to invoke spirit of Hillary to come out clean

Melbourne, Jan 14: Australian leg spinner Bradd Hogg, in the controversy for allegedly abusing Indian skipper Anil Kumble and keeper MS Dhoni, will tonight invoke the spirit of dead explorer Sir Edmund Hillary in a bid to clear himself of a racial vilification charge against India.

Hogg will argue that he meant no malice, in the same way that Hillary had famously quipped after coming down from the summit of Mount Everest "we knocked the b....d off", Adelaide Now reported. Hogg at his hearing at the Perth Hyatt is expected to say that he meant no malice when he described Indian skipper Anil Kumble and Mahendra Singh Dhoni as "bastards" on a tumultuous final day of the second Test at the SCG."

“It is understood at the end of an over he said to the two Indian batsmen: I can't wait to run through you bastards," AdelaideNow reported.

Hogg's defence team is considering using Hillary's line as an example of using the word bastard in a non-racial sense.

He will have team manager Steve Bernard by his side when match referee Mike Procter interviews him.

Cricket Australia legal affairs manager Dean Kino, a qualified lawyer who has worked in Hong Kong and New York, has been in charge of Hogg's case.

It is understood that Hogg has been stunned by his report, but yesterday he was his usual bubbly self at Australian team training at the WACA Ground. Hogg faces a ban of between two and four Tests if found guilty.

But he is unlikely to play in the third Test anyway because Australia all is set to unleash Shaun Tait in a four-man pace battery.

(ANI)