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Australian cricket pundit Dean Jones returned home in disgrace on Tuesday after being sacked by his TV employers for calling a South African Muslim player a “terrorist” during a Test match in Sri Lanka.

Jones said “the terrorist has got another wicket” when the bearded Hashim Amla took a catch to dismiss Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara during the fourth day’s play of the second Test in Colombo on Monday.

The broadcaster, a Dubai-based TV company, covering the series, sent the former Australian batsman home after a complaint from Cricket South Africa (CSA) Chief Executive Gerald Majola.

A contrite Jones, who will reportedly keep his commentary position on Australian radio, described his moment of madness to reporters after landing in his hometown of Melbourne. “I waited four or five seconds and I just turned around and made a stupid, ridiculous off-the-wall comment that unfortunately was picked up in the background and, as television people always know, the microphone is always live,” Jones said.

However, he also appeared to suggest there was an element of bad luck to the affair, adding: “There was only one country in the world that didn’t take the ad break live and that was South Africa. It was picked up by a few viewers.”

Jones, 45, said he had written a full-page apology to Amla and the South African team, as well as saying sorry to the bowler directly. “I got hold of Hashim Amla and I spoke to him for a certain amount of time,” he said. “I gave him my sincerest apologies and he was gracious enough to accept it.

“He said ‘I hope you get through this ugly situation that you are going through’.”

Earlier, Jones told reporters in Colombo that he respected the Muslim faith and said: “The irony is that I am great friends with most of the Pakistan team and they are all Muslims.”

The broadcaster said it had terminated Jones’s contract as a freelance commentator — believed to be worth 400-1,000 dollars per match day — and had apologised to both the cricket community and its million of viewers over the outburst.

However, Melbourne commercial radio station 3AW reportedly had no such qualms, saying the controversy would not affect plans to use Jones as a commentator for upcoming internationals Down Under, which include The Ashes against England.

Meanwhile, Majola demanded Jones’s suspension and apology in a statement issued in Johannesburg on Monday night and on Tuesday said it “welcomed the swift action taken by the host broadcaster following Dean Jones’s calling Amla a terrorist”.

“We commend the broadcaster for immediately dismissing Jones and for making a public apology,” Majola said.

Source:The News