KEY POINTS:
SYDNEY - Sir Edmund Hillary's most famous quote is set to form part of the Australian cricket team's defence of Brad Hogg's racial abuse charge, it was reported today.
Sir Ed's jubilant line after conquering Mt Everest in 1953 -- "we knocked the bastard off" -- will be
used by Hogg's defence team as an example of why the word isn't always intended in an abusive manner.
Hogg was scheduled to front International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee Mike Procter in Perth late tonight (NZT) on a charge of racial vilification after a complaint by the Indian team.
They claimed he said to captain Anil Kumble and wicketkeeper MS Dhoni: "I can't wait to run through you bastards," as he came on to bowl during last week's tense second test in Sydney.
The charge was laid after Indian bowler Harbhajan Singh was banned for three tests by Procter for allegedly calling Australia's Andrew Symonds a "monkey" in the same match.
The ban is under appeal, to be heard by New Zealand High Court judge John Hansen, on a date yet to be determined.
India's Hindustan Times yesterday quoted an unnamed senior member of the Indian squad as saying they were willing to "compromise" and would drop the charge against Hogg if the Australians didn't pursue the Harbhajan case.
Sydney's Daily Telegraph reported Hogg was stunned by India taking exception to his words, which he would argue weren't meant maliciously.
His defence team, led by Cricket Australia's legal affairs manager Dean Kino, would call on the late Sir Ed's quote to illustrate their point.
The Telegraph's back page headline read: "The Sir Edmund Hillary Defence".
The Sydney Morning Herald reported another argument would be that the word "bastard" didn't figure on a list of unacceptable words provided to Procter before the series.
When the initial charge was laid against Hogg, Indian manager Chetan Chauhan said Hogg has used "a serious term".
"It has a lot of bad meanings back in India and we are very sensitive about these issues," Chauhan said.
"In India, we do not have children without getting married. It is a taboo and it is not accepted in the society.
"A child born out of wedlock is considered to be very low and an outcast. We don't use this word at all, only when you really want to abuse somebody in a derogatory manner. "
ICC "peacemaker", senior match referee Ranjan Madugalle, was set to meet with opposing captains Kumble and Ricky Ponting in Perth today in an attempt to soothe the strained relations between the two sides ahead of Wednesday's third test.
- NZPA
