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Cricket pundit Dean Jones apologises

Dean Jones returned home on Tuesday after being sacked by his television employers for calling a South African Muslim player a terrorist.

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MELBOURNE: Australian cricket pundit Dean Jones returned home on Tuesday after being sacked by his television employers for calling a South African Muslim player a terrorist during a Test match in Sri Lanka.
       
"The terrorist has got another wicket," Jones said when 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.
 
Broadcaster Ten Sports, the Dubai-based company covering the series, sent the former Australian batsman home after a complaint from Cricket South Africa 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."
 
Ten Sports said it had terminated Jones' contract as a freelance commentator -- believed to be worth $400 to $1,000 per match day -- and had apologised to both the cricket community and its million of viewers over the outburst.
 
"We regard sport as a tool for spreading harmony and believe sport has no room for such an act." Ten Sports official Jude de Valliere said.
 
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.
 
"What happened in Sri Lanka would not have any bearing on what he'll be doing with us," 3AW program director Clark Forbes told smh.com.au.
 
CSA's Majola demanded Jones' suspension and apology in a statement issued in Johannesburg on Monday night and on Tuesday said it "welcomed the swift action taken by host broadcaster Ten Sports following Dean Jones' calling Amla a terrorist".
 
"We commend Ten Sports for immediately dismissing Jones and for making a public apology," Majola said.
       
"We also accept and welcome Ten Sports' stated commitment to create harmony within the communities as a broadcaster.
 
"However we retain our strong views regarding the unacceptable conduct of Jones," Majola added.
 
Jones played 52 Tests and 164 one-day internationals for Australia between 1984 and 1994 and was named the Wisden cricketer of the year in 1990.
 
The Ten Sports feed on the series was going out across Asia, Middle East, Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and North America, de Valliere said.
 
The same production company will also broadcast the limited-overs Triseries between Sri Lanka, India and South Africa in Colombo from August 14 to 29.
 
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