New Delhi: Former Australian cricketer Michael Slater has been dropped from the Cricket New South Wales (NSW) Hall of Fame following his conviction in domestic violence and burglary cases, reported The Sydney Morning Herald.
On Monday, members and delegates voted on a motion to strip the 55-year-old of the honour.
Slater, who once had an altercation with former Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid in 2001, had submitted a written request to retain his life membership, but the members and delegates of Cricket NSW voted in favour of the motion to drop him.
The decision was taken after the Australian was sentenced to four years in jail this April after he pleaded guilty to domestic violence-related charges. The charges against Slater also included stalking, assault, burglary and two counts of choking a woman.
Slater’s prison sentence stemmed from a domestic violence case involving a woman in Queensland, covering incidents that occurred between December 2023 and March 2024.
According to some reports, an oval named after Slater in Wagga Wagga, NSW, could also soon be renamed. Protesting locals are reported to have already covered his name on the ground’s signboard.
A key member of Steve Waugh’s ‘invincible’ Australian team, Slater scored more than 5,000 runs across 74 test matches. He also represented Australia in 42 ODIs between 1993 and 2001.
After retiring in 2004, Slater built a successful broadcasting career, covering home series and ICC World Cups. In 2015, the former cricketer was honoured with induction into the Cricket NSW Hall of Fame, followed by life membership in 2016.
Slater is remembered by Indian cricket fans for his clash with Dravid. In a 2001 Test in Mumbai, Dravid’s mistimed pull shot was taken by Slater. But the Indian batter was not convinced that the catch was clean and refused to walk off.
Umpire S. Venkataraghavan, also former Indian captain, gave him not out and a furious Slater was later fined for abusing Dravid and the umpire.
ICC match referee Cammie Smith from the West Indies let Slater go with just a warning. Australian journalists reported that their players, after watching the replay, agreed that the third umpire’s decision was correct.
Then Australian team captain Steve Waugh admitted Slater’s reaction was wrong but blamed the situation on the limitations of on-field technology. The Australian media also noted that their own batsmen had stayed put during similar incidents earlier in the year, and the decisions had gone their way then.
According to some media reports, Dravid had gone to the Australian dressing room at the end of the match, after which he and Slater cleared their differences.
Australian media manager Brian Murgatroyd was quoted as saying by Australian journalists that Slater and Dravid sat down together over beer after the game.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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