A storm has broken out over alleged racial insults made to members of the Sri Lankan team by Australian fast bowlers Glenn McGrath. Retired Sri Lankan star Roshan Mahanama made the allegations in his autobiography,

 

Retired Hurt which is being released in Australia later this week. In his memoir, Mahanama describes the incident, which occurred between McGrath and Sanath Jayasuriya in the second one-day final at the SCG on January 19, 1996.

 

"McGrath called Sanath a ‘black monkey’ - to my mind, a very serious offence as it has overtones of racism," Mahanama writes.

 

The racial slur made headline news in Australia on Tuesday after Channel Seven News broadcast excerpts from the book.

 

Mahanama makes no bones about the poor on-field relations between Sri Lanka and Australia.

 

"One or two times the Australians stepped over the line. No-one likes being called a black bastard," he writes. "The Australians' ranking of No 1 in the world is tarnished by their on-field behaviour. The sledging goes on every season, under every captain."

 

Meanwhile the Australian Cricket Board is reportedly trying to establish the truth behind Mahanama’s allegations, as the batsman did not play in the game in question.

 

The ACB also questioned the standing umpire in the SCG final, Peter Parker of Queensland.

 

"We have spoken to one of the umpires. He's advised us that he didn't see or hear anything of that nature during the game," ACB chief executive Malcolm Speed told the Melbourne Age on Tuesday.

 

"No report was made, the match referee made no report of it, and the allegations are third-hand."

 

The other umpire who stood in that match, Steve Randall, could not be contacted by the ACB as he is currently serving a prison sentence in Tasmania as a sex offender. Veterans of the match in question reportedly told the ACB that Jayasuriya had been called “spider monkey” because of his idiosyncratic movements.

 

Speed made it clear that the ACB takes a tough stance on racism, and said that the board had a specifically tasked racial and religious vilification code to deal with such matters.

 

"We're keen to ensure that racism has no place in the game, and it's totally unacceptable for any Australian cricketer to racially abuse any person," Speed said. However if McGrath is found to be guilty of the abuse, the code could prove to be a paper tiger, as it was not put in place until 1998.

 

With incident already two years old at the time, at worst McGrath can be charged with brining the came into disrepute.