Has he received the correct punishment?

Lehmann was called to a disciplinary hearing in Adelaide for shouting a "racially motivated obscenity" after he was run out during Wednesday's win over Sri Lanka.

Match referee Clive Lloyd took three hours to decide that Lehmann had broken the International Cricket Council's code of conduct.

The suspension starts with immediate effect and will see the Yorkshire captain miss the rest of the VB Series, which continues against England in Adelaide on Sunday.

If the best-of-three finals last just two matches, the player will also miss Australia's crucial opening World Cup fixture against Pakistan on 11 February.

Has Lehmann been fairly dealt with?

This debate is now closed. A selection of your e-mails appears below.

To the Aussies on this board who are defending Lehman and his outburst - it is not insignificant; it is not a speck of dirt. Lehman's attitude is disgusting, that is exactly the type of thing that causes such huge divides in cricket and life in general.

The punishment is not severe enough, Yorkshire should not have him back, Australia should ban him. But then we all know that Aussie sporting authorities will do anything to keep a good player playing, no matter what he does (see Ben Tune for rugby).
Tim, England

I think the penalty is appropriate. The next step is to stop the onfield sledging (the Aussies are world leaders in this). It does not behove players representing their country to strive to beat the other team through verbal banter rather than through their cricketing skills.

I can still recall the incident between Javed Miandad and Dennis Lillee with Javed almost using his bat! Wonder what was said then by Lillee?! Maybe one solution is to broadcast on TV what is said on field fully (or is it normally too vicious).
Vish, NZ

Banning a player is not good for the game of cricket Arjun, India/US

I am sure Sir Don would never have approved of the way the current Aussie team behaves. You have some one like McGrath who is an absolutely disgraceful individual with all his sledging and remarks.

Being competitive is one thing but being an outright ruffian is another. I think the country that has tainted the gentleman's game the most is Australia. They may be a team of great cricket players but they are a bunch of lousy and uncultured individuals.
Andy, USA

No one knows what is said and who provoked who. Also, Lehmann already regrets his comments. I think it is not fair to brand any player racist since the temperaments run high on the field, it could just be called aggressiveness, and fine their match fee. Banning a player is not good for the game of cricket.
Arjun, India/US

Racism of any nature should not be tolerated and the punishment given was just about right, although personally I think he should be banned for more World Cup matches. The five-game ban does not stop him from being racist and counselling is a reasonable idea. Racism is a problem in society and until that is addressed, racism in sports will continue.
David, UK

What an accurate decision, this will teach the Aussies a lesson on how to behave, since they have no manners. Hayden broke a window, Adam Gilchrist misbehaved with the umpire, and same goes for the Australian spectators who are totally undisciplined.

This will teach them all.
Saeed Maqsood, Pakistan

Darren Lehmann is definitely the scapegoat in this matter Chris Orme, Australia

I think its time cricketers realise that sledging, racists outbursts or for that matter even excessive appealing wont go unnoticed. Unlike Ball tampering, the "New" evil of racism should be dealt with punitive action so no one dare repeat it.
Sunil, USA

Darren Lehmann is definitely the scapegoat in this matter. Why did it take Clive Lloyd 3 hours take make up his mind on Lehmann's punishment? Lehmann went into the hearing pleading guilty. Clive Lloyd said he had to make an example of someone. It could have been over in five minutes or less.

For all you Poms out there, or is that considered racist as well, did you see what our 'B' side did to your number one boys last night. Beautiful to watch wasn't it. The only reason they are going to Zimbabwe is that they are the only team they can get close to defeating, although that is definitely not a certainty either.

Why does the ICC continually frustrate umpires in the calling of chuckers? Is it because of the pathetic whinging that we always get from the sub continent about being picked on?
Chris Orme, Australia

I only found out today what Lehman actually said. His comments have been widely reported in Australia, where it seems that the majority view is that he got off lightly.

I have heard and read many people's comments in the UK, but how can we judge the appropriateness of his sentence if we are not told what he actually said. If the general public were aware of just how vile his outburst was, then I'm sure that a much longer ban would be deemed fair.
Marcus, England

Without knowing exactly what Lehmann said, I think it's unfair for people to assume the very worst Russel, UK

Yes, Lehmann fully deserved the punishment he got. His racist remarks indicated that he was inherently racist, so the ACB were correct to send him for counselling. However, if it was not for the intervention of the ICC, Lehmann would have got away with it because Lloyd was not going to apply the ICC code of conduct. Thus, there is still room to improve by ICC.
Belal Islam, U.K

Considering no-one here knows what he said, it seems a strange thing to be debating. What's racist to one, is not to another. In Britain the word "paki" is considered to be a racist word, in other countries it's just short for pakistani like "brit" or "aussie".

Without knowing exactly what Lehmann said, I think it's unfair for people to assume the very worst. The Sri Lankans didn't seem to think it was that bad as they accepted his apology and made no fuss about it at all.

If it was an overtly racist thing then he certainly shouldn't be allowed to be captain of a club like Yorkshire, and should perhaps be banned from the World Cup entirely.
Russel, UK

Lehmann is fortunate that he has been let off with a penalty which was settled at a low level because of the magnanimity of the Sri Lankan team. They accepted his apology graciously and wished to close the matter. Lehmann should be made an example of in order to restore dignity to the game.
R Iyer, U.K.

Lehmann's official punishment was deserved, but it took Clive Lloyd to have the courage to take action. How about action against Watson for swearing at Jayasuria or Hogg for rushing the umpire during an appeal? It is about time Australian "attitude" is taken for what it truly is - unsportsmanlike abuse.
Matt Martin, Saudi Arabia

I think Lehmann's banning is a step in the right direction. I think there should be a clause wherein there is a ban on players for too much sledging to intimidate other players (I am referring to the of course the "No respect to other teams" world champions Australia). I am saying this coz of the reason when Indians were penalised for a game for too much appealing....if that's intimidating to the umpires, sledging against players is no worse and Australians are the world champions in sledging as well. And, "finally" one Australian player did get penalised....good job ICC (Clive Lloyd).
Sujit , USA

The sentence given to this person is totally inadequate and should have been the maximum permitted Charles L. Bahr, Australia

Good thing he was suspended. High time we all stopped paying tributes to teams that do 'anything' to win, and converted the sport back to a game of skill rather than focusing on other loathsome methods to win.
Siddhartha Shivshankar, India(USA)

The sentence given to this person is totally inadequate and should have been the maximum permitted.
Charles L. Bahr, Australia

When the ICC code of conduct was established, it didn't come a second too late. However it took a great man & cricketer (Clive Lloyd)to have the necessary strength of character to impose an appropriate punishment. Many in the game lack the backbone or will to stamp out such behaviour. For far too long some countries have used abuse and intimidation as part of their game plan to win games. There is definitely a racial divide in cricket amongst nations, which a lot of people are happy to ignore because it's embarrassing.
Douglas De Silva, UK

Lehmann is just a scapegoat. Speed and the ICC have attacked a weak option and made a mountain out of a spec of dirt. I wonder how Clive Lloyd is feeling. Lloyd handles the matter with commonsense and then gets overruled. We might as well do away with match referees.

Aussies get called convicts all the time. Vilified because of our descent. Check Level 3.4 of the code. Malcolm Speed does nothing. Nasser Hussain shows dissent on his return to the dressing room, kicking bags, no suspension. But Matthew Hayden for similar physicality in the dressing room gets a fine.

And if Speed and the ICC had any guts - both Lee and Muralitharan would be currently suspended for bowling with bent arms.

It looks to me as if everyone is just jealous of Aussie sporting perfection and success. Come up to our standards, don't drag us down to your depths. What do you want - all to play like NZ v India. 30 overs and 100 run total innings?
Jason McIlvena, Australia

I think it is a correct punishment for Lehmann because he had broken the International Cricket Council's code of conduct. I know it was a painful moment for Lehman but I think it will be a good warning for all other players who do that in future especially the youngest.
Mohsin Ali, Pakistan

It's sad the way the ACB have tried to sweep the whole issue under the carpet, like it's no big deal. However I think the suspension is enough and he would learn to keep his trap shut. Nonetheless, shame on Darren Lehmann, shame on Australian cricket.
Mark Hillwood, U.K

Why has Lehmann only been banned for five matches? He should be banned for life Omar Mirza, UK

I think Lehmann has had the correct punishment. It is part of the Aussie mentality always play to win so if it doesn't go well they angry and in the heat of the moment people can say things they regret. However there is NO room for racists in cricket or any sport for that matter. If it was just the heat of the moment then the punishment is fair. If he actually harbours racist views he deserves all he gets.
Alisdair Wallis, Warks, Eng

I think this is a very good lesson. Even the Aussie fans can learn from this.
Sabry M Abuthahir, Sri Lanka

Yes, Lehmann deserves it. Very good lesson taught by ICC. You just can't fool around and get away with it. Kudos Lloyd. You are not only a great player and a captain but also a great judge.
Kumar Vadlamudi, USA

I thought the idea was to kick rascism out of sport. So why has Lehmann only been banned for five matches? He should be banned for life. Australian cricketers have no manners. They may be the most talented cricket team in the world but they just don't know how to behave. Bowlers spitting in the direction of batsman and fielders throwing balls at the batsman's head are just other examples. However, this outburst by Lehmann tops it all.
Omar Mirza, UK

Players who represent their country at the highest level in any sport are expected to maintain elementary decency. The Australian cricketer has crossed all norms of decency and he deserves the punishment awarded to him.
PVRATNAM, INDIA

Players from the sub continent have long be subjected to on field abuse. This has been justified by players like Steve Waugh as mental disintegration. For a very long time the skills of the sub continental players has been far more than those of Australians, however these very same players used to buckle under this abuse. The ICC seems to have finally laid started implementation of rules that it should have enforced over a decade back.
Bhaskar, India