"First, according to the witness Prior, the words 'f***' and 'f***ing' are common place on an international cricket field. Second, it is not in issue that earlier in the morning Umpire Oxenford took the action he describes in para. 6 of his statement where he said "I heard Anderson use foul and abusive language to Dhoni. In particular I heard Anderson say 'you're a f***ing fat c***' to Dhoni". However, apart from ordering Anderson to say nothing further to the batsman (I assume of an abusive nature) Umpire Oxenford did not deem that language sufficiently serious to lodge a report about the incident with the Match Referee, even though it seems to have been in breach of article 2.1.4 in that it was language that was obscene, offensive and insulting. In my view what Umpire Oxenford heard was much worse than the exchange ascribed to Anderson at the boundary line. I can only assume that a much more robust approach is taken by Umpires to swearing in the Test arena than I had previously imagined and the boundary exchange does not warrant disciplinary action if the earlier insult directed to Dhoni did not."Mr. Lewis does say that he had little other than conflicting accounts of the incident to go on. But this, it seems to be, is an overlooked part. Essentially, what Mr. Lewis seems to have concluded is that if the standard for what is considered to be abusive conduct is set keeping in mind Umpire Oxenford's decision to do nothing beyond telling James Anderson to stop abusing Dhoni, then there was nothing much there.
In the part of the statement which addresses Ravindra Jadeja's appeal against the 50% fine imposed by David Boon, Lewis says "I am satisfied that personal contact did occur between Anderson and Jadeja but the extent and force of that contact is unknown".
So here we have James Anderson, who, on the day the incident occured, is known to have abused the Indian captain. That Jadeja said anything at all has not been established. That he was aggressive in any way has not been established. The Judge appointed by the ICC thought (strongly enough to include in his written report) that an incident reported by one of the Umpires in his written witness statement was in breach of the ICC's Code of Conduct.
I will make a prediction here. In one of the next two Tests (at Manchester and The Oval), an Indian player will get charged and fined under Clause 2.1.4 of the Code of Conduct. It is hard to imagine that even though Anderson may be worse than other players, language does not fly more generally in Test Cricket. The ICC's Umpires will react to this sting in Lewis's statement (especially now that it has become public) and judge players according to a stricter standard. I predict that it will be an Indian player who gets hauled up, not because the Umpires want to get back at India, but because it will be an Indian player's lot to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.