Oz Cricket Association chief Marsh says Pomersbach controversy should serve as 'lesson' for players

Sydney, May 26 (ANI): Australian Cricketers Association chief Paul Marsh has said that players should take a lesson from the recent controversy engulfing IPL player Luke Pomersbach, who was accused of molestation and assault by a woman.

After a late-night drinking session in Delhi, Pomersbach was in the headlines after a woman accused him of grabbing her and trying to kiss her, and then beating up her partner when he tried to intervene. She later withdrew the charges on the cricketer following an out-of-court settlement.

"I was shocked when these accusations first arose and there has been a lot of talk that Luke was set up. Who knows what the motivation of the accusers was but I hope it serves as a lesson to all of our players to be very careful about who they associate with," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Marsh, as saying.

CCTV footage showed Pomersbach being invited into the woman's hotel room. However, Pomersbach denied molesting the woman and, in relation to the assault, he said that he acted in self-defence.

"All at the Australian Cricketers Association are hugely relieved that the charges against Luke have been dropped. I know Luke well and I have absolutely no doubt that he is not the type of person to molest or in any way assault a female," Marsh added.

The incident comes at a wrong time for Pomersbach, 27, who had a 50,000 dollar contract with Royal Challengers Bangalore, and was trying to get his life and career back on the rails after a series of disciplinary breaches, culminating with his decision last season to step away from cricket with Western Australia to address ''health and wellbeing'' issues. (ANI)