The International Cricket Council on Tuesday announced the appointment of New Zealand barrister Tim Castle as the Appeals Commissioner to hear Sourav Ganguly's appeal against his two-Test match ban imposed after the match against Pakistan on Satuday.

• Special: Ganguly's troubled times

Castle, who has over 30 years' experience in litigation, representative sport, national and international sports administration and management, now has up to seven days to hear and determine the appeal.

Earlier Report Decision on Ganguly in seven days

The grounds of the appeal, paperwork from the ICC Match Referee Clive Lloyd and a video of the match have been dispatched to Mr Castle today.

The process for conducting the hearing is left in the discretion of the Appeals Commissioner. Since the right of appeal was introduced in 2002 there have been two previous appeals. In both those instances, the Appeals Commissioners reached their decisions based on written and video evidence.

Should this appeal not be finalised before the start of India's first Test against South Africa starting on Saturday, November 20, Ganguly will be able to play in the match.

The facts:

After a hearing on Sunday, November 14, ICC Match Referee Clive Lloyd suspended Ganguly for two Test matches for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct in relation to slow over-rates.

The BCCI and Ganguly exercised their right of appeal against this decision on Monday, November 15.

If the BCCI and Ganguly had not appealed, the ban would have applied with immediate effect.

The ICC Code of Conduct states that if the appeal has not been resolved prior to a scheduled game, a player is permitted to play in that match.

The Appeals Commissioner now has a maximum of seven days to make his decision. He can provide his written decision at any stage during this seven day period.

If the appeal has not been finalised before the start of the India's first Test against South Africa on November 20, Ganguly can play in the match.

The Appeals Commissioner has the power to increase, decrease, amend or otherwise substitute his own decision from that of the ICC Match Referee.

Tim Castle factfile:

A practising barrister since 1973, Tim Castle has worked in the fields of litigation, representative sport, national and international sports administration and management.

Mr Castle is a judge/arbitrator of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport where he has presided over disputes arising from the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. He has also held a number of prominent positions in New Zealand sport, serving on the New Zealand Olympic Committee and the New Zealand Sports Foundation and is New Zealand's representative on the ICC Code of Conduct Commission.

He is from Wellington, New Zealand.