A day after the hoopla on the Japanese calling Australians racist over whaling, there's a big hoopla over in India over an Australian calling an Indian a racist over cricket.Peter Roebuck thinks Ponting should be sacked.
RICKY PONTING must be sacked as captain of the Australian cricket team. If Cricket Australia cares a fig for the tattered reputation of our national team in our national sport, it will not for a moment longer tolerate the sort of arrogant and abrasive conduct seen from the captain and his senior players over the past few days. Beyond comparison it was the ugliest performance put up by an Australian side for 20 years. The only surprising part of it is that the Indians have not packed their bags and gone home. There is no justice for them in this country, nor any manners.I like Mr. Roebuck but colour me unimpressed. A little over-stated for my tastes.That the senior players in the Australian team are oblivious to the fury they raised among many followers of the game in this country and beyond merely confirms their own narrow and self-obsessed viewpoint. Doubtless they were not exposed to the messages that poured in from distressed enthusiasts aghast to see the scenes of bad sportsmanship and triumphalism presented at the SCG during and after the Test. Pained past players rang to express their disgust. It was a wretched and ill-mannered display and not to be endured from any side, let alone an international outfit representing a proud sporting nation.
Make no mistake, it is not only the reputation of these cricketers that has suffered. Australia itself has been embarrassed. The notion that Ponting can hereafter take the Australian team to India is preposterous. He has shown not the slightest interest in the well-being of the game, not the slightest sign of diplomatic skills, not a single mark of respect for his accomplished and widely admired opponents.
Mike Coward thinks otherwise.
While there is no doubt the Indians were hard done by in Sydney, Kumble and his men need to be reminded that the Australians, too, suffered because of the poor umpiring. It is foolhardy for the Indians to suggest they are being persecuted; Indian cricket has an uneasy history with Bucknor, but his appointment was made from Dubai, not from Melbourne.The latter sums up my feelings much more. The Indians are more than a little soft; they'd like that to be interpreted as being gentlemanly, but in the world of Elite Sports, it's just plain weak. The Australians are an obnoxious bunch who press for every advantage - sometimes one that are merely imaginary. Both sides knew this going in. The Aussies can do better for themselves simply by not pushing for the imaginary advantages; and the Indians can do themselves a world of good by shutting up and knuckling down. God only knows they do better when they do.
Furthermore, for all their distress, Kumble and his masters must keep the issue in perspective. Certainly their sensibilities have been offended, which is most regrettable, but they must guard against using the disappointment to mask another failure in the middle.
It may very well be that Australia plays the game too hard in the eyes of some, but equally, in the eyes of others, India does not play it hard enough. As always, in such disputes, sport can never be separated from the wider culture of the countries involved. And therein lies the rub as Kumble and Ponting prepare to draw new lines of engagement for the scheduled third and fourth Test matches later this month.
In other words, as Frank Zappa once was told 'Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar'. Cricket, in this instance.
The Media Circus And The Umpire
Has there ever been this much controversy since, say, the underarm bowling incident? Media people are likening statements to Woodfull's statements about the Bodyline Series 75 years ago. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but no, it's echoes of Bill Woodfull all the way.
I've been watching much less cricket this year thanks to my work schedule, but it has to be said there's a desperation in the Australian overage to see Ponting's squad equal the Waugh teams' record of 16 Test wins. As well, there has been an immense amount of media guff about how the Indians stopped the Waugh team back in 2001. So the stakes are high.
Not to mention the ump did a crap-tacular job... As umps do in most sports.
Remember, my adage is: The road to hell isn't paved with 'Good Intentions', it's paved with 'Umpiring Decisions'.
Steve Bucknor won't be around to umpire the third Test.
How do you say "He had a crap game" without actually spelling it out? The media can claim that scalp. I always thought Bucknor was great.The International Cricket Council (ICC) has dumped umpire Steve Bucknor from the third Test between Australia and India in Perth.
New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden will be substituted for Bucknor for the Perth Test beginning on January 16.
The Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) had requested that the Jamaican umpire be replaced after a series of poor decisions in the controversial second Test in Sydney.
However ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed denies the change of umpire is a win for the Indian team.
"I'd like to think that the game has had a win, because we've been able to take a decision that will take some of the tension out of the situation and enable both teams to focus on the cricket rather than on the umpires," he said.
"I take the view that a good umpire is an umpire when you come to a ground... and you go home at the end of the day and you can't recall who was the umpire."
Mr Speed says the changes have been made to ease tension and to ensure the following two Test matches are played in the spirit of the game.
"What we need to do is to alleviate some of the tension that is focused on this match and one way of doing that is to bring in a new umpiring team with Billy Bowden and Asad Rauf as the two umpires, I think that gives us an opportunity to move on," he said.
Is 'Monkey' Even A Racist Term?
Let's face, just as with the whaling thing, accusations of racism just don't help - but there you have it, there's a Three Test Match Ban on Harbhajan Singh. Rightfully, the Indians want to press their case against Australian sledging calls. In Symonds' defence, at least it's not a big, tall, blonde Nordic type of man complaining of being called, say, 'a Nazi'. He is the token non-white bloke the Australian cricket team have to show for their meager egalitarianism.
One of the things about this current brouhaha is how Singh called Symonds a 'monkey', even after he requested not to be called that.
Ponting revealed yesterday exactly how the incident unfolded.Symonds, being the only non-white (how do you put this politely?) and therefore only target for vilification says monkey is hurtful as it implies he is sub-human. The funny thing it's the kind of taunt that is readily heard in the school yard. ...And it's not like Singh used the N-word."I was made aware by Michael Clarke, who heard it on the way past," Ponting said.
"He told me straight away. I told (umpire Mark) Benson straight away. Making his way to slip, Haydos (Hayden) told me he heard it as well.
"When I knew a couple of guys had heard it, I made my way off the ground and spoke to (team manager) Steve Bernard straight away and explained to him everything that had happened.
"This is what I'm instructed to do by the referee, tell the umpires first, then tell your management. I ticked all the boxes, did what I had to do, then got on with playing the game."
The code of conduct hearing was held in the emotional aftermath of the Sydney Test, which Australia won with seven balls to spare and India lost after suffering almost as many bad umpiring decisions.
I'll accept the case that it is pretty derogatory, but then I've heard worse in Australia. So I can understand the fury of the Indians who for once find themselves on the side of the persecutors. It's the fury of irony. Speaking of which...
The Burning Effigy Thing
Over the years I've been blogging here, if there was one thing I think lowers your class as a human being, it is burning effigies and flags. By all means you're free to do so, but let's face it, it's juvenile and disrespectful. Certainly not something a man who can grow a full beard should be doing. Over a game of cricket too.While We're On Ugliness
Roger Clemens is trying his darnedest to "say it ain't so."
Roger Clemens said during an interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday that he was never injected with illegal performance-enhancing drugs by his former trainer and doesn't know what he can do to prove his innocence.Gotta say, he's pushing shit up hill. It's ugly all around since the Mitchell Report.
"Never happened," Clemens told CBS correspondent Mike Wallace. "And if I have these needles and these steroids and all these drugs, what, where did I get them? Where is the person out there (who) gave them to me? Please, please come forward."
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