[updated]
There’s a point at which political correctness and politeness of phrase have to be jettisoned in favor of brutal directness — of calling a spade a spade and a cheat a cheat.
So all you people talking about the abysmal umpiring from Bucknor and Benson in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar trophy, get it straight. What we saw at Sydney was not incompetence but openly biased decision-making with Australia universally benefiting from almost all the wrong decisions (except when Ponting was given leg before wicket of an inside edge but many runs after he had already enjoyed grandpa Benson’s indulgent eye when his huge snick behind of Ganguly had been overlooked), with even the third umpire getting into the Cricket Australia act by his sparing of Symonds from a stumping decision.
Have you no shame sirs?
Of course you don’t.
When Hussey and Symonds snick the ball (off R P Singh and off Ishant Sharma respectively) or when Hussey is struck absolutely plumb on the crease by a Kumble special, Benson and Bucknor keep playing “pocket-billiards”with their index fingers, too wrapped up in the pleasure of the moment to bring them out. On the other hand, when the ball brushes off the pad of Rahul Dravid and goes behind, Bucknor’s finger is up like a teenager in front of a girl in a bikini—yes it is caught behind. When another close appeal of stumping against Symonds is made, Bucknor refuses to refer it to the third umpire. When Harbhajan makes his crease and the ball breaks the stumps many seconds after Bhajji’s bat is safely in, the decision is however referred to the third umpire —needless to say if there is some conceivable way in which he may be judged out, it should be looked into.
When Clarke take a catch, which can at best be called questionable and at worst be called illegal (I am positive that the ball hits the ground first and then hits the ground again when he is rolling over and when he is not in control of the ball [Video here]), Mr. Benson looks at his master Ponting (Harish Gautam Bhimani calls Ponting the “fifth umpire”) for affirmation, Ponting raises his finger in a “Bulli kahaan hain teri ungli moment” and satisfied Mr. Benson wags his tail—sorry finger–upward. No consulting the third umpire here. The mind goes back to when Kevin Pietersen was given out caught behind by Simon Taufel and the-then other umpire, Steve Bucknor insisted on referring the decision to the third umpire (while Pietersen was walking off) who, in turn, returned a verdict of “not out”.
Of course, the agency I blame for this state of affairs and our loss in Sydney (a game we would, in all probability have won had the umpiring not been so biased) is the congregation of clowns that goes by the name of BCCI and its okaying the appointment of Steve Bucknor. This man, has over the years, shown an almost Musharaff-like love for Indians —whether it be handing one horrible decision against Sachin after another or his blatantly biased umpiring in the 2003 Australia series which had led to Sourav Ganguly, the then-captain, speaking very poorly of Bucknor in his assessment report. Not just in his decisions, Bucknor betrayed his hatred of Indian players when he mocked Dravid as he came into bat, after he was accused of ball-tampering.
In his defense, Steve Bucknor has said that he was not mocking Dravid, but smelling the ball.
I just smell the ball’’, he told The Indian Express today. ‘‘It is the easiest way to check if someone has tampered with the ball. If one side smells different from the other you can tell that someone has worked on it. You can tell that someone has applied something on it.
Yes there’s an association just waiting to be made here between Bucknor’s penchant for ball-smelling and his appeasing of Australia, but I shall let it pass for now. What I shall not let pass is that given Bucknor’s history with India, why the Board did not raise the red flag when his name came on the umpire roster for this series—in the same way the Sri Lankans raised the red flag on Hair. I hear now that Bucknor has been removed from the Perth Test but the horse has already bolted and the series decided. Who cares any more?
Which now brings us to the real shocker—yes there can be things even more shocking than the umpiring—Harbhajan Singh being suspended for three Tests on charges of racism for calling Symonds a “monkey”. I will not get into the practice of Aussies running to mamma at the slightest provocation when they themselves unleash the worst kind of vitriol on their opponents, commenting on the character of their wives and (allegedly) shouting choo-choo to Chris Cairns after his sister died in a train accident, and then dub opponents sissies for taking it “outside” when they complain.
Instead, I would like to concentrate on the unfairness of the whole judgment ,which was, in more ways than one, the kind of verdict a kangaroo court would come up with.
It is a well documented fact that ICC match referees have been known to have a bias against “non-white” teams (yes we are now entering actual race territory here) where when an Indian player and a white player get into a verbal scuffle, the white man is let go and the Indian penalized. But this time, Mike Procter (a South African player who represented South Africa during apartheid) set a new low even by ICC standards. First, on camera in an interview to Healy, he himself accepted that there was no “evidence” against Harbhajan (like stump-microphone records) and that it was very much a case of one person’s word against the others.
And then at 2 am (Australia time) he comes up with the following verdict:
I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Harbhajan Singh directed that word at Andrew Symonds and also that he meant it to offend on the basis of Symonds’ race or ethnic origin,” said Procter.
So what happened? Well five Australian players supported Symond’s contention (two of whom claimed they heard it) and that was it. The testimony of the Australians , even though they may be in the same team and have a definite interest in getting Harbhajan banned, counts more than those of Harbhajan and Sachin, the only two Indian players on the ground.(in this report, it is said that the Indians felt the whole hearing was a farce with the decision having been taken already) Is this the ICC version of Pakistan’s Qanun-e-Shahadat where a man’s testimony is equal to two women’s and the woman’s testimony is of no importance when she has been raped (Hudood)?
That Bhajji was a target for the Aussies was known to all—whether it be because of his uncanny ability of picking up Ricky Ponting or his publicly calling Australians “vulgar” or his refusal to let Aussie abuses go unanswered. With that background, we should not be surprised that on a day that Australia was well and truly under the whip, this incident very conveniently “happened”, which now with the help of Mr. Procter, has become an enormous advantage for the Australians and particularly Ricky Ponting.
While India-Australia battles have never been friendly (Sunil Gavaskar once walking off in protest against the umpiring and Lillee’s sportsmanship), it has taken a downturn in the last few years—ever since the Australian tour of 2001. The reason for that, I believe, is because around that time the Indians started answering the Australian barbs and taunts without turning their eyes downwards and slinking away.
Here are two extracts from former Australian player Justin Langer’s Rediff diary from 2001.
At the toss of the coin, VVS Laxman (captian of India A) won the toss but rather than deciding to bat or bowl he politely asked Steve Waugh what he would like to do first. Without hesitation, ‘Tugga’ said he would like to bat first and they shook hands and walked away.
This above was the behavior they “expected” from Indians.
Now, read this.
Listening to the great importance the Indian people place upon respecting their elders and people in authority, I was quite surprised to see the reaction of the young India ‘A’ leg spinner when he dismissed Steve Waugh today. His performance was perplexing, as one would have thought the captain of the Australian cricket team would command a little more respect than he was granted.
This is a slight variation of a sentiment I have heard repeated ad nauseam, almost always from Australian experts—verbal abuse and expletives are ingrained in the hard way Australia plays the game while bridely “laaj” (demureness) is what characterizes the Indian ethos. Ergo when Aussies abuse Indians, they should not try to beat them at their own game but instead stay within their comfort zone (i.e. submissiveness).
Which is why I suppose when an Indian pressman asked Ponting an uncomfortable question (which was not “respectful” perhaps), he reacted with the same good grace and respect for Indians that he displayed while shoving Sharad Pawar.
Australian skipper Ricky Ponting on Sunday lost his cool when questioned about a catch he claimed during the final day of the ill-tempered second Test against India here.
Ponting, fielding at silly point, turned back and dived for a looping catch offered by Mahendra Singh Dhoni but grounded the ball in his effort.
However, he didn’t bat an eyelid before making an appeal, which was turned down.
When asked during the post-match press-conference about whether he caught the ball cleanly, an incensed Ponting took offence to the question.
“I claimed the catch and there was no way I grounded it (the ball).”
“If you are questioning my integrity, then probably you shouldn’t be sitting here,” retorted a furious Australian captain.
Right. If you question Punter’s integrity as a sportsman, you should not be in Australia. Similarly if the same Ponting questions our integrity and disrespects us , then by his own logic, he should also not be playing in India for the India Professional League and making money off us. Just as Greg Chappell, who accused the BCCI of being racist towards him, should not be in India taking money from the very same agency, that is if he has an iota of self-respect.
Which is, admittedly, a big “if”.
And now coming to the Aussie press, which has historically been merely a PR extension of Team Australia.I clicked on a link I got from Nitin Pai, which was a link sent by Amit Varma and came to a piece by Andrew Stevenson that was pretty amazing. In it, it is conjectured that caste plays a role in India’s team selection. In order to support this hypothesis, Stevenson pastes in extracts from some Bramhin-hating Dalit activist who for the first time, explains why Dada fields badly and Laxman can never make that second run.
Siriyavan Anand, a Dalit (the caste formerly called untouchables), has written provocatively and critically of the Brahmin domination, suggesting it was easy to “infer that cricket is a game that best suits Brahmanical tastes and bodies, and that there has been a preponderance of Brahman cricket players at the national level”.
Anand’s argument that cricket is an idle and indolent game - at least when played by higher-caste Indians - is readily accepted by commentators and even Australian crowds, who know next to nothing of caste in India.
“Why do their fielders not chase the ball to the boundary? Why do Indian batsmen rarely run for singles, apparently preferring to hit the ball to the fence or amble through for two runs in no obvious haste?” Anand wrote. “Having too many Brahmans means that you play the game a little too softly, and mostly for yourself.”
Further support for the hypothesis of pervasive casteism in the Indian team is provided by that great player of yester-year, Vinod Kambli who tells us that he was booed at Indian grounds because of his caste with the article further going on to suggest that he was not persisted in the Indian team because he was not Bramhin. While Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri and Harsha Bhogle oppose the article’s thesis, support comes from other quarters.
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan, assistant editor of cricinfo.com, believes caste is relevant within the Indian team at a subconscious level, “in terms of the groups that are formed, in terms of the people who feel wanted, in terms of the people who don’t feel wanted”. “It’s also because people from the lower castes have this tendency to not feel wanted, people have to make an extra effort,” he says.
“But people from the top castes have a tendency to be stand-offish, so I think exaggerates it a bit more and the gap increases.”
Siddhartha can see caste as a possible explanation for the Brahmin dominance, particularly in batting. “Traditionally, cricket has been an elitist sport, and in terms of the physique and what you need as a batsman, it’s more skill, wrist and angles than what you need as a fast bowler or fielder,” he says. “That probably explains it in a way. If you look at the body structure of the higher castes, you would find they aren’t as athletic as they are deft.”
The article further goes on to provide us with a table where each player is put under a caste heading.
Brilliant. [An excellent retort to the article here]
Now I know that being from the land of Gandhi, I am supposed to take this with respect and perhaps even accept it as the truth. I am however from the land of another “G”.
Ganguly.
Which is why I exhort the Indian press to please write an article on the Australian team, by digging up their family trees and finding out what kind of convicts they descended from and putting it next to their names—rapist, armed robber, murderer etc. And then analyze how the descendants of one class of criminals have dominated over the other without forgetting to get some disgruntled Australian cricketer to give a quote saying that he was given the cold-shoulder because his ancestor’s crime was not considered “cool” enough.
Detestable? Absolutely. But then so is the original article.
Finally, here is my message to team India and Anil Kumble. You guys have made us proud. Forget the cricket match, as far as I am concerned you guys won it—look at the number of decisions they had to rig in order to get you to finally lose. What was at stake was something greater. Your identity as sportsmen. When Sachin and other players came out of the dressing room to handshake the Australians Ricky Ponting, the great-man-whose-words-may-not-be-questioned and Symonds, the man produced by Intelligent Design, in the post-match interview to Mark Taylor, showed their sporting spirit by not even saying a word of appreciation for India’s superhuman efforts (only Michael Clarke made a passing remark) . Through your gesture of appreciation for your opponents even after all that had transpired, you showed, in a way that can be no clearer, the difference between the two sides.
And dear Anil Kumble, thanks for that fighting innings on the last day—it was nothing but sensational. It is tough to keep competing when you have no faith in the umpires and when you know that there is no trick that is too low for the opposition to pull. But you did compete and that too brilliantly.
Finally please do remember one thing.
There is a reason why cleaning sewage pipes, wiping one’s rectal orifice and playing cricket in Australia can all be referred to as “attending to things down under”.
Update 1: Bucknor decides to wear his heart on his sleeve. Or rather his uniform. Finally some honesty. [Link courtesy the Telegraph]
The important thing is that the rules should be the same for both the sides and they should be made explicit before the game starts.
So if Virender Sehwag is suspended in South Africa for appealing for a taking a catch which wasn’t then should Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke be. Or are the rules different for different sides.
If most sledging is OK but some terms are deemed racist therefore some forms of sledging are not acceptable while others are - then let the ICC publish the rule book of sledging - what sledging is OK and what is not with illustrated examples, a dictionary etc. (for instance it is apparently OK for Glenn McGrath to ask a West Indies batsman what a certain part of Brian Lara’s anatomy feels like because it was non racial macho thing to say – basically gutter level personal abuse if OK in the gentleman’s game but not anything to do with race). Why should not strict action be taken against both forms of abuse.
For the record let me state calling someone a monkey does not have racist connotations in India – in fact a monkey is a revered animal in India and one of the major Indian Gods is the monkey God Hanuman. However that is no defence since calling a person of African descent a monkey does have racist connotations and should not be done – but maybe many in India do not understand the sensitivity of the matter.
The joke doing the rounds in India is that when an Australian child learns to say the word “Mother” for the first time the parents say “Two cheers. Junior has learnt half a word”. For the Australian team to complain about sledging and occupy the moral high ground on this issue is a bit much.
I guess they were geeting a taste of their own medicine in the World Cup 20-20 and India and were suffering from some not inconsiderable digestion as a consequence.
Harbhajan made a mistake if (and only if) he referred to Andrew Symonds as a monkey. Wrong choice of animal mate - you should have tried some other noteworthy animal to respond to Symonds’ abuse - swine or dog come to mind as possible candidates - they do not carry racist connotations. It gave the Aussies a handle to turn the tables on the Indians by raising the racism issue. The Indians need to refine their sledging strategy. It needs to be more nuanced - someone in the Indian camp needs to think this through. India needs a specialist sledging coach (anyone for Gregg Chappell for this position - he is Australian and they are the best at this).
But be happy India, the world is indeed flattening - in colonial times it took the word of ten Indians to overrule the word of one white man in India. Today you need to have two white Australians (Hayden and Clarke) to overrule the word of one Indian (Sachin).
But we havent heard the last of this. This is only the beginning.
Today you have a situation where a white match referee (from a country that till very recently practised the worst form of racism as state policy) takes the word of two white witnesses (who are not neutral) over that of one Indian witness (who is not neutral) and without any independent witness or corroborating evidence (no video, no audio, nothing heard by the umpires) bans an Indian player (who the white Australian captain finds himself incapable of playing and so will benefit from this ban, and it was this Australian captain who insisted that the racism charge be laid at Harbhajan’s doorstep).
Well…you are pretty quick are’nt ya? This test definitely left a bad taste in the mouth. Everyone knows aussies suck when it comes to aggressiveness, this time around they went a bit further and outdid themselves. It was indeed sad that professionalism is totally forgotten and the way things carried on the pitch looked more rough than what is displayed in the ” street cricket” at every nook and corner in our country.
I did’nt expect much difference in attitude from the aussies, but what I felt disappointed is the lack of belief in our team. The body language is just bad, ( point in case…Wasim Jaffer, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj). I dont mind accepting defeat, but to accept it before the play the game is unacceptable. even though Laxman made a ton in his first innings, I still would never put my money on him.
A note on the empires….BOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
They will now forever be branded as CHEATERs of the worst kind. Cant wait for them to come to India and see all those banners come out to “welcome” them.
Right from employing hags old enough to retire from ordinary desk jobs as elite panel umpires to selecting Speed’s salaried bitches like Denness and Procter as match referees, the ICC has gone to the inevitable fate a rotten-to-the-core beaureaucratic shithole with too few handling too much money. It’s the simple lack of peer pressure that leads to this bastardization. Same with the BCCI. I bet my pumpkins that a lot of players would absolutely love it if the BCCI decides to tank the tour tear a new asshole for Speed (namely in his pocket). Unfortunately, BCCI is led by a bunch of chors and baniyas who would literally pick out an atthanni from a sewage drain with their teeth.
But that’s not all. For once, can’t we expect the big 5 (ST, SG, RD, VVS and AK) to threaten their baniya bosses to put in the last drop of their star values into spoiling the BCCI’s cake and strengthening ICL ? Not once, in the face of such barefaced “legal” mudplay ? What more do they have to gain from their careers, which will be over in about a year ?
Probably it doesn’t matter. Which makes sense. No reason to get worked up. It’s exactly what it smells like.
Brilliant. I’ve been so disgusted watching this test match; there is no point watching series anymore. Heck, Indian like their Pakistani counterparts should simply call off the tour at this point. Why such drama anyways?
That monkey symonds should really be locked in a zoo; his behavior off field, on field or any field don’t do justice. Heck I would say if anything Monkeys should feel offended that Symonds was call one of them!
S
GB, I’ve have nothing more to complain against Ponting or Australia.
Today I’m ashamed as an Indian to see those spineless bastards in top positions of BCCI. If they had any shame left, they should have called the team back on Bhajji episode. Utter shame!!!! And that man calls himself ‘Maratha Strongman’ - what an irony.
Its Gautam Bhimani, GB.
You summed it pretty well.
Well said, GB.
I am also quite surprised that BCCI was quick to clarify that the tour would not be called off. In my books, that was something that could have been left unsaid. Let the Aussies worry a bit about getting hurt where it hurts the most. The only thing BCCI has, after all, is its financial might.
In fact, more than just leaving it unsaid, the BCCI should actually be giving it some serious thought. After such complete subversion of Cricket and indeed, Justice, do we really have a good (non-financial) reason to continue the tour?
for once, i completely agree with an entire cricket article of yours :-).
if india bankrolls world cricket, why don’t our spineless officials have a backbone?
i would drop jaffer and get pathan back. we get an extra bowler (of however limited current ability). then either get yuvraj to open (he is more comfortable with pace than spin) or pathan to open (if we bat first). without harbhajan, definitely short of bowlers.
for future australia tours, we should send a second string side down under - like waugh appears to want - so they can get some good exposure (and the aussies their wins).
- s.b.
p.s.: Ian Chappell quote ‘”Batsmen usually say to each other ‘you take care of this bowler etc’. [In] this match the Indians might have to say ‘you take care of Bucknor, I will take care of Benson’.” ‘
unfortunately, that still leaves the third umpire, the referee and the final adjudicator (ponting)
Ponting has totally lost my respect as a sportsmen.
From his not walking when he had clearly nicked the ball to his vociferous appeal when he grounded the ball before completing the catch, to his ‘fifth umpire’ like decision on Ganguly, his behaviour has been most disgusting. And then the gall to get all self-righteous and angry on being questioned…
Excellent post, GB.
Absolutely brilliant. And spot on. What stands out in all of this is the absolute spinelessness of the BCCI. Someone (I foget who) actually said on TV that we do not present our case as well as the Aussies do. Understatement.
GreatBong,
I don’t follow cricket that much (not since they kicked me out of my high school House team because I couldn’t play cricket that well) but here’s what I don’t understand: why has Bucknor been allowed to officiate for this long?
I recall watching a World Cup match long ago when it was obvious to me (a neutral observer, not tuned to the nuances of the modern game) that Buckor was as biased as a Bucknor!
What’s the use of praising the Indian team’s sportmanship etc after the series was lost? Are we going in believing that competing nicely is more important than winning? Like we do in the Olympics?
dada bhalo diyechhen. bhabchhi aamader dada captain hole kemon react korto.
GB, very quick and excellent article, impressive.
I definitely believe that India would have won, had those atleast 10 decisions hadn’t gone against us.
and ofcourse icing on the cake for australians is they managed to get bhajji banned for 3 matches, how conveniently, mafia like, they got rid of an opponent who feared them the most..plain disgusting
One thing really frustrating is why guardians of indian cricket sitting in the BCCI haven’t voiced their concern or taken any action in this regard. Events of the last few days at SCG would have prompted any other board with an iota of pride and dignity to call off the tour.
The BCCI being the mightiest and wealthiest board one would expect it to rule the cricketing world instead constantly injustice is being mated out agains us!!
Also seriously what’s up with our senior players as well.. no body was standing up and challenging ausisies in their mind and verbal games…everybody gets so submissive when they play against aussies as if a shivering cow stuck in a lion’s den.. our players are also to blame as they, in the past also, become too “gentelmen” and “esteemed” to act aggressive and stand up against those bastards..what really pisses me off is when anyone says “it’s just a part of the game and one should move on” is same as saying ” we are cowards and gutless to stand up and complain”..We were just sitting duck and waiting for an offense to occur and then whisper and take it all in our stride and move on…. whereas look at the aussies even for wrong reasons everybody get together and always launch a planned attack on and off field…
Come to think of it, now i respect even Inzamam more on his guts to forfeit the test last year
and for those motherf***ers, benson and bucknor, well what to say they deserve more such expletives…
And less said is better for the aussie players, our gully cricketers play with more spirit and sportsmanship and even though a batting side used to keep their umpire, he would be more responsible and neutral then bunch of blinds officiating at SCG..
Serioulsy guys, tour sholuld be called off
GB
Fantastic article. I hope someone in the Australian media picks it up and it gets published there. Our Indian journos are not doing justice to it.
I personally think Harbhajan was targeted and set up. The same way Sreeshanth would have to, if he was playing.
The Indian team should protest the next test by wearing black armbands mourning the death of sportsmanship in Australian cricket.
My fear is that any body outside india, just like in the past, going to listen our complaints or read loads of articles in indian media on the cricketing atrocities commited at SCG? or again it will fall into deafs and blinds of ICC or people will forget and move on with another game of gentlemen? just wondering if such thing had happend to aussie or england side they would had made big hue and cry and attributed it to genocide of cricketing rules and news would have splashed all over the media in cricket playing countries.
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/wc2007/content/story/133468.html
may be we can follow it here. Mike Procter is the common guy. atleast he should remember it.
What about the brits and aussies using the term,”Holy Cow”, Cow is respectful for hindus, isn’t that racial abuse??
@Anonymous
Whats with the caste slurs ? You are as good, if not better than the Aussies at slurring.
GB, I would request you to bump off jokers like him from the comments thread.
For me the only culprit is BCCI. The board is just as spineless as our PM Manmohan Singh.
I am sorry to mix politics with sport but that is the way it is.
What woulld you call an aussie who scores high in an IQ test?
A Cheater
What would you call an aussie who has half a brain?
Gifted
Michael Clarke’s nickname is pup, isn’t that racial abuse?
Excellent article. Why is it that mainstream Indian Newspapers do not write like this. We should simply ostracize these decendents of convicts, and monkeys.
great work Great BOng.
i said the exact same things just a moment before you. lol. even checked your site to see if you’d posted on it already.
that was a killer of a last line!
Goddamn,
It’s weird. You’d expect crap like this in the early 90’s or before, but this is awful. And these maaders are all 3 time world cup winners.
Nice post GB
Well Said, Dada. BCCI should demand for removal of Mike Procter or call of the the tour.
cmon ppl.. what else can u expect from aussies.. srry to say this .. but descendents of convicts.. showed their true colours………
team India shud catch the next plane home and boycott the series and triangular….
>playing “pocket-billiards”with their index fingers, too wrapped up in the pleasure of the moment to bring them out
Pocket billiards .. ha ha ha .. ROTFL.
All in all its just another post reflecting my heart
latest.. India suspends tour…. GOOD.. finally they showed some balls of the field..
When they said that Steve and Mark had done a lot for Australian Cricket, I thought they were refering to the Waugh twins!
GB - when you get a chance, read this article from a local newspaper.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/cricket/rotten-from-first-day-to-the-last/2008/01/06/1199554486302.html
GB, no point discussing this. ICC is Imperial CC in all but name. I think if the Asian nations come out of ICC for some time, then things will be better. Now whats happening is that these **&&^* are to put it in an Indian way “eating our salt and chewing our asses”. Let’s cut off the financial nerve of these guys.
Recently Ricky Ponting proudly displayed a character certificate from Chris Broad - which clearly shows the nexus between the ‘white’ officials and ‘white’ players. What extra-ordinary spirit have the Aussies shown to deserve that certificate?
Infact, an argument on Cricinfo yesterday descended into “Where were you when Aussies were cheated out in the Ashes 2005″.Thats symptomatic - the only time Aussies get the wrong end of the stick is when they play with the English fire :-). Trust the old blighties to get under the skin of even the Aussies
And Ricky Ponting who cried buckets about the ’spirit’ when a 12th man picked out of the counties ran him out, does the same now.
But then, its only a game. Imagine the plight of the aborigines who have been suffering these *&^#$# for centuries
I remember one West Indies keeper being fined for runout while he had used his one hand to remove the bails while the ball was in his other hand. I wonder if same cannot be done for Symonds and Ponting. After all they brought disrepute to the game. What do say dada
Well said, GB, especially about the caste system in Indian cricket. This is a whole new angle of looking at things. Something that no Indian could have possibly thought about.
I applaud the innovative spirit of the aussies when it comes to playing mind games. They just reached a new all time low.
All hail Anil Kumble. I hope the tour goes on though, but won’t be surprised if they decide to come back.
GB, I admire the passion in your post - straight from the gut, like Sourav’s shirt waving. Like everyone else I resent that India lost a chance to compete as equals because of the umpiring, & that Ponting will continue to act holier-than-thou for the rest of the series. And Harbhajan managed to get himself dinged, which I think is a result of lack of command over English & giving a proper retort. But we can’t afford to ignore the brittleness of our second innings batting, the mental block that is thwarting Yuvraj (so good in the one-dayers when we last visited Australia) & Jaffar, the lack of purpose to our bowling against lesser batsmen (like in the match against Pakistan that Pathan toook his hattrick). The best respond we can give is by winning the next tests, & in this hungama over umpiring & racism, I am worried that we are getting sidetracked.
Also, the other worrying thing I noticed in the course of the match was that in the face of adverse umpiring or gamesmanship our fans become like commentators on Rediff. Prem P’s blog, after Symond’s ‘life’ at 30, had comments about monkey on monkey sex, ape dance etc. Reading such comments perpetuate the myth about ‘racist’ Indian fans & the crap that Mr. Anand is dishing out (and what is Cricinfo’s Sidharth V doing supporting that theory?). In your post, the insinuation about the social & government system in South Africa during Mike Procter’s playing days is quite a logical leap. At this rate, Roshan Mahanama would be the only ‘acceptable’ match referee for India.
I have been seeing Gavaskar on a few YouTube clips, defending the Indian team. I am so glad we have someone like him on a public platform to articulate our position & counter the Aussie PR juggernaut. We need canny, smart & effective counters to the likes of Healy & Slater.
Umpiring and match-refereeing towards teams from subcontinent has always been skewed against them.. I remember reading in “Sunny Days” an incident during 1974 India tour to England. Those were days without neutral umpires and the Engish umpire officiating in one of the tests just refused to get his finger out of the coat-pocket for the plumbest and surest of dismissals during England innings. Despite this India mow down the batting order .Venkat clean blowls the last batsman and turns towards the umpire to appeal. The umpire says- ” He is bowled”.Venky’s retort- “I know. But is he OUT??”
And as for the match referee- remember when Mike atherton wass caught on cam rubbing soil on the ground? Match referee politely asked him of he had any nefarious intent in doing so. Mike ofcourse claimed it was all done in wide-eyed innocence and that was that!!!!!English papers even claimed that Atherton confused the law that allows for the ball to be rubbed on the ground and eneded up doing it the other way round!!!!!!
Looks like I spoke too soon.. and BCCI did change its mind!
http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2008/jan/07bcci1.htm
The tour has been suspended pending Harbhajan’s appeal.
It still peeves me that our tail enders couldn’t handle a part time bowler like Clarke.
If our teamsters have any balls, they should suck it up and level the series. It’s not impossible you know.
I’d personally like to see what Pankaj Singh can do, and also give Sehwag a chance. If the Australians can play a dirty game, we should play the game on their terms.
From an Australian newspaper :
“INDIA has lodged a counter-claim of abuse against the Australians during Harbhajan Singh’s racial discrimination hearing.
The Indians alleged that Brad Hogg referred to an Indian player as a “bastard”, which is considered to be a highly offensive term in India. ”
I understand that ‘bastard’ is not an offensive term in Australia.
Obvious, nahh??
:/
Ok so I can’t call Symmonds a monkey but can I call a monkey as Symmonds
Again an excellent post !!!
Its like ‘unka khoon khoon hamara khoon paani’…BCCI should cancel the tour immediately and definitely do something about the incompetent ‘umpire’ Bucknor. For the match refree, word of a white man is more truthful in comparison to a brown skinned person. As a judge he has to go by the evidence …period. Its very hard not to write any expletives in the comment while thinking about whole incident.
Severe and with the perfect amount of Vitriol…take a bow, GB.
As my infuriated Sikh friend put it,”saale jailbirds…after all, there are a nation of convicts“
@ Anonymous
Thats very very derogatory thing to say to a monkey …Its good that you asked before actually calling a monkey as Symonds. Be prepared to be sued by Animal rights activists in case you have already committed the crime.
After watching the test match, someone has written some rules have to be incorporated by ICC to give the other teams a perfect clarification
(1) Ricky Ponting – (THE TRULY GENUINE CRICKETER OF THE CRICKET ERA AND WHOSE INTEGRITY SHOULD NOT BE DOUBTED) should be considered as the FOURTH UMPIRE. As per the new rules, FOURTH UMPIRE decision is final and will over ride any decisions taken by any other umpires. ON-FIELD umpires can seek the assistance of RICKY PONTING even if he is not on the field. This rule is to be made, so that every team should understand the importance of the FOURTH UMPIRE.
(2) While AUSTRALIAN TEAM is bowling, If the ball flies anywhere close to the AUSTRALIAN FIELDER(WITHIN 5 metre distance), the batsman is to be considered OUT irrelevant of whether the catch was taken cleanly or grassed. Any decision for further clarification should be seeked from the FOURTH UMPIRE. This is made to ensure that the cricket is played with SPORTIVE SPIRIT by all the teams.
(3) While BATTING, AUSTRALIAN players will wait for the ON-FIELD UMPIRE decisions only (even if the catch goes to the FIFTH SLIP as the ball might not have touched the bat). Each AUSTRALIAN batsman has to be out FOUR TIMES (minimum) before he can return to the pavilion. In case of THE CRICKETER WITH INTEGRITY, this can be higher.
(4) UMPIRES should consider a huge bonus if an AUSTRALIAN player scores a century. Any wrong decisions can be ignored as they will be paid huge bonus and will receive the backing of the AUSTRALIAN team and board.
(5) All AUSTRALIAN players are eligible to keep commenting about all players on the field and the OPPONENT TEAM should never comment as they will be spoiling the spirit of the AUSTRALIAN team. Any comments made in any other language are to be considered as RACIALISM only.
(6) MATCH REFREE decisions will be taken purely on the AUSTRALIAN TEAM advices only. Player views from the other teams decisions will not be considered for hearing. MATCH REFREES are to be given huge bonus if this rule is implemented.
(7) NO VISITING TEAM should plan to win in AUSTRALIA. This is to ensure that the sportive spirit of CRICKET is maintained.
(8) THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE: If any bowler gets RICKY PONTING - “THE UNDISPUTED CRICKETER WITH INTEGTIRY IN THE GAME OF CRICKET” more than twice in a series, he will be banned for the REST OF THE SERIES. This is to ensure that the best batsman/Captain will be played to break records and create history in the game of CRICKET.
These rules will clarify better to the all the teams VISITING AUSTRALIA.
No doubt the test has left a really bad taste and everyone is quite upset about the whole thing.. But the bitter fact remains that Australia is still the best team when it comes to just the Sport, not the Sportsmanship. At the same time, it has definitely become the most hated team for me..
Question is - is there anything that WE can do along with expressing our discontent through these messages? Any thoughts? Suggestions?
Didnt expect anything less than brilliance on this subject from you. The umpiring and the awful Australian ’spirit’ of the game has started the year awfully for all of us.
Maybe you can check out my take on the second test -
http://thekingslayersroom.blogspot.com/2008/01/just-not-cricket.html
GB, I was convinced Harbhajan was going to get the rough end on this one. I don’t think we could have expected anything different from Mike Procter. The umpiring was clearly biased, Bucknor may have had an axe to grind, though I’m not sure Benson was deliberately biased.
Ponting’s moralising on the whole catching issue was always laughable, not sure why Kumble was gullible enough to accept it. The basic argument that we’re familiar with: how can you trust a team who cheat at the crease? No one has to walk for lbws or feathers, but Clarke-type incidents have happened in the past. Or Symonds in the first innings for that matter. And how about Gilchrist the ultra-honest sportsman blatantly appealing for the Dravid wicket?
Anyhow, couple of things:
1. There is a lot of name calling and stereotyping going on about Australians in general on various blogs/forums. This is uncalled for and shows us in a poor light. I hope everybody calms the f**k down and realise this is a game, not a reflection on Australian society. (I’m not referring to your post, btw).
2. This shouldn’t be an excuse to absolve the Indian team of another poor performance under pressure, a situation which the umpiring was admittedly responsible for. Jaffer, Yuvraj and Dhoni have all been passengers so far and have played like total novices. The way the team has played Hogg is criminal. Ganguly has looked in supreme touch every time and has conspired to get out without learning from previous dismissals. Both Ganguly and Yuvraj were in constant danger against Hogg’s flipper, Ganguly because he wanted to attack Hogg (cutting good length flippers) and Yuvraj because he didn’t have a clue. It is shameful that we now have a team which stuggles against Clarke, Symonds and Hogg. Dravid started the slide with that tortuous innings on Boxing day and he’s still not sure if he wants to go after half volleys. Stuart Clark bowled a magnificent spell to get rid of Laxman and Sachin gone, but Laxman was stuck on the crease and Sachin was unsure almost as soon as Gilchrist stood up. Kumble was the one batsman who coped with the pressure. Overall, we were robbed of the first innings spoils (and possibly with it the game, because we could have had a genuine winning chance), but the second innings was a disaster.
malcolm speed pulled up Proctor for not taking action against yuvraj singh for dissent at a breakfast in front of 480 people after the previous test.
how much do you think that was an influence in coming down on bhajji?
on ganguly’s catch:
also it should be remembered that in a captian-umpire meeting, kumble and ponting instructed the umpires that a fielders word would be taken in a catch, the captain would communicate this to the umpire.
that’s what happened.
anyway, kumble is a lion hearted captian. its awesome to see someone like that in charge.
Bad, Worse, Worst that’s how situation went right after test started. Blind and Deaf that’s what the system is for indian cricket team. There is no point in belaboring what went wrong.
I will tell you what is wrong , it is our mentality- “sab chalta hain” and people in BCCI, those assholes should raise strong voice against the injustice. Alas!! mr minister and his chauvinist can only clear Aussie arse..after all they are so good at it
Three cheers to Kumble and his team,except Yuvi,Jaffer - we are proud of you.
Hi GB,
i am in sydney now so can get first hand Aussie reaction to the fiasco…some aussies are absolutely furious with their cricket team and have actually considered carrying an indian flag to the next test match..there is some criticism on TV as well….these are the intelligent Aussies…the rest could not care less.
There are some very dumb and blatantly racist people who would still defend the aussies though…unfortunately there are a good number of these types too..
cheers
Nice post GB. You are spot on. I am astonished to know that the word ‘monkey’ is racist in nature. If so be the case then most Indian parents should be in jail for such a heinous offence. Since time immemorial Indian kids (or pranksters) have been referred to as monkeys whenever their parents lost their cool.
The Australian team looks like a bunch of professional goondas with a ‘punter’ leading them from the front. They have lost all the respect from Indian fans and I am sure that they would be greeted vociferously with monkey chants next time they visit our country.
Very well written article, if only for you mentioning the should-have-been -LBW Hussey dismissal. I’ve yet to see an article which has mentioned that. I’d honestly thought I’d seen the worst of the umpiring of the Australian summer though when Sangakkara was robbed of his double hundred. Boy was I wrong there.
Brad - Australian, white and glad he chose India and not Australia has his favourite team as a five year old
My two cents…
My sincere and earnest request to all the dictionary makers out there…Please replace the word Blunder in all your dictionaries with the word Bucknor…not much of a difference but the meaning will be all the more clear, even for people who do not understand English at all!
And Mr. Mike Procter, did no one teach you how to count? When four out of six people say they have not heard anything racist (Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar and the Umpires), it means the majority…2 out of 6 does not mean majority…and u shud take a decision based on what the majority tells you. Of course if you believe that the two umpires who could not hear any of the edges that were heard by the grandmother living in the next lane could not hear this also, I wholeheartedly support you. You can now hang a board saying ‘If someone is taking Aussie wickets too frequently, they deserve to be banned’.
And regards the series, I lost out on so much sleep waking up at 5am in the morning to savor what I thought would be a great game of cricket. Instead I got to see loads of human errors (most of which go against Indians) and an insult to our ancestors…If it is true that we did descend from the apes, calling Andrew Symonds a monkey is an insult to mankind and the monkeykind too!
Arnab,
There is no point in us getting excited until and unless the BCCI plays it the hard way with the ICC. Looking at the present boss of BCCI , it looks bleak.
On the other hand, how would I love to have the Aussies as guests at the Eden!! And would love to meet the Holier than Thou Ponting at a night club. This time we would make sure that he stays lying on the footpath after the bouncer kicks him out, again.
your last line was BULLS-EYE bro
If there is a doping scandal, records are overturned, victories annulled, medals, honors and money taken back.
But there is no such action taken when umpires act blind, and sportsmen act like hench men. Ponting and his lynch mob of merry men are perhaps the worst humans to have played in the test arena. Ponting is right in a queer sort of way when he demands that his integrity not be questioned - how can you question something that does not exist?
We must rethink what cricket really stands for: here’s a quotable quote which captures my sentiments best:
“Cricket: 11 cunts playing 11 cunts each trying to trick two blind and deaf idiots while pushing the rules as far as they will go.”
In this whole morbid saga, BCCI was plumbing depths of stupidity by saying this event wont affect BCCI-CA relationship. I dont know who the jackass who thought of this statement. Suddenly I remembered the genteel PM’s statements after every terrorist attack that the event wont affect Indo-Pak peace.
The term racist abuse is probably more abused than the race itself.
Charles Darwin (& Lamark) had got it hopelessly wrong. Man did not decsend from ape.
Ape descended from Man !!
Did you read this article in the Sydney Morning Herald?
http://www.smh.com.au/news/cricket/arrogant-ponting-must-be-fired/2008/01/07/1199554571883.html
I am glad that we are seeing reactions like this in Australa, and not a blind support of he Aussie team’s behavior.
“In this test match there was one of mine (where) I wasn’t sure if I caught Rahul Dravid [Images] in the first innings. I was 95 per cent sure (I’d caught it). There was a little bit of doubt there for me. I said I wasn’t 100 per cent sure, so Dravid stayed.” - Ponting
http://inhome.rediff.com/cricket/2008/jan/07ponting.htm
Look at the tone of this crazy m*****f*****. ‘I said I wasn’t 100 per cent sure, so Dravid stayed.’ - What does he think, he is the umpire. If BCCI has any bit of shame left, they should call off the tour. }:
It is an amazing article Gb,it brings out the mixture of emotions and anger a cricket fan would have felt after witnessing such a farce authored by Bucknor and Co. and a man of unquestionable integrity,
I believe in the next test (if it happens) somebody should question Punter’s lineage or what kind of criminal record his ancestors had?
Wonder what “Dada’s” reaction would have been had he been the captain?
But we still can’t forgive players like Yuvraj,Dhoni and Jaffer,what exactly are they in Australia for??
@Ani_says
Yuvraj sure has reason enough
The decision to ban Harbhajan being a horrible one, still does’nt change the fact that you had 9 players (I am not counting ganguly and dravid who were obviously done in) who could not bat 2 sessions on a pitch that had no demons in it apart from low bounce. The incidents off and on the pitch do not take away from that basic fact, and that is why India lost. We can blame bucknor till the cows come home but it takes away from our own inadequacies as a team. Bad decisions hurt us more because the Aussies capitalized on it more than we did, Symonds dropeed on 30 makes another 130 odd, because the Indian bowling lacks the penetration to make another dent into his armour.
I am reminded of a morning in johannesburg in the mid 90’s where a young Allan Donald after being repeatedly frustrated by his slip cordon and Richardsons inabitlity to hold on to catches, sealed the matter by striking a painful blow to the batsmans knuckles (which ended up breaking a bone or two) and then having him caught behind the next over. The batsman in question was a certain mthew hayden, who did’nt play again till 2001.
s:
“We can blame bucknor till the cows come home …”
isn’t that as racist as saying ‘until the monkeys stop dancing’?
also, are you advocating that the indians bruise the aussies? similar sentiments weren’t exactly welcome when rameez raza said that about tendulkar …
- s.b.
Hello GB,
Have heard a lot of your site recently, and was quite happy to see a well written article, although i dont think this is restrictied to one individual.
As any Indian would, I enjoyed the criticism laid out to Pointing and his teammates. However, the Indian media as well as its supporters are enraged and the obvious reaction is to cancel the tour. Cancelling a tour because 6-7 decisions were wrong are a bit of an overreaction (yes, i agree with pointing there :p). Be the bigger person and beat them at Perth, thats what we should be aiming for.
Coming to the serious issue of umpiring, which as many of you have highlighed was abysmal. Like all south-asian teams, somehow the climate in australia seems suitable for decisions to go the home team’s way. And such decisions have been given by many umpired not just Bucknor. I’m sure all of us are keen followers, and many of Bucknors decisions have gone our way as well, and to single out a west-indian as seemingly racist against the non-white race seems contradictary.
Im not writing this to defend bucknor, but what i want to get across is that bucknor is not the only umpire to blame and there is a serious issue behind it. For generations the australian shore has frightened umpires of making wrong decisions against the home team. It could be attributed to their on-field hostility or the agressive nature of sport. But there exists a serious problem with playing cricket in Australia, which needs to be addressed by the board. To ban steve bucknor for the upcoming match is not a permananent solution. Remember the tour before the last? sachin leg before wicket? (shoulder rather :)), it wasnt bucknor then? Umpires will continue to change and we will continue to crib at the fact that we got hard done. Either we take it as a part and parcel of playing cricket in australia or address this serious problem. Any of you willing to choose the former?
Hemant
A good and angry article.
I think the Aussies are trying to take away the focus from the questionable behaviour they displayed on the field. Proctor should have meted out the same punishment to Ponting that he did to Latif. By going on the offensive on Bhajji the Aussies have ensured that the Indians don’t get the time and energy to make a case of the dishonest catches claimed.
I have said this regarding Gavaskar’s comment about David Hookes and I will say it again. Australians are not too good in taking insults. The reason they dont like harbhajan Singh but someone like VVS is extremely clear. In North India, people swear. Bhen$$ and Madar&& are used in every alternate word by people of Punjab, UP and Delhi. Sledging therefore comes naturally to Harbhajan.
Let us analyze the tunnel visioned analysis of Allan Border, a player whom I respected immensely for his guts.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23020346-2882,00.html
Border says:
“But the former Australian skipper admitted a lack of dressing room rapport between modern Test sides made it difficult to ease tension after on-field flashpoints.
“What we think is just routine banter, they take offence at. It is straight-out cultural stuff,” Border said.
“The cultural issues were always there in our day. When we say ‘lucky bastards’, they might take offence. It was a simple Aussie term no one takes offence to in Australia.
“It is considered almost a compliment here. But the Indians have never liked it and nor have the West Indians.
“It is a tough one to get around. I don’t think the umpires have any drama with our lot. Everyone knows there is a hard edge to the way we play. ”
————-
Again Allan Border is guilty of villain production at the expense of mirror manufacture. So if Harbhajan Singh is coming from a culture where “routine stuff” is wishing the other guy, “How would you like if I pump some bullets into the c** of your preggie wife”, then is it ok for him to be baffled? After all, he meant it as a compliment!
That is why I was with Gavaskar when he made that Hookes death reference. If you call Symonds a bastard, he could not care less. So you have to say things which get under his skin. That is what sledging is all about. Actually I believe that the Aussies know the temperament of Bhajji and were setting him up. They are trying to wash away all their crimes by using this monkey thing as a shield. Again, there is no proof as to whether he said it or not. It is a very strange scenario. You can sledge using any number of personal expletives, and when the person naively hits back with the word you have been waiting for, you put on the ‘racist’ t shirt. It is therefore to India’s advantage if the players are given a crash course in personal sledging after studying what personal remarks exactly offends the Australian player. For example, Australians are very family oriented. They take time off from Tests and ODIs when their wives crank out babies. Therefore Indian players should memorize the names of all the near and dear ones of Aussie players and have a good idea as to what personal expletive will get under the skin of individual Aussie players. We also need a sledging coach, a cunnilinguist (cunning linguist) who will teach players how to respond to ‘bastard’ by personal references to the worst form of sexual exploitation, BDSM, child molestation, death references and necrophilia. Remember that is all personal attack, and cannot be branded as racism.
Wasim Akram said in Anandabazar:
“Till now, the Australians have used the worst kind of expletives against us and our families. We took it and moved on. Never did we act like “cry babies. And now when Harbhajan uses the term ‘monkey’, it is a level 3 offense!
India needs to patent this invention ASAP.
It is the remedy for all kind of problems.
It is a good physical and vocal exercise.
Wherever and whenever there is injustice, just burn the effigy.
Someday India might produce a super hero out of it, the Effigy Burner Man or Captain Burner.
This hero will have torch and flames printed on his chest and under wear respectively.
They take time off from Tests and ODIs when their wives crank out babies.
Huh??? yourfan2, you’ve managed to outdo yourself, which is a bit of feat. May be they do, may be they don’t, but what a disrespectful thing to say. Get some perspective please.
And youfan2, btw, while you’re at it, can you please stop the David Hookes commentary? You’re speculating just like Sunny was, which is alright but here the man lost his life. Strange things happen, not everything can be explained away in our preferred terms.
@nanda Kishor-
“May be they do, may be they don’t, but what a disrespectful thing to say.”
Is that so Nanda Kishore? Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho ho. So calling Sanath Jayasuriya a black spider, Lehmann’s cunts, Mcgrath’s allegation to Sarwan’s homsexuality, Symonds innuendo of Harbhajan’s gayness, Slater’s expletives against rahul Dravid etc are very respectful? Wasim Akram was quoted in Anandabazar saying , “Aussies always used the worst kind of expletives against our mothers and sisters.”
Maybe they grow up on a diet of that in grade cricket etc. and hence calling them such terms doesn’t affect them. Therefore if I have to sledge, I should be bringing in reference to the people who they are very touchy about- their wives and their children- both born and unborn. There is NOTHING unfair in it. Cant you see? Do not look at the vulgarity of the sentence. Look at the intent and the objectives that it wishes to accomplish. This is a psychological game. One which Waugh euphemistically termed as ‘mental disintegration”.
Also get some perspective into the Aussie meaning of playing cricket hard but fair. Hard means the Border school of thought, “Black bastard is OK. But please you bringing in David Hookes! That is sick mate.” Fair- well to be honest, Waugh and Mark Taylor were much more fair captains. That is the reason why even though the rest of the world were irritated by the Aussie antics, they admired the prowess of their cricketers. Gilchrist walking in the WC semis actually was as great an act of sportsmanship as Walsh’s decision not to ‘Mankad’ Abdul Qadir in 1987. The Glenn Mcgrath school of thought about sledging was, “Hey hey. Dont you have any basic decency. My loving chweet cutiepie wife is suffering from tit cancer and you wag your dirty tounge about her. I can talk about your sexual life. But you should not hit back. Cant you see how we make statements like family is so important, playing with kids in the backyard etc. Also Oz has a lower divorce rate than USA. We are uxorious husbands. Don’t you talk about my wife, Sarwan.”
I was so glad that Sarwan blasted back at Mcgrath. :)Just so glad. Now Mcgrath was a great bowler. Mention should be made about Eddo Brandes reference to Mcgrath’s wife and cookies. The Aussies dont take these things well. They don’t. Bastard doesn’t perturb them. Neither does “your momma… etc”. So you have to change your gameplan. Or else succumb to their moral high-handedness to decide what is sledging and what is not and get treated like a doormat.
Mark Nicholas writes:
“The game of cricket belongs to the players. It is they who set the standard to which they play and they who decide the spirit in which they play. Verbal abuse, sledging, mental disintegration - call it what you will - is an ugly, modern phenomenon far removed from the feisty banter associated with many a competitive former player.
[..]
This was history repeating itself. In 1985, Allan Border had come to England, been everyone’s buddy and got beat. Then he got beat again at home, 18 months later. When he came back in 1989, Ian Botham et al could not understand why Border was not on the town with them. He was tired of being Mr Nice Guy, that’s why, so he became Captain Grumpy instead. That Australian side beat David Gower’s England 4-0. Ponting went one better when he had his next crack, thrashing Andrew Flintoff’s team 5-0. England were shocked by the Australian’s overtly aggressive on the field approach. Many lost respect for opponents they had previously admired.
Then, as now, neither party was more culpable than the other and nor should cricket teams anywhere in the world ignore their own contribution to the affairs that exist - many umpires in county cricket for example despair at the behaviour of the modern player. To find an innocent party is to uncover a sapphire in the surf. The game has been waiting for this and now it has happened. It has happened because a young, fearless Indian bit back with something below the belt and because his intelligent and hugely respected captain concluded that “only one team was playing within the spirit of the game”. Even England hadn’t gone that far. ”
……..
I can understand playing hard to win. How hard? even by restoring to claiming catches that they did not take? Rashid Latif was banned for claiming a catch like that. Does Proctor have the balls to do that? Oh I know what Ponting said about “Fielder is true. Cameras lie”. The point Su