Aussies- An ‘Obnoxious’ Bunch of Hooligans

Before I get on with writing about today’s topic, let me tell you readers that my posts are based on the facts. Along with this I also make it a point to give my personal opinion about what I write. Some readers have been voicing their protest over the way I write, I have been told not to write so formally. This advice was given to me after my post about the IPL, which the reader felt was not only long, but too formal and had most of what the papers had and was hence a little taxing to read. I wouldn’t like to name the reader for the reader will obviously know that I am talking about him/her. I am open to personal views but I would like to give an answer to the above complaint. I would like to make it clear to all of you that I also tend to get a little emotional when I voice my personal opinion, you would have noticed this in the very first post on this blog which was about the aftermath of the Sydney test and also in the post which I wrote when Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid were dropped from the team for the CB tri-series. As it happens, the reader whom I am talking about doesn’t happen to follow the game much and as the post on the IPL was basically about the money involved and the teams playing in the league, it wasn’t as exciting as a post about action taking place on the field. Also, the post had to be formal as it was mainly about a huge business venture by the BCCI and aren’t all business ventures supposed to be formal?

Coming to today’s topic, which is mostly based on personal opinion, I will mostly be writing about the erratic behavior of the Australian Cricket Team. My last post was about the wonderful match between the Indians and the Australians at Sydney on Sunday. I remember having briefly mentioned about there being a tiff between Ishant Sharma and Andrew Symonds when Ishant bowled Symonds with a wonderful slow delivery towards the end of the Australian innings. I also remember calling this a petty issue in my last post, but it so happens that the Match Referee- Jeff Crowe didn’t think of this issue as a petty one and fined Ishant 15% of his match fee. The videos clearly showed that it was Symonds who started the issue but he wasn’t even told a thing!

In my opinion Symonds is equally responsible and should be punished too. He was also the one who started the altercation with Harbhajan during the second test at Sydney and even then he got away without a punishment. Judge Hansen of New Zealand who heard the Harbhajan appeal also mentioned that Symonds was determined to interfere in the banter between Harbhajan and Brett Lee, and that was what led to the entire episode. In response to this statement by Judge Hansen, Symonds wrote in a newspaper that these statements on his integrity made his “blood boil”. This statement clearly shows that Symonds is a person of loose character. This man deserves to be called a monkey, not because he looks like one but also behaves like one. I mean, there is proof that he started the entire thing and even then he believes that people are questioning his integrity! This is absolutely ridiculous!

After the Ishant incident, the Indian team manager said that the Australian team has been repeatedly provoking the Indian players, which is obviously the truth. That brings us to the latest issue which occurred yesterday when the Indian team was busy demolishing the Sri Lankans at Hobart. Around the same time, Matthew Hayden was being interviewed by a radio station at Brisbane and when asked about what he feels about India lodging a protest with the Match Referee about the Aussies “provoking” them, he said the Indians were probably doing this because they were losing every match to Australia. What a wonderful statement Mr. Hayden! I think he forgot about the thrashing the Aussies received from the Indians at Perth, where they lost in 4 days and even in one of the ODI matches where we destroyed their batting line up. He even went on to call Harbhajan an “obnoxious weed” and also said that he would like to have young Ishant Sharma join him in a ring! The Indians asked Cricket Australia to take action against Hayden and he was reprimanded by Cricket Australia but no fine was imposed on him. Why shouldn’t he be asked to pay a fine? Why were Harbhajan and Ishant punished when there was no proof of anything offensive having been said by then on the pitch? In this case Hayden came on radio and everyone knows what he said and still he is still let off? This isn’t fair at all. I would also like to mention one of the questions the radio jockey asked Hayden, “Why don’t the Indians shut up and play cricket?” Though I am not qualified to give this answer, I would like to tell the RJ to mind her own business. She isn’t qualified to ask this question so she should shut up too.

Now, during the Sydney ODI, there were banners held by the Indian spectators. These banners had messages like “Hyderabad welcomes Symonds” (Symonds will play for Hyderabad in the IPL), which clearly showed that the Indian fans have left the controversies behind and are eager to watch the Aussies play in India. But, I don’t think the Aussie public has forgotten much. When Harbhajan came to bat in the same match, he was booed by the Aussie crowd. The same thing has happened in all the India-Australia matches in this tri-series. I distinctly remember Sunil Gavaskar asking Harsha Bhogle about which team’s fans being more mature during their commentary for the match. Isn’t it obvious that the Indian fans are more mature?

I have never really liked Hayden, while many of my friends love the way he plays. I won’t be surprised if they start hating him now. I feel that he is an old fool and should quit the sport as soon as possible. And yes, Brad Hogg retired from International Cricket this morning and he probably did the right thing as we didn’t want to see someone stick his tongue out every other moment play the game. I want to write about something called “The Hogg Theory” which I formulated along with a friend, but I won’t write it as it is a little vulgar in nature. I would also like to end this post by saying that the Aussies are nothing but an ‘obnoxious’ bunch of hooligans who behave like clowns while playing the game. There are exceptions, but it is the majority I am talking about. They should be booed and insulted when they come to India for the IPL as only that can be a fitting reply to these rogues.

An Endearing Indian Loss

The last ever Commonwealth Bank tri-series has been a little boring for me to watch as I haven’t yet seen a good combined batting effort from any team. Although, there have been brilliant partnerships of 150+ between Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir in the washed out game against Sri Lanka at Brisbane and between Kumara Sangakarra and Mahela Jayawardene for the losing cause against India at Adelaide, I personally feel that the batting in the series has otherwise been dull other than Adam Gilchrist’s fabulous century at Perth against the Lankans. I wouldn’t like to take the sheen away from these partnerships as the batting sides were in a precarious situation when these partnerships blossomed. In the first case, India was 86/4 when Dhoni joined centurion Gambhir to rescue India and lead them to a respectable 267/4, which, till today was also the tournament’s highest batting total. In the second case, Sri Lanka was on 6/2 when Sangakarra and Jayawardene came together to stop India from making further inroads. Sangakarra, in fact scored a brilliant 128 which is the highest individual score of the series.

In today’s game at Sydney, Australia won the toss and elected to bat first and the Aussie batsmen were in devastating mood. At the end of 10 overs, their score was 92/1! That is a whopping 9.2 runs an over! You can’t blame the bowlers as for the first time in the series we had a pitch suited to batting. Australia would have had an even higher run rate if Gilchrist had been around. Gilchrist fell in the third over to a brilliant catch by Dhoni off Sreesanth. This was probably the best catch of the series till now. However the catch was a little controversial as the gloves Dhoni used didn’t meet ICC specifications (like we are even bothered!) as it had a webbing which enabled him to hold on to the catch (seriously, why did he have to dive then?). Gilchrist scored 16 runs of just 7 balls. Ricky Ponting joined Matthew Hayden and then they continued the attack against the Indian bowlers. Hayden whacked a superb pull off Ishant Sharma for six and Ponting hit Irfan Pathan’s very first ball into the crowd! After the tenth over, they slowed down a bit, but by then the damage had already been done. Hayden departed for a well made 54 after he was brilliantly run out by Rohit Sharma who reacted well in time to throw the ball to Virender Sehwag who whipped the bails off at the non-strikers end. His second wicket partnership with Ponting was worth 110. Then there was 63 run partnership between Ponting and Michael Clarke who fell for 31 to Sehwag.

Andrew Symonds came in after Clarke and as Ravi Shastri said during commentary, “played with the freedom of a millionaire!” Ponting scored a wonderful 124 before falling to Sreesanth towards the end of the innings. Symonds fell to a tricky Ishant delivery after scoring a 49 ball 59. There was a tiff between the two, but I wouldn’t like to write about such petty issues. At the end of the stipulated 50 overs, Australia’s scoreboard read 317/7 which was a huge total considering the fact that the second highest score in the series and the only other 240+ total till then was India’s 267 against Sri Lanka at Brisbane.

India’s response began on a horrid note as we lost Sachin Tendulkar in the first over itself, Brett Lee getting the major breakthrough. Sehwag and Gambhir hung in for a while but Sehwag’s departure in the ninth over was disastrous as India lost 2 more quick wickets in the from of Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh in a space of 3 overs. By the eleventh over, india was in a miserable situation having scored just 51 runs for the loss of 4 wickets. Dhoni joined Gambhir and together they stabilized the innings. Lee’s re-introduction worked immediately as he got Dhoni for 36 and the 98 run partnership between Dhoni and Gambhir came to an end.

With the run rate mounting to 10 an over Gambhir found the perfect ally in Robin Uthappa to accelerate the tempo of the innings. Brett Lee began feeling the heat as he bowled 3 consecutive front foot no-balls which meant 3 free hits for India. The first free hit was pounded for a massive straight six by Uthappa. This shot in my opinion, was the best shot of the match. Gambhir, on the other hand played strokes all over the wicket and scored a classy century, the fourth of his career and the second of this series. His best shot was easily, the paddle sweep off Brad Hogg which went for six. When Gambhir fell for 113, the score was 216/6 and Pathan continued the recue act along with Uthappa who was playing brilliantly.

By the time Pathan got out, the score was 257/7 in 45 overs. Harbhajan Singh, who was booed by the immature Aussie crowd as he walked into the field, combined well with Uthappa and scored 20 runs in just 11 balls before he fell to Lee who got Uthappa for 51, in the very next ball after the Harbhajan dismissal. Uthappa had played a fabulous innings off just 46 deliveries and had won many hearts for his gritty knock. India was bowled out for 299 in the first ball of the fiftieth over as Lee finished with a 5 wicket haul. Ricky Ponting was given the Man of the Match for his return to form in ODIs. India may have lost the match, but they did so with dignity with this wonderful performance in what was the closest match of the tournament.

A Question of Integrity, Arrogance and Racial Slurs

It has been about two days since the events at the Sydney Cricket Ground and there is still a lot of speculation surrounding the issue of India being "cheated" of a fair result. The inquiry into Symond's complaint about Harbhajan racially abusing him has a rather weird result- Harbhajan being banned for 3 Tests. Now, you may think why I am calling this "weird" and not "unfair", "shocking" or something more intense. It is just that there are a lot of loopholes in this verdict. It may actually be fair to call this entire affair "unfair"! But instead of doing that, I would like to bring forth some facts regarding the case.

According to Symonds, Harbhajan apparently hit Brett Lee during the course of his partnership with Sachin Tendulkar. Symonds couldn't take this and hit out at Harbhajan who allegedly called Symonds a "monkey". Now, the umpires had not heard anything (which is quite obvious as they couldn't even hear the ball hitting the bat!) and the ICC Match Referee, Mike Procter too didn't hear a word. Moreover, there wasn't any proof- be it audio or video and all that was relied upon by Procter to make this decision was the collective witness account delivered by Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Mathew Hayden. Sachin Tendulkar wasn't even asked for a witness account throughout the inquiry which lasted four gruelling hours. As Navjot Singh Sidhu pointed out on a news channel, not listening to a person of Tendulkar's stature, one who has played the game with dignity for 18 years and instead accepting Clarke's word is utter nonsense! Clarke is literally a baby if you compare him to Tendulkar in terms of experience and his integrity too is in doubt after the incident regarding Ganguly's dismissal during the last day's play. His arrogance is just like his captain Ponting, while Ponting keeps saying that the match was played in the right spirit, Clarke still believes that he took Ganguly's catch cleanly, as if the videos are lying!

With the overwhelming support for the Indian Cricket Team even by the Australian public, it will be interesting to note where the issue goes from here. In the polls conducted by Australian newspapers a majority of the Aussies feel that the umpires gave India a raw deal and that the Australian team isn't a bunch of sports. Also, most of them feel that Ponting isn't a good ambassador for the game. Peter Roebuck, who is probably the most respected and celebrated cricket
writer in the world too gave some really harsh comments about Ponting's captaincy and even went on to say that he should be sacked! He wrote, "In the past few days Ponting has presided over a performance that dragged the game into the pits. He turned a group of professional cricketers into a pack of wild dogs. As much can be told from the conduct of his closest allies in the team. As usual, Matthew Hayden crossed himself upon reaching three figures in his commanding second innings, a gesture he does not perform while wearing the colours of his state. Exactly how he combines his faith with throwing his weight around on the field has long bemused opposing sides, whose fondness for him ran out a long time ago." He also went on to write, "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."

India in return has filed a charge of abuse against Aussie spinner Brad Hogg, who allegedly used foul language on Anil Kumble and Mahendra Singh Dhoni during the course of the match. Also, the ICC has removed Bucknor as the umpire of the 3rd Test and has replaced him with Billy Bowden. India has also filed an appeal against the decision taken on Harbhajan Singh.

Personally, one thing that I won't forget about the television coverage of the match is Sunil Gavaskar's commentary for Star Cricket. Given below are the Youtube links for the comments made by him-

• Gavaskar furious about Ganguly's dismissal.
• Gavaskar commenting on Ricky Ponting's on-field actions.

Someone on BBC's Cricket Blog wrote this comic news headline when Bucknor was removed as the umpire for the 3rd Test at Perth-

Bucknor out, Hayden doubtful for Perth.

An Australian side, which is already suffering from the non-availability of key player Mark Benson got another setback today, when star all-rounder Steve Bucknor got banned by the ICC. His partnership with super hero Andrew Symonds and Tricky Ponting has been the foundation of the glorious Australian win. When left handed opener Matthew Hayden got injured, that became a minor concern for Tricky, who can't believe the decision of the ICC to ban his Star All-rounder. Tricky will also have to deal with Harbhajan Singh, who showed the whole world that Tricky has no idea about playing quality spin, and therefore can never be considered in the same class of King Brian Charles Lara or the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar.

I loved the way he presented his comments. Funny and at the same time conveying how much the umpires helped the Australian cause. Some people actually say that Benson and Bucknor were competing with each other to give favours to Australia! It would also be notable to add that 63% of the readers of the Sydney Morning Herald agreed with Peter Roebuck's stance about Ponting being sacked as captain of the Australian Cricket Team. Now, its time to wait and see the spirit in which the next Test is played.

Have a look at the links below for an insight into the farcical affair-

• Peter Roebuck- "Arrogant Ponting must be fired"
• Geoff Lawson- " Aussies disrespecting baggy green"
• Hogg charged by ICC
• Wasim Akram- Australians hypocrites, cry babies
• "Open your eyes, Ricky"
• ESPN Star Cricket Hard Talk- Boria Majumdar
• "ICC 'soften' up after England back India on umpiring issue"
• Michael Epis- "Why Ponting's heroes just don't appeal to me"
  

How Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson contributed to the cause of making Cricket an "un-gentlemanly" game

I must say that I wasn't amused by the habit of blogging which many netizens possess and as I write quite a lot I was repeatedly advised by friends and well-wishers to start blogging but I hardly paid heed to them. I just made an account and left it at that. Over the past year I always had a passing thought to actually begin blogging- if not for myself than for others, but something more important always came in my way. After more than a year of procrastinating I finally decided to start blogging. And the reason was my obsession with the game of Cricket (I like it so much that I have made it a proper noun!)

My day began on a sour note personally and to forget my own problems I decided to watch the last day's play of the 2nd Test Match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Now, for those who don't know- the Border-Gavaskar trophy is the Test Series played between India and Australia and on this occasion India is touring Australia. The first 4 days of the test match have had their moments but what I will remember this Test Match for is for the rather (in)famous umpiring controversy due to some atrocious umpiring by Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson.

Now, lets look into each issue in detail:
Issue 1) Ricky Ponting edged a ball bowled by Sourav Ganguly and was caught by wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni when he was batting on 17 in the first innings. Given not out. Ponting went on to score 55. The decision was made by Mark Benson.

Issue 2) Ponting adjudged LBW to Harbhajan Singh when on 55. He clearly had an inside edge before the ball hit the pads. But that sort of made up for the earlier decision. This decision too was made by Mark Benson.

Issue 3) Andrew Symonds edged a ball to Ishant Sharma and was caught behind when he was on 30. Not given out by Steve Bucknor. Went on to make 162 not out- an expensive mistake.

Issue 4) Symonds was out stumped when he was batting on 48. Not given out by the third umpire. (Can you believe this? The Third Umpire goofs it up!)

Issue 5) Symonds was stumped again in the same innings but umpire Bucknor did not even care to refer it to the Third Umpire!

Issue 6) In India's crucial second innings, Dravid was given caught behind where the ball clearly went off his pad. Bucknor adjudged him out.

Issue 7) An edge off Ganguly's bat went to Michael Clarke. There was a doubt in umpire Benson's mind whether the catch was taken cleanly. Rather than consulting the Square Leg Umpire or the Third Umpire, he consulted Ricky Ponting. Why did he have to do that? Isn't it obvious that Ponting would say that it is out as Sourav Ganguly was the main obstacle in Australia's attempt to win the game?

This match also showed to what extent Team Australia can go to achieve their ends. Ricky Ponting had always seemed an arrogant man to me and I must agree to the famous saying- "Looks can be deceptive" But my feelings were limited to Ponting, Hogg, Johnson and Symonds. I never expected the entire team to be nothing but a bunch of cheats who can do absolutely anything to cling on to their "World Champion" tag! The very credibility of Team Australia is in doubt now. When Rahul Dravid got out, it was Adam Gilchrist who had claimed the catch. A few years back when Gilchrist was given not out when he was actually out, Gilchrist walked out of the ground saying that his conscience wouldn't have allowed him to continue batting as he would have been nagged by the fact that he was actually out. That decision by him, made many cricket lovers like me respect the man. After the batsman, it probably is the keeper who knows whether the ball actually nicked the bat or not and for a person of Gilchrist's stature claiming the catch while knowing the truth is shocking, especially after "walking" when he was sure of himself being out!

Then comes the instance of Michael Clarke claiming Ganguly's catch. It may be doubtful whether the ball bounced before coming to him or not but he wasn't in "complete control" of the ball after claiming the catch as the ball was clearly touching the ground! Ponting too unsuccessfully tried to claim a similar catch off Dhoni as the "complete control" definition came into view.

How can I miss making a comment on Man of the Match Andrew Symonds, who probably was the most fortunate man in the game after being given not out on three occasions when he was actually out and also taking Dravid's wicket in India's second innings, which by now we all know wasn't actually out. On the third day's play he complained to the Match Referee that Harbhajan Singh had "racially abused" him. And as I type news comes in that Harbhajan has been banned for 3 Tests for this very reason. I find it very difficult to judge the credibility of this complaint after all the above events. I feel this is nothing but a "mind game" by the Australians to remove Harbhajan from the attack. The press had reported that none of the umpires on the field had heard any abusing and even then Harbhajan is punished! What proof did the Australian's have? Can't they present it to the outside world to give us a clearer picture?

The unfortunate incidents in this test match have pained an entire nation where Cricket is an obsession and has a religious cult-like following! At the end of the day Cricket is the loser. I am deeply pained by this horrendous showing of favours by the umpires to the Australians thus proving that Cricket is not a "Gentleman's Game" anymore.

To sum it all up, I would quote what the Indian captain Anil Kumble said about the outcome of the match- "Only one team was playing with the spirit of the game, that's all I can say"

Other notable quotes after the match include-

• "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'."
  Ian Chappell on commentary during the final day of the Sydney Test following two doubtful decisions that went against India.
• "If Steve Bucknor walks the streets of Mumbai, he won't be alive for more than an hour."
  A comment on a TV debate in India in the aftermath of the Sydney Test. The remark received warm applause.
• "This has been going on in all countries for many years and it's only happening against India and has only been exposed because of TV. There were 12 decisions when we were batting and 12 when we were bowling."
  A balanced view on world cricket from an expert on the same show.
• "Umpiring standards have gone down in this match, particularly in Bucknor's case. He is losing his vision and hearing as shown by some of his decisions. I suggest there should be a fitness test for umpires as well."
  Former Indian Test Cricketer Syed Kirmani.
• "Sorry I think you have got something wrong. There's no way that I would have grounded that ball and I think if you are actually questioning my integrity in the game, you should not be standing here. What I did in the first innings doesn't that explain the way I play the game. Well okay I am 100 per cent sure of that catch of Dhoni today. As it turned out wasn't that given not out. Am I right or wrong?"
  Australian skipper Ricky Ponting reacting angrily when asked by Indian reporter if he had cleanly caught Mahendra Singh Dhoni off the bowling of Brad Hogg. A ridiculous comment in my opinion.
• "When you pick up a pack of Benson & Hedges you get a statutory warning: 'Smoking cigarettes is injurious to health.' From this day on, the firm of Benson & Bucknor may well have to come with some sort of warning. It's a shame when you have to spend more time talking about the umpiring than the wickets taken or the runs scored, but when the errors umpires make play a big role in deciding the course of a game, there's little choice."
  Cricinfo's cricket expert Anand Vasu in his post match bulletin.
• "The umpires on the field are supposed to be neutral."
  Colin Croft starts 2008 with a controversial and ill thought-out on-air comment.
• "How can the third umpire not see that? He's not got anything to do other than watch TV!"
  Sky TV's Charles Colvile offers a blunt take on the third umpire's decision to rule Andrew Symonds not out on a stumping referral.
• "I was out when I was 30 - given not out. I can sit here and tell you about some bad decisions as well, but I won't. That's the game."
  Andrew Symonds tells it like it is about what went down on day one of the SCG Test.
• "It was a match that will have been relished only by rabid nationalists and others for whom victory and vengeance are the sole reasons for playing sport ... It was a rotten contest that singularly failed to elevate the spirit."
  Peter Roebuck delivers his verdict on the second Australia-India Test in the Sydney Morning Herald.
  

Check out the links below for more on this issue-

• Kumble questions Australia's spirit.
• Australia's attitude lacking in appeal.