The spirit of the game
Australia's extraordinary last minute victory in the second test was one of those great moments that only test cricket can deliver. After five days of high quality cricket it all came down to the last few overs. With long shadows cast by the fielding team grouped impossibly tightly around the batsman, the rambling, drunken chants of the fans too boozed to notice the tension, and every ball carrying the threat or promise of defeat, it was an hour or two of test cricket at its best.
Except.
Fucken Ricky Ponting.
With all the grace of a petulant 12 year old, the captain of the Australian cricket team, intimidated, complained and bitched and moaned his way through the entire final day. With Michael Clarke's third wicket in one over delivering the seemingly impossible, Ricky Ponting led the celebrations, thrusting his pelvis towards the Indian dressing room before leaping around with his team mates, oblivious to the shattered Anil Kumble whose stoic innings had come to nothing as he watched from the bowler's end as his hapless team disintegrated in front of him.
Poor little Ishant Sharma, the 19 year-old in only his third test, who had come to the wicket not two balls before with two right-hand gloves (he had to call back to the dressing room for a left-hand and was abused by Ponting for his efforts for presumably wasting time) stood disbelieving as the Australians cavorted around him. It was Sharma who had been robbed (by Symonds own admission) of the early wicket of Andrew Symonds in the first innings and it was Sharma who congratulated him some 130 runs later when he finally left the field. Despite his sporting gesture earlier in the game he was ignored by the Aussies as they indulged in an orgy of self-congratulation.
Some commentators have compared the Australian celebrations to the now famous moment when England won the second test of the 2005 Ashes series (in very similar circumstances) and Andrew Flintoff knelt to console the devastated Brett Lee.
None of that for the Aussies against India.
Some (most notably in today's Age, Peter Roebuck) have started to call for Ponting's removal as captain. I tend to agree, not simply because of his performance in Sydney, but because I don't think he's ever been worthy of the post. There's no doubt he is one of the greatest batsmen in the world, but the captain of the Australian cricket team needs to be more than just a good cricketer. Ponting has never been a diplomat, he's never been humble, or sensitive to how his actions (and those of his team) may be interpreted by others. If he was just another player that would be fine. But he's not. He's the captain and therefore the spokesman for the Australian team.
It's almost exclusively his lack of diplomacy that has brought on the whole crisis with the current tour. With jaw-dropping hypocrisy, Ponting insisted that the issue with Harbhajan be dealt with through official channels. Harbhajan's apparent verbal abuse of Symonds should not be encouraged, but I shudder to think of the barrage of comments from the Australians that goaded him into it.
The Australian preciousness over 'racial slurs' is ludicrous given their infamy for saying anything and everything to opposition batsmen to (as some may say) get under their goat. Apparently it's all very well to swear like a sailor, but call someone a monkey!? One could suggest some perspective is in order.
And then, just to cap it all off, the Indian Cricket Board has reacted as hysterically as possible and canceled the tour 'pending the appeal' of Harbhajan's misdemeanor - essentially blackmailing the ICC into overturning the ruling.
If the Australian's, led by Ricky Ponting had behaved with a little more decorum, if they had dealt with Harbhajan on the ground at the time with Tendulkar as mediator, if they had refused to intimidate the umpires and had accepted their decisions and if they had congratulated their opponents for one of the few genuinely competitive games they've played in recent years, the second test in Sydney would be remembered as one of the great contests - an equal to the second test at Edgbaston. Instead, we now have a summer of cricket that will be, at best, overshadowed by the nastiness of the Australian team's attitude and at worst non-existent.
Ponting would do well to acknowledge that however much they claim it's just about winning, cricket is so much more than that.
Except.
Fucken Ricky Ponting.
With all the grace of a petulant 12 year old, the captain of the Australian cricket team, intimidated, complained and bitched and moaned his way through the entire final day. With Michael Clarke's third wicket in one over delivering the seemingly impossible, Ricky Ponting led the celebrations, thrusting his pelvis towards the Indian dressing room before leaping around with his team mates, oblivious to the shattered Anil Kumble whose stoic innings had come to nothing as he watched from the bowler's end as his hapless team disintegrated in front of him.
Poor little Ishant Sharma, the 19 year-old in only his third test, who had come to the wicket not two balls before with two right-hand gloves (he had to call back to the dressing room for a left-hand and was abused by Ponting for his efforts for presumably wasting time) stood disbelieving as the Australians cavorted around him. It was Sharma who had been robbed (by Symonds own admission) of the early wicket of Andrew Symonds in the first innings and it was Sharma who congratulated him some 130 runs later when he finally left the field. Despite his sporting gesture earlier in the game he was ignored by the Aussies as they indulged in an orgy of self-congratulation.
Some commentators have compared the Australian celebrations to the now famous moment when England won the second test of the 2005 Ashes series (in very similar circumstances) and Andrew Flintoff knelt to console the devastated Brett Lee.
None of that for the Aussies against India.
Some (most notably in today's Age, Peter Roebuck) have started to call for Ponting's removal as captain. I tend to agree, not simply because of his performance in Sydney, but because I don't think he's ever been worthy of the post. There's no doubt he is one of the greatest batsmen in the world, but the captain of the Australian cricket team needs to be more than just a good cricketer. Ponting has never been a diplomat, he's never been humble, or sensitive to how his actions (and those of his team) may be interpreted by others. If he was just another player that would be fine. But he's not. He's the captain and therefore the spokesman for the Australian team.
It's almost exclusively his lack of diplomacy that has brought on the whole crisis with the current tour. With jaw-dropping hypocrisy, Ponting insisted that the issue with Harbhajan be dealt with through official channels. Harbhajan's apparent verbal abuse of Symonds should not be encouraged, but I shudder to think of the barrage of comments from the Australians that goaded him into it.
The Australian preciousness over 'racial slurs' is ludicrous given their infamy for saying anything and everything to opposition batsmen to (as some may say) get under their goat. Apparently it's all very well to swear like a sailor, but call someone a monkey!? One could suggest some perspective is in order.
And then, just to cap it all off, the Indian Cricket Board has reacted as hysterically as possible and canceled the tour 'pending the appeal' of Harbhajan's misdemeanor - essentially blackmailing the ICC into overturning the ruling.
If the Australian's, led by Ricky Ponting had behaved with a little more decorum, if they had dealt with Harbhajan on the ground at the time with Tendulkar as mediator, if they had refused to intimidate the umpires and had accepted their decisions and if they had congratulated their opponents for one of the few genuinely competitive games they've played in recent years, the second test in Sydney would be remembered as one of the great contests - an equal to the second test at Edgbaston. Instead, we now have a summer of cricket that will be, at best, overshadowed by the nastiness of the Australian team's attitude and at worst non-existent.
Ponting would do well to acknowledge that however much they claim it's just about winning, cricket is so much more than that.
I know. What a horrible and petty little man. I thought I didn't like Shane Warne, but I REALLY don't like Ponting. He was so disgustingly smug after they won, too, saying that he knew they'd win all along and it was all exactly as they planned it. Bollocks.
ReplyDeleteAlso, whoever is above the umpires - whoever trains them - needs to find a new job, so the umpires can actually UMPIRE, instead of being bullied into doing whatever Australia wants.
What happened to the Gentleman's Sport??
Oooo, they've just stood down Bucknor.
ReplyDeleteFrom someone who barely knows one end of a cricket bat from the other, thanks for this post. I now feel like I know what everyone is going on about!
ReplyDelete