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Australia Vs India Test Series

TrueYid

Active Member
Jul 29, 2003
2,429
33
I am not sure what kind of coverage this is getting back in London, having watched the test I must say I am appalled by the way Australia have played the game, and I feel desperatly sorry for the Indians.

A bit of background for those how don't know what is going on.

Cricinfo:

Bucknor removed and tour continues
Indians ready to travel | Harbhajan plays pending appeal | Blackballing bodes badly | BCCI welcomes dropping | Sanjay Manjrekar: A dangerous precedent | Full coverage
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Sporting greats upset by behaviour
'It's not war' | Hogg charged for 'offensive remark' | Indians unhappy with Procter | Let's ban sledging | Open your eyes, Ricky | Cultural misunderstandings
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Australia clinch thriller to equal record
Aus v Ind 2nd Test scorecard | Bulletin | Gallery | Match home

BBC
Jonathan Agnew column
08 Jan 08 | Cricket
Aussie bowler Hogg to face charge
08 Jan 08 | Cricket
Indian fans vent their anger
08 Jan 08 | Cricket
Harbhajan fallout
07 Jan 08 | Cricket
Debate: India right to feel aggrieved?
07 Jan 08 | Cricket
Indian cricketers victims of injustice?
07 Jan 08 | South Asia
Tour at risk after Harbhajan ban
07 Jan 08 | Cricket
India fume at Aussies and umpires
06 Jan 08 | Cricket
Australia beat India in thriller
06 Jan 08 | Cricket
Australia v India photos
02 Jan 08 | Cricket
India in Australia 2007-08
21 Apr 07 | Cricket
Aussie Hogg to face charge
India to continue Australia tour
 

kishman

Well-Known Member
Apr 22, 2005
10,575
771
It was in the back pages for like a day not quite in the front pages like it has been in India. It is unfair how the Aussies always get their way it is harsh on other nations. It was harsh to ban Harbhajan without any concrete evidence unlike the time when they banned Gibbs when they did have the evidence. If Harbhajan did say what he did it is wrong and he deserves the ban, despite the Aussies behavior on the field which provokes you saying racists comments is unacceptable.
 

Kurtzen

New Member
Jan 13, 2006
822
0
I worked with an Aussie woman whose son grew up with and was a friend of Ponting's. They went through the Tasmanian cricket's representative age groups together. She was a very 'upright' speaker, never swore. Her description of Ponting? "A self serving little ****." Shocked, I had to ask her repeat it, she resented his aggressiveness as a child, the way he used people, and added he was 'groomed' by the ACB but would always be a ****. Whatever his ability he has done nothing to diminish this assesment.

The requirements to play (international) cricket have long been a personality bypass and a lobotomy. Overpaid, and with little or no accountability, the players own the sport. And in Australia's case characters like James Sutherland(head of Cricket Australia) are currently being exposed as 'out of their depth' and lackys to the morons in the middle.

An aside....since the covering of wickets began Australia has gone from strength to strength. They grow up on dry hard wickets which is now the norm for International cricket. Take the covers off and see what they are made of cricket wise?
 

Zuben

Closet User Never Timid
Mar 17, 2005
8,161
0
Video showing some of the dodgy issues of the 2nd test.

[yt]lyaz0g0EBXc[/yt]
 

Barmy_in_Palmy

El Presidente In Absentia
Jun 6, 2005
16,254
17,215
the australian cricketers are ****s (gilchrist excluded), the funny thing is that australians are finally starting to notice what ****s their players are and quite a few australian reporters are calling for ponting to be sacked.
 

TrueYid

Active Member
Jul 29, 2003
2,429
33
the australian cricketers are ****s (gilchrist excluded), the funny thing is that australians are finally starting to notice what ****s their players are and quite a few australian reporters are calling for ponting to be sacked.
I have been out here for almost three years now, what amazes me from my what I have seen is how a sport loving nation who love their sporting heroes so much, have nothing but contemt for their cricket team (Gilchrist excluded as you mention).

When England won the Ashes in '05 the Australian public were delighted, they were very dissapointed with how the last ashes worked out.

The Australian team are a bunch of thugs, gifted but thugs non-the-less. They are bullies, and love to dish it out, but oh how they can't take it.
 

Bill_Oddie

Everything in Moderation
Staff
Feb 1, 2005
19,120
6,003
I've watched about 80% of every ball of the 1st 2 Tests and caught all the other important stuff on the highlights/news, so have probably seen as much as most.

Firstly, I'm glad that we are finally having a proper discussion about these disgusting bullies. They got all kinds of favourable decisions and throw their weight around to the detriment to the sport. Every nation has experienced it and its getting worse and worse. Their egos beggar belief and the ICC always run scared of them. They almost always get their way, so to see the negative coverage recently has been a breath of fresh air.

To analyse the 2 flash-points from the last Test, we can see everything about how they want to play the game.

1. Michael Clarke has a plumb lbw decision against Tendulkar turned down in the 1st innings when the little master was on 32. It was clearer than any of the caught behinds or that ridiculous Symonds stumpings, which you simply couldn't give bearing in mind we were talking about possible shadows that may or may not be touching his foot when the bails weren't even broken. The commentators were only too pleased to make controversial statements on that though. They made very little noise about the Tendulkar lbw, which would have seen the match end within 4 days. Balances the Dravid shocker (and boy was it a shocker) out for me.

2. When a very young - and it has to be said, very fucking scared - Ishant Sharma (lovely action, by the way. Really good prospect there) was coming in with 15 minutes to go on the last afternoon and he was instructed to pull the "Oh shit, I've got 2 left gloves with me. How foolish. I'll have to turn around and walk slowly back to the Pavilion to change these. How very unfortunate. If only I hadn't done this, Australia might have been able to squeeze in another over at me." trick. He was clearly mortified to be doing something quite so village. Likewise, his instruction 'do not walk. For anything' was all too clear as he edged to 1st slip (1st slip, mind) and looked at the umpire in an appalled manner as the finger went up.


I'm being more than a little cheeky here, as the Aussies are very far from being in the right. But they play fucking hard on the pitch and from what I understand are very decent guys off it. I really can't see where the problem is. They've never been any different, and I wonder how many people slating the Aussies (cowtowing the to 'spin' (no pun intended) from the BCCI - surely more powerful and manipulative than Cricket Australia could ever dream of) are begging for Spurs to buy 'an arsehole' to come in and bite some legs in our midfield...

Anyway, there are 2 sides to every tale and if this unsavoury incident sees Australia play less like a bunch of nasty schoolchildren, and India like nasty schoolgirls ('I'm taking my bat and ball and going home') then some good will have come out of this stupid mess.


Oh, and just to balance the earlier Ponting story (I heard something similar from someone else from Tassie, btw), Harbhajan is an utter prick. The Aussies and Indians get on brilliantly well and always have, but whenever they get together 'Bhaji' doesn't ever join in. He has an attitude that makes Chris Eubank look humble.
 

Tickers

Marquee Signing
Feb 16, 2005
3,646
21
I've watched about 80% of every ball of the 1st 2 Tests and caught all the other important stuff on the highlights/news, so have probably seen as much as most.

Firstly, I'm glad that we are finally having a proper discussion about these disgusting bullies. They got all kinds of favourable decisions and throw their weight around to the detriment to the sport. Every nation has experienced it and its getting worse and worse. Their egos beggar belief and the ICC always run scared of them. They almost always get their way, so to see the negative coverage recently has been a breath of fresh air.

To analyse the 2 flash-points from the last Test, we can see everything about how they want to play the game.

1. Michael Clarke has a plumb lbw decision against Tendulkar turned down in the 1st innings when the little master was on 32. It was clearer than any of the caught behinds or that ridiculous Symonds stumpings, which you simply couldn't give bearing in mind we were talking about possible shadows that may or may not be touching his foot when the bails weren't even broken. The commentators were only too pleased to make controversial statements on that though. They made very little noise about the Tendulkar lbw, which would have seen the match end within 4 days. Balances the Dravid shocker (and boy was it a shocker) out for me.

2. When a very young - and it has to be said, very fucking scared - Ishant Sharma (lovely action, by the way. Really good prospect there) was coming in with 15 minutes to go on the last afternoon and he was instructed to pull the "Oh shit, I've got 2 left gloves with me. How foolish. I'll have to turn around and walk slowly back to the Pavilion to change these. How very unfortunate. If only I hadn't done this, Australia might have been able to squeeze in another over at me." trick. He was clearly mortified to be doing something quite so village. Likewise, his instruction 'do not walk. For anything' was all too clear as he edged to 1st slip (1st slip, mind) and looked at the umpire in an appalled manner as the finger went up.


I'm being more than a little cheeky here, as the Aussies are very far from being in the right. But they play fucking hard on the pitch and from what I understand are very decent guys off it. I really can't see where the problem is. They've never been any different, and I wonder how many people slating the Aussies (cowtowing the to 'spin' (no pun intended) from the BCCI - surely more powerful and manipulative than Cricket Australia could ever dream of) are begging for Spurs to buy 'an arsehole' to come in and bite some legs in our midfield...

Anyway, there are 2 sides to every tale and if this unsavoury incident sees Australia play less like a bunch of nasty schoolchildren, and India like nasty schoolgirls ('I'm taking my bat and ball and going home') then some good will have come out of this stupid mess.


Oh, and just to balance the earlier Ponting story (I heard something similar from someone else from Tassie, btw), Harbhajan is an utter prick. The Aussies and Indians get on brilliantly well and always have, but whenever they get together 'Bhaji' doesn't ever join in. He has an attitude that makes Chris Eubank look humble.

Excellent points, well made.

I foolishly posted a blog suggesting the Indians might perhaps slightly be at fault for failing to hold on for a draw as they did, lest we forget, lose three wickets in an over to Michael Clarke with about five minutes left of the match. In a stroke, I made about a billion enemies.

Despite their outrageous bleating, if every single decision had been correct, India would only have drawn. On a turning pitch, Harbhajan and Kumble utterly failed to bowl Australia out in the second innings. So even if they'd had a first-innings lead of 200, they still wouldn't have won the game.

As you say, that Sharma "two left gloves" trick was utterly embarrassing - I felt so sorry for him. The lad looked mortified.

The way the BCCI continually bully the ICC would be hilarious if it wasn't so damaging to such a great sport. They can now pick and choose their umpires (potentially forcing the game's best ever umpire into retirement in the most outrageously undignifield manner possible), and will get their way over Harbhajan.

And they will do all this while painting themselves as the innocent victims of the "white boys" at the ICC.

Any other country - including England or Australia - would be in serious danger of getting kicked out for the antics the BCCI have shown in the last couple of weeks. But the Indian market is worth something like 70 per cent of the game's total economy.

Worrying times. Although the fact it's now being referred to as 'Bollyline' has cheered me immensely.
 

Kurtzen

New Member
Jan 13, 2006
822
0
Bill does your 'history' extend back to Australian sides of the 60's? I dispute that all Aussie teams have conducted themselves with such 'dignity'. Even Ian Chappell, the father of sledging, at his worst would pass as Oscar Wilde with the current crop. The current rot set in between the Taylor and Waugh reigns....ably assisted by the then 'maturing' S.Warne.

I had the 'privilege' of attending the Aus vs NZ Boxing Day test some years ago with people from this 'industry'. The captain of the 'play hard' brigade chose to greet a member of the NZ team, who had only recently lost his sister in a train accident, with 'choof, choof, choof' as he came to the crease. Justice? Publicly the player subject to this denied it occurred. His retaliation....3 for 9 in 7 overs at the commencement of the 'misunderstood's' innings. Two models for behaviour for the impressionable? On current examples neither lesson learned, and a pattern of abuse reinforced?

The appointment of Buchanan as coach(sic) and Sutherland as Cricket Australia chief are two very good examples of appointing lame ducks. No actual power, more glorified travel clerks. And although it might be stretching things, this trend of not appointing anyone with an independent thought, extends back to Messr Warne's +ve drug test. At this point the money men, ably assisted by Channel 9, structured the system to ensure their money cow was in no way threatened by considerations to organisations such as the ICC.

Unfortunately protecting players from repercussions for their behaviour, including the current captain of Australia's bar room antics(which far exceeded Freddy's 'fun'), has only served to lift the ceiling of 'acceptable' behaviour and given the players a sense of impunity. And like all good children with no boundaries...life's become a riot, and knowing no different they cannot see a problem.

I'm not condoning or excusing alleged racial issues. But as a seperate matter, the Australian cricket teams conduct on and off the field has deteriorated to the point where 'cricket' has become the mirror of a reform school playground. So much for sport as therapy? It's moving from a symptom to a cause.

This was a cricket discussion, parrallels to the conduct of J.Terry maybe just highlight the deterioration in what is acceptable in a world where accountability is no longer a matter of not getting caught, or worse still ,behaving.....it's become irrelevant. These matters have become so entrenched the individuals concerned no longer see a problem and continue to be rewarded.

Thanks for taking on board my 'bastards' theme....it's the ****'s I can't stand. Is there is still a difference?

:razz:

:wink:
 

Barmy_in_Palmy

El Presidente In Absentia
Jun 6, 2005
16,254
17,215
I've watched about 80% of every ball of the 1st 2 Tests and caught all the other important stuff on the highlights/news, so have probably seen as much as most.

Firstly, I'm glad that we are finally having a proper discussion about these disgusting bullies. They got all kinds of favourable decisions and throw their weight around to the detriment to the sport. Every nation has experienced it and its getting worse and worse. Their egos beggar belief and the ICC always run scared of them. They almost always get their way, so to see the negative coverage recently has been a breath of fresh air.

To analyse the 2 flash-points from the last Test, we can see everything about how they want to play the game.

1. Michael Clarke has a plumb lbw decision against Tendulkar turned down in the 1st innings when the little master was on 32. It was clearer than any of the caught behinds or that ridiculous Symonds stumpings, which you simply couldn't give bearing in mind we were talking about possible shadows that may or may not be touching his foot when the bails weren't even broken. The commentators were only too pleased to make controversial statements on that though. They made very little noise about the Tendulkar lbw, which would have seen the match end within 4 days. Balances the Dravid shocker (and boy was it a shocker) out for me.

2. When a very young - and it has to be said, very fucking scared - Ishant Sharma (lovely action, by the way. Really good prospect there) was coming in with 15 minutes to go on the last afternoon and he was instructed to pull the "Oh shit, I've got 2 left gloves with me. How foolish. I'll have to turn around and walk slowly back to the Pavilion to change these. How very unfortunate. If only I hadn't done this, Australia might have been able to squeeze in another over at me." trick. He was clearly mortified to be doing something quite so village. Likewise, his instruction 'do not walk. For anything' was all too clear as he edged to 1st slip (1st slip, mind) and looked at the umpire in an appalled manner as the finger went up.


I'm being more than a little cheeky here, as the Aussies are very far from being in the right. But they play fucking hard on the pitch and from what I understand are very decent guys off it. I really can't see where the problem is. They've never been any different, and I wonder how many people slating the Aussies (cowtowing the to 'spin' (no pun intended) from the BCCI - surely more powerful and manipulative than Cricket Australia could ever dream of) are begging for Spurs to buy 'an arsehole' to come in and bite some legs in our midfield...

Anyway, there are 2 sides to every tale and if this unsavoury incident sees Australia play less like a bunch of nasty schoolchildren, and India like nasty schoolgirls ('I'm taking my bat and ball and going home') then some good will have come out of this stupid mess.


Oh, and just to balance the earlier Ponting story (I heard something similar from someone else from Tassie, btw), Harbhajan is an utter prick. The Aussies and Indians get on brilliantly well and always have, but whenever they get together 'Bhaji' doesn't ever join in. He has an attitude that makes Chris Eubank look humble.

Hello Mrs Oddie :hello:
 

Bill_Oddie

Everything in Moderation
Staff
Feb 1, 2005
19,120
6,003
Hello Mrs Oddie :hello:

:rofl: Yeah, given my in-laws I must say, it's not often I speak in defense of the green and gold. Quite the opposite, actually. Although it was mildly satisfying to watch them stuff a side that wasn't England this year.


And just to clarify, I really am not in favour of the Aussie players' reprehensible behaviour on the field, but the Indians are no innocent victims.

Tickers is spot on when he says what they've done regarding Bucknor is an outrage. But that situation is the ICC"s fault for buckling to Pakistan over Hair.


And one final point.

I spent no time in a room discussing the incident 'When Bhaji Met Monkey/Roy'. How long were you in there? And the people in India burning Australian flags in the streets? Or images of Steven Bucknor? How long did they get to question each person who was there?

A chap named Proctor got 8 hours and concluded beyond doubt that the laws of the game were broken. It's his job to hand out the punishment, which he has done by the letter of the law. To complain without hearing the facts is appalling and it is up to the BCCI to accept this decision and wherever appropriate ensure their supporters control their actions.
 

Bromavinci

Dazed & Confuzed
Oct 7, 2005
4,119
1,124
Goos thread guys- great points made...my take on the situation;

from the time Kim Hughes went crying of into the sunset Australian Cricket Teams have had to be tough, not only on the field where there was no domination like there is today but also off the field, in their demeanour, the way they carry themselves, the image the press gets etc etc..it was a bloody downright embarrassment watching the blubbery Hughes on TV...

when they appointed Alan Border to the helm they appointed a downright no nonsense **** of a man..exactly what we needed at the time..Thus began the evolution of the beast we have today. Win at all costs, aggressiveness, stick it up em cricket and it got us going in the right direction. Mark Taylor was more of a diplomat, a nice guy who played and captained with nothing but class, a credit to the nation that bloke. But on the field he still went for the win, he was still a competitive bastard who hated to lose..when Steve Waugh took over we saw a big stride towards the manifestation we have today. Waugh was, and is, a total winning machine, that bloke does not know how to lose..he is famously quoted as saying that there is no room for mercy in Test Cricket, none. And thats how the aussies played under him...very very fucking hard cricket...Nowadays, under Ponting they have that underlying approach to the game that started with Border, developed slowly under Taylor, and was at the forefront under Waugh, tough uncompromising hard cricket. It is an approach that has had the Aussie team at the top of all forms off the game for the last 10 - 15 years..and quite rightly earned them global respect...

BUT

what they also have now is an abundance of arrogance! Ricky Ponting is arguably the cricketer of his generation but is also a mouthy, arrogant little **** (anyone else remember him getting belted outside the Bourbon and Beefsteak in the early hours a few years ago???) He truly lacks Tubbys class..he just has none of it...none! And its this persona that permeates throughout the whole team. Im a very very proud Australian cricket supporter but I don not like what Ponting has done with the image of this team, there are countless examples of our arrogance, our rudeness, our questionable sportmanship in the last 5 or so years. Its a shame because Gilchrist / McGrath / Damien Martyn / Warne (!) / Langer et al are all gentlemen - hard cricketers but sportsmen first and foremost...

when it comes to sledging - its something i do not condone - banter is all and well good and comments on someones ability or lack thereof and their weaknesses are fine..but examples cited above by Kutzen, and others like Graeme Smith's first match against Australia are inexcusable..as is racism..but its more and more prevalent and although the aussies started it - its not exclusively their problem...

The indians are not blameless obviously and I have always been irritated by the BCCI, but it looks like Kumble has had enough, and after 18 yrs in Test Cricket has finally spoken out...will be interesting what happens now...

Thats my two cents..thanks for reading - if you did...
 

JKSpurs

Member
Jan 30, 2006
887
38
Abospurs great to get a view from a aussie fan.

Its a shame pointing is such a **** as he is a great great batsman but his attitude will always tarnish his achievements
 

Bill_Oddie

Everything in Moderation
Staff
Feb 1, 2005
19,120
6,003
Excellent post, Abospur. Cheers for sharing.


Just to add that (he's someone I've got a lot of time for, so excuse me while I take us on a tangent) Steve Waugh was absolutely a born winner, but he was a also a fine 'sportsman'.

Had he really been as much of a cock as Ponting, Australia would have won the series in India in 2001. Waugh made the Indians follow on (when Laxman made that glorious 240) because of the way the match-fixing affair had affected the global view of cricket. He was mortified with Hansie Cronje's behaviour and wanted to keep cricket entertaining for as long as possible. He knew that had the Aussies batted (which I certainly would have done, were I him), they would have set India a totally impossible target of at least 500 to go 2-0 up in a 3 match series.
 

TrueYid

Active Member
Jul 29, 2003
2,429
33
I don't think this is a problem with just Australia and India, it is a serious concern with test cricket in general.

We saw some really strange behavior when England played India with the infamous "Jelly Bean Gate" incident. Arguably England also were involved in some unsporting behaviour in 2005 when they kept on changing the substitue fielder and rotating players on the field which Ponting had reservations about at the begining of the series, ulitmatly Ponting was run-out by a sub and showed his thugish behavior for all to see as he made his way back to the dressing room.

There are many problems with cricket right now. The most notable.

1) The are only 8 test match umpiers, and they can not umpire at home, which means that they spend virtually an entire year away from home, sometimes officiating on 10 days of cricket in less than two weeks, no wonder the standard is begining to fall.

2) There is too much cricket full stop, the players are grumpy, they are under pressure and to sustain such a competative edge for so long is too much IMHO -this is arguably the reason for Englands most consistant (MT) batsmans absense from the team.

3) Lack of leadership, from top to bottom, from the ICC and from almost all the governing bodies of all the test playing nations. India is by far the most money making cricket team in the world, they have the largest audience and it seems that the ICC bow to their every whim. First with Daryl Hair, and now Buckner.

Solution? It isn't easy, there has to be a complete overhall of the way cricket is run, ICC Champions trophy should be scrapped, it should be ensured that no team should EVER have to play back to back tests. A wider pool of umpires is a must, and possibly going back to having one home umpire and one neutral upmpire per test.

Harsher punishments for players, and an absolute 0 tollerance system, Harbajan Singh may have been provoced, but if he said what is alleged than a ban is a must and a hefty fine too. If India don't want to carry on the series, then the ICC must tell them in no uncertain terms, you quit than you are out of for good.

However we all know that the money in the game now will ensure that this wont happen...
 
Jan 27, 2007
167
4
I am gonna rock the boat a bit and disagree with some of you here, I think anything verbal should be allowable on the cricket field. Here's why...

I went from playing county cricket to U15 level in the UK where a set of slips might josh..."did anyone give him instructions with that bat, does he know what to do with it"...all very mild...

to QLD grade cricket where you would have some bogan from woop woop breathing down your neck at short leg telling you how he shafted your mum last night and trying anything to get a reaction.

How did I cope with it, shock at first that this side to the game existed, then a realisation that mental strength was just as much a part of the game as technique. If you lost the plot when a bowler took the piss out of your english accent or whatever and got yourself out trying to slog him then more fool you.

Lets face it, not all of us have it in us to dish it out, i know i don't, but we should all be strong enough to ignore it and I see no problem with teams having verbal players who create the aggro.

In a club game if someone calls ya a black bastard, monkey, pommie, yid, bloody anything, if it offends you that much then go and lamp them after the game...but chances are you'll be having a beer with them and they'll be telling ya how they really did knob your mum last night.

So to sum up, I don't agree with racism but you cannot have circumstances that are accepted and common in lower levels of the game wiped out at test level. Ditch the close mics on tv and let them sledge each other to their hearts content. IMHO
 

Bromavinci

Dazed & Confuzed
Oct 7, 2005
4,119
1,124
Sorry mate i disagree.

I played grade cricket in Sydney for 5 years and while it was apparent on the field and generally accepted, (well give it back to them), I witnessed some terrible terrible comments., ranging from jibes about deaths in the family to family members with mental disabilities..some really horrible very personal stuff...its just too much, hard cricket and mental toughness or not. Ive never played a test match but have played with people who have and this sort of stuff is the norm and considered to be part and parcel of the game at that level...and while the aussies are generally accepted as starting it, its common practice for almost all teams now...

The game is hard enough without this and its a disgrace that its accepted.....cricket is a great game, a great social vehicle, a game for everyone (if you want) to enjoy..the fact this type of verbal abuse is accepted detracts from the greatness of the sport...
 
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