Australia: Where's your loyalty?
I’ve held back on commenting on the cricket controversy with this current ‘Bollywood Series’ between Australia and India but it has angered me as an Australian to see many of our sporting heroes and journalists become turn coats and criticise on of our greatest sporting teams ever.
Ricky Ponting and the Australian team play tough, serious, hard cricket but behind their determination is a successful machine that is the equal world record holding consecutive test winning team as well as being the current holders, for the last 12 years of the World Cup.
All the ‘monkey business’ over Harbhajan Singh’s racist taunt to Andrew Symonds and then the Indians counter-claim that Bradley Hogg used the word ‘bastard’ was blown out of proportion and was a sore point for the game. If ‘monkey’ was deemed a racist taunt by Australia-India and the International Cricket Council then the Indians should have accepted Harbhajan’s punishment because they is NO place for racism in the game.
The Board of Control of Indian Cricket are far too powerful at the detriment of the game. No player and no organisation is bigger than the game of cricket and when the BCCI flexed there muscles claiming they would pull out of the Australian tour if umpire Steve Bucknor was not replaced and Harbhajan’s decision overturned.
Please, BCCI back off and let the ICC make an independent judgement. Accept the laws and the Spirit of Cricket which we are all encouraged to accept the umpires decision.
The BCCI do however have enormous influence on the ICC not only because of the revenue they raise but also their representation being boosted by
Unfortunately Steve Bucknor made some terrible decisions but you cannot blame a 61 year old veteran who has umpired in over 125 tests, three consecutive world cup finals but he is asked to travel from
I don’t care how fit you are physically, the mental toughness on umpiring is difficult enough and does not need unrealistic time and travel constraints on your job.
For Bucknor to have to travel that distance at his age, the ICC have only themselves to blame when umpiring standards drop to such a standard because they only have 8 officials accredited to umpire test match cricket.
Where is the sense and logic in that?
The ICC must fix this now and develop younger umpires to a standard capable of umpiring with the elite panel which includes Bucknor, Rudi Koertzen and Aleem Dar.
What is more disgraceful in the BCCI’s handling of the Sydney Test fiasco is the example or lack there of that they have set for children playing the game. What are kids meant to do when they receive a ‘bad’ umpiring decision?
Further controversy was created by Sydney Morning Herald cricket writer Peter Roebuck when he accused the senior Australian players including Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist as dishonest and arrogant whilst calling for Captain Ricky Ponting to be sacked.
Roebuck writes eloquently and is a pleasure to read his metaphorical recollections but this article went too far and was well off the mark.
Ricky Ponting has inherited a legacy from Steve Waugh who was loved by Australians but installed that determination that has driven success. Ponting has excelled as Waugh’s replacement and leads from the front.
The respect that Ponting commands around
It did of course open a can of worms and a number of former Australian sportsmen came out from the woodwork to comment on the perceived Australian Cricket teams arrogance. They should ALL go back under the doona and enjoy their celebrated retirements leaving one of the greatest Australian sporting teams of all time to have a crack at the world record.
You can’t win in this country, when your down the media criticise you, turn on you and call for your head. Then when you are a world record-holder they call you arrogant and claim that you’re not playing in the spirit of the game... PLEASE!
I’m celebrating the Australian cricket teams success and I hope they dominate for many years to come. They are fine athletes, respected gentlemen and Australian ICONS, after all why would almost every world cricket team employ an Australian coach?
It says something for the way we play the game, we are coached, our approach and our mentality. When you’re at the top everyone wants to beat you, kick you down and they will try anything, even getting your own country’s media to turn on you.
Maybe that is just sport and competition, but why don’t we leave the Australian cricket team alone and CELEBRATE their success and achievements.
