India threaten to abandon Australian cricket tour

seaeagle

Quote:

INDIA is considering the controversial move of pulling out of the Australian tour following a series of controversial events at the SCG Test.
India skipper Anil Kumble last night accused the Australian team of not playing in the spirit of the game following the home side's last-gasp 122-run win.

And the lengthy hearing for Harbhajan Singh's alleged racial abuse of Andrew Symonds has incensed the Indian team.

Indian team spokesman Dr M.V. Sridhar refused to rule out the possibility of the team heading back home early this morning. (continues)

Seem to very much a case of India being sore losers, and sour grapes after one of their most valuable players was suspended for racially vilifying a black Australian player:

Harbhajan banned for racial slur

Quote:

INDIA spinner Harbhajan Singh has been banned for three Tests after being found guilty of racial abuse for allegedly calling black Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds "a monkey", the International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced.

The 27-year-old Harbhajan was found guilty under the ICC's Code of Conduct following the clash with Symonds on the third day of the acrimonious second Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, which Australia won by 122 runs.

The charge was laid by match umpires Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor after Australia captain Ricky Ponting had accused Harbhajan of making a "monkey" comment at Symonds, the only black player in the home team.

Following a four-hour hearing held at the SCG, match referee Mike Procter delivered his judgment.

He found the case against Harbhajan proved and informed the off-spinner, who has collected 255 wickets from 62 Tests, that he was imposing a ban of three Tests. (continues)

It was agreed before the series that racial slurs would be immediately reported (not just dealt with on the field), and the word "monkey" was specifically included, as it was a major issue during Australia's last tour of India where crowds constantly referred to Symonds as a monkey (as in signs held up asking "why is a monkey in the Australian team?").

As for the Aussies not playing in the spirit of the game, we have a reputation of playing hard, but fair. It wasn't the Aussies using constant delaying tactics in the final hours. The Indians, in a bid to reduce the chance of all their batsmen getting out before the end of play, had the pitch swept, then tapped with a mallet to flatten it, and then the last batsman came out with 2 right gloves, which took 3 minutes or so to replace. That was with less than 15 minutes left to play. If he had lasted until "stumps", then the match would have been a draw and India would still have a chance of winning the series.

I don't think there is any real chance the tour will be abandoned, but the next 2 test matches will be very interesting. Each match goes for 5 days, and India, normally very popular with the crowds here, will be very much "on-the-nose" for the entire time.

kenmabmcc

Well, after that standard of umpiring, could you blame them.

I was looking at the The Daily Telegraph online poll as below..

Do the Australian team play in the true spirit of cricket?

Yes
17% (1524 votes)
No
82% (6974 votes)
Total votes: 8498
This poll started on Sunday, January 06, 2008

Not scientific but an indicator..

seaeagle

Unfortunately we don't know which countries most of those votes came from - 90% could be from Indian visitors to the site. Another phone poll on TV here last night had 80% of 50,000 votes supporting the Aussie team.

I think the issue of racism and poor sportsmanship is really a distraction put up by the Indians. At the moment they are setting up a rebel 20-twenty international competition, and I'm sure they would like to have more influence over test cricket. Maybe Indian cricket and media organisations are trying to do what Kerry Packer did in the '70s - change the whole game.

India wants to take over control of the game, and this is just the first shot across the bows of the ICC. Unfortunately, the ICC's back-down has played into the hands of Indian cricket, and they will be sure to continue their blackmail of the sport now that it has been shown that the ICC is weak and won't stand up to them.

All I know is that interesting times lie ahead for the greatest game in the world.

At least the Aussies know how to play the game in a fair but strongly competitive manner. The last day of the Sydney test was a joke, with all of the delays India caused. Changing pads on fielders for the last ball of an over. Getting a mallet out to flatten the batting crease when they were batting and fighting to last the distance - that cost an over. Then they had a broom brought out to sweep the pitch - that cost another over. Finally, with less than 15 minutes left and one wicket remaining, their last batsman came out with 2 right-hand batting gloves. It took nearly 5 minutes for a correct set of gloves to be brought out to him - that cost another over, and could have saved the match for India.

Yes - the umpiring was bad. But only one team was playing for a result, and that team was not India. They were just playing for delays and that was very poor sportsmanship.

kenmabmcc

Sportsmanship...
bowling underarm was just the beginning..
calling for a catch when the ball was not hit...
standing ground after nicking the ball into a catch...

There is no sportsmanship left in cricket.

The only answer is instant replays, and any doubt from those, to given to the batsmen.

seaeagle

I would like to see the replay used more often in decision-making. One thing I would also like to see introduced is the right of a fielding captain or a batsman to appeal a decision and ask for an official review. They introduced it into tennis a couple of years ago, and it has worked well. Players can ask for a replay a limited number of times in a set (to prevent abuse of the system). Why can't a cricket batsman ask for a replay when he believes he is not out? The same with a fielding captain - if he believes a player snicked the ball, but the umpire didn't hear it, then a replay would settle the situation.

Something certainly needs to be done, but I think the current situation is a severe over-reaction by a team (India) that wants more control over how international cricket is run.

kenmabmcc

In international cricket, it is India that generates 70% of crickets income.

Perhaps they should have 70% control ? Very Happy

seaeagle

kenmabmcc

seaeagle

Your team is just going through generational change at the moment. It happened to us after Lillee & co retired when we went into a slump for a few years, but things turned around and now we are the best in the world.