***Official*** India in Australia

[pup11]

Good to see Clarke coming up with a clarification for his dumb acts during the Sydney test, he is a nice bloke and good on him for getting in touch with Kumble to clear things up.
As far as banning sledging is concerned, yeah i agree nasty words shouldn't be used within the field, but a bit of harmless chirp really keeps the interest levels going, as one can't expect these players to be on the field for such a long time and not utter a single word to each other, Ponting said the other day in his interview that nowadays even if players have chat on the field its presented in such a perspective that it looks as if something bad has been said between the players.

 

[luckyeddie]

It'll be a mess for six months until players figure out they should shut the hell up.

You're not kidding.

Takes ages to get bloodstains out of a shirt, and probably stings a bit too.

You'd be better off using Head And Shoulders.

 

[Mister Wright]

Just saw Clarke's press conference on the news, there's nothing on youtube but there's this from cricinfo (only quotes included):


Quote:
"I wanted to speak to Anil before I spoke to the media on both cases - the catch and my dismissal," Clarke said. "I still, to this day, feel 100% positive that I caught the catch fairly. I told him that and said with my dismissal that it was more out of shock and disappointment more than anything else.

"Anil was very supportive and said 'mate I understand'. We've played a fair bit of cricket against each other and he knows I'm not the kind of person to try and harm the game; that's the last thing I'd want is to put the game in jeopardy."

"Huss [Michael Hussey] and Haydos [Matthew Hayden] batted fantastic in the second innings, so I sat and waited for a couple of hours dying to get out and have a bat," Clarke said.

"I was really excited to get out there and do well, with family and friends all at the game, after failing in the first innings. When I went to cut the ball and it come off my glove and went to slip it was more just the shock and disappointment of failing and getting my first first-baller in Test cricket.

"In hindsight and if I had my time again, I wish I had just walked straight off the field. I hope it doesn't happen too many times, I hope I don't get too many ducks in Test cricket, but if it happens again, I'm certain I will react differently."

Even if that's true, it's still poor. What an upstart! When you're obviously out like that you walk straight away. Very poor imo.

 

[Anil]

Harmison could.

When he has the ball, no-one is safe.

, good to see you posting more frequently le...

 

[Johnners]

Even if that's true, it's still poor. What an upstart! When you're obviously out like that you walk straight away. Very poor imo.

Yeah shocker, he's stated why he did it, and apologised for it, deadset downer

 

[Burgey]

What's the latest on the Harbhajan thing? I've read about 4 different versions of what he allegedly said. As things stand right now, what is he saying went on? Did he say something in Hindi, say nothing, or say something which was mis-heard by the Aussies? Or is it that he says they are just making it all up?

BTW, Gavaskar's incursion into this whole thing is appalling and OTT from a bloke who's on the committee which appoints the referees. What's this about taking the white man's word over the brown man's? Does he own a colour television? Last time I checked Andrew Symonds was a black guy!

Then we have the "They didn't take Sachin's word for it" argument. Dire. Why can't people work out that it doesn't matter if you've played no tests, one test or 200 tests - that doesn't make your version of what went on correct. You might not have heard it, you might have mis-heard it. Who knows? That kind of logic leads to it being open slather for guys who've played, say 100 tests or more, while the rookies have to cop it beacuse an established star's version will always be preferred. Surely the world cannot be coming to that.

We're all guessing though, beacuse the ICC doesn't release the findings of the referee. The system should provide for the reasons to be published so people can at least see what evidence he went off in making his decision.

As for Bucknor, had a shocker in Sydney. So the ICC replace a bloke one team has a problem with, with a guy the other team has a problem with. Despite the ICC's comments, I think it's a dangerous precedent to replace umpires when a team gets the rough end of the pineapple in a test match. What if Bowden has a shocker, do we go through it all again? Interesting times tstl.

 

[Top_Cat]

Yeah shocker, he's stated why he did it, and apologised for it, deadset downer

Yeah but Kyle's never really liked Clarke. His dislike isn't anywhere near in the pathological stages like some with regards Andy Symonds (and, to be fair, there was plenty of justification) but he's no fan.

Yeah it was poor, yeah he shouldn't have stood there like a stunned mullet but yeah I'm also quite prepared to believe he was just in shock. The time between edge and being given out was all of about a second and he walked as soon as the finger went up so considering his brain explosion in the first, I think it's possible he just, for a second, didn't know what to do.

 

[Johnners]

I agree that it was poor of him to stand there, and I accept his word that it was shock, but to up the guy for apologising is well, ridiculous to say the least.

 

[silentstriker]

Sledging reaches a tipping point - Atherton

 

[luckyeddie]

My first thoughts upon reading Atherton's article was "That filled a few column inches".

My second thoughts are the same.

It is of little use wringing your hands in desperation and indignation - mock or otherwise - unless you can come up with the a solution - or at least a few ideas to throw into the melting-pot.

I think that sledging is sometimes an orchestrated affair, and by no means 'spur-of-the-moment'. Now I say I 'think' it is - I cannot be certain because I am not privy to that type of information, or rather I have no experience of it first-hand. I have heard people express similar opinions - people involved within the game - and I had no reason to disbelieve them at the time.

If that is the case, then if the situation gets out of hand and the match referee has to step in, why not subject the captain to the same punishment as the person charged and convicted, whether that be a fine, a censure or a ban?

Just a thought.

 

[luckyeddie]

I agree that it was poor of him to stand there, and I accept his word that it was shock, but to up the guy for apologising is well, ridiculous to say the least.

If he apologises for claiming the obvious grassed catch, he might end up as your next Prime Minister.

 

[Johnners]

If he apologises for claiming the obvious grassed catch, he might end up as your next Prime Minister.

har-de-har

 

[Captain Cricket]

If he apologises for claiming the obvious grassed catch, he might end up as your next Prime Minister.

Bad call. Don't bring in politics here, pommy.

 

[Matt79]

I think the only practicable method to reduce offensive sledging is to empower the umpires to caution, then report players for "unsporting sledging" or something similar. As has been mentioned, workshop with all the teams, get some broad guidelines on what is harmless banter, and what is offensive, educate the umpires and teams on those guidelines, and then empower the umpires to caution a player, with his captain present (unless its the captain himself, but no international captain would sledge ). Warn him that if the umpire hears anything more along those lines for the player, he'll file a report with the match referee. This is probably not that different from the current situation, except that its written into the rules that its the umpire on the spot who is responsible to make a decision as to whether what is being said is offensive or not, and that the umpire's decision (after he's given a warning) is final. They're the neutral party standing on the ground where they can hear (generally) what's being said.

 

[Matt79]

Bad call. Don't bring in politics here, pommy.

Eddie touchs a rather random nerve it would appear.

 

[Top_Cat]

I think the only practicable method to reduce offensive sledging is to empower the umpires to caution, then report players for "unsporting sledging" or something similar. As has been mentioned, workshop with all the teams, get some broad guidelines on what is harmless banter, and what is offensive, educate the umpires and teams on those guidelines, and then empower the umpires to caution a player, with his captain present (unless its the captain himself, but no international captain would sledge ). Warn him that if the umpire hears anything more along those lines for the player, he'll file a report with the match referee. This is probably not that different from the current situation, except that its written into the rules that its the umpire on the spot who is responsible to make a decision as to whether what is being said is offensive or not, and that the umpire's decision (after he's given a warning) is final.

As you said, it closely resembles what's already in place and anyway, it's not what's broadly offensive which is causing the problem but very specific terms for very specific cultural reasons.

They're the neutral party standing on the ground where they can hear (generally) what's being said.

Which they didn't in this case.

Plus there's the issue of attention. Our brains are attuned to attend to terms which we're familiar with and the more context we have for those terms, the more selective our attention to them. Been shown in many psychological studies that uttering words in a language foreign to the recipient will be picked up as essentially white noise to them. A lot of insults by the sledger savvy to this will be missed for precisely this reason.

Doesn't even have to be a different language either; don't even have to be all that smart to make up a prima facie inoffensive pseudonym for an insult which only your team mates will understand. You'll say it, they'll laugh and the target will get that they've been insulted but won't understand how or why and I'd say the umpires will be none the wiser. Would be very surprising if it doesn't already occur.

 

[ColdSnow]

Does anyone else feel like me? Ever since Australia "won" the second match due to Bucknor's and Benson's heroics, I cannot really take this series seriously anymore. The outcome of the match was entirely dictated by factors other than cricket but the score line does not tell the story. So how can this be taken seriously anymore? Is this not a sham?

 

[archie mac]

Does anyone else feel like me? Ever since Australia "won" the second match due to Bucknor's and Benson's heroics, I cannot really take this series seriously anymore. The outcome of the match was entirely dictated by factors other than cricket but the score line does not tell the story. So how can this be taken seriously anymore? Is this not a sham?

I think you can find a hundred such cases, and there will be plenty more until they change the system

 

[aussie_26]

Well no, it seems the Hun is trying to attack India's credibility here by saying you have no right to look at our behaviour when yours is much worse, so it does matter quite a lot what types of instances stats represent.

you are just trying to make an excuse for indias poor behaviour, keep in mind its a ICC list not a herald sun list but back on to your point, how many offences can a player be found guilty of ? not many there are only few main ones which are using offensive language,ball tampering, for the way a player acts towards a umpires decission and for time waisting.I know there are other offences but these are the main ones that would cover the majority of the offences on all teams lists

 

[pasag]

you are just trying to make an excuse for indias poor behaviour, keep in mind its a ICC list not a herald sun list but back on to your point, how many offences can a player be found guilty of ? not many there are only few main ones which are using offensive language,ball tampering, for the way a player acts towards a umpires decission and for time waisting.I know there are other offences but these are the main ones that would cover the majority of the offences on all teams lists

Why would I try to make an "excuse for indias poor behaviour". How would you have any idea what my intentions are? As it is, I have no time for meaningless statistics without looking deeper into what they represent. Sorry, it's going to take more than a few numbers before I start frothing at the mouth.