*Official* First Test at Swalec Stadium, Cardiff

[Neil Pickup]

This will be my one and only contribution to this "debate".

 

[BoyBrumby]

Yeah, calling it 'blatant dissent' and saying he 'chased the umpire down' seems contrary to what I saw on TV, but then as I said I may have missed something. Hasn't been this much hoo-ha over something from the Poms since we dared to say 'bloody' in a tv ad a couple of years back and the country went into meltdown.

Can't find a clip but the BBC said of it,

"Ponting, who took a sharp catch diving forward, runs towards Dar, clutching the ball with his arm outstretched, as if he's just unearthed the Koh i noor, but that's not out. Say night night to your match fee, Ricky... "

& cricinfo said:

"The ball rebounds to Ponting at silly point who takes a blinder to his left, then appeals for the catch - charging the umpire, imploring him!"

 

[Son Of Coco]

Can't find a clip but the BBC said of it,

"Ponting, who took a sharp catch diving forward, runs towards Dar, clutching the ball with his arm outstretched, as if he's just unearthed the Koh i noor, but that's not out. Say night night to your match fee, Ricky... "

& cricinfo said:

"The ball rebounds to Ponting at silly point who takes a blinder to his left, then appeals for the catch - charging the umpire, imploring him!"

Maybe it's a different incident to the one I saw then where Hauritz appealed for LBW and Ponting for a catch. Thought he was basically indicating that he was appealing for the catch and not the LBW. The catch (or non-catch) I saw Ponting dived to his right I thought, not forwards. I didn't think he got too close the the umpire either. If I was making dinner at the time though I may have missed bits and pieces. Remember seeing it happen though. If it is different and it happened in the last session (when I was in bed asleep) then we may be talking about separate incidents. Really thought there wasn't much in the incident I saw.

I've read some strange things in the papers after this match, where things have been interpreted in an unusual manner.

 

[FBU]

Australia's intimidating of the umpire is far worse than any mild time-wasting England did. Ponting should receive a suspended ban for the stuff he was pulling yesterday.

The last time he did that the umpire collapsed.

 

[Son Of Coco]

The last time he did that the umpire collapsed.

 

[frey]

It deserved three

 

[frey]

On the matter of time wasting. No real issues here for me. In the bigger picture, it was in fact a 5 day test. If you analyse the actual 'wasted' time over the period of the match, then what happened in that last hour seems insignificant. Unless you introduce specific rules that govern this, as is found in other sports such as professional tennis and the NBA, then of course teams will take advantage of this. It is only natural.

 

[Top_Cat]

On the matter of time wasting. No real issues here for me. In the bigger picture, it was in fact a 5 day test. If you analyse the actual 'wasted' time over the period of the match, then what happened in that last hour seems insignificant. Unless you introduce specific rules that govern this, as is found in other sports such as professional tennis and the NBA, then of course teams will take advantage of this. It is only natural.

Yeah but no matter what, the correct number of overs were bowled. Time wasting in a time-limited contest like basketball is an entirely different problem.

 

[frey]

Yeah but no matter what, the correct number of overs were bowled. Time wasting in a time-limited contest like basketball is an entirely different problem.

I agree, but generally in other circumstances it could result in 'just' the minimum number of overs being bowled, and/or possibly 'poor lighting' becoming an issue as the match is dragged on a further 5-10 minutes. These were not a real issue in the first test, but possibly a consideration in this or another series. Just my thoughts.

 

[biased indian]

Maybe it's a different incident to the one I saw then where Hauritz appealed for LBW and Ponting for a catch. Thought he was basically indicating that he was appealing for the catch and not the LBW. The catch (or non-catch) I saw Ponting dived to his right I thought, not forwards. I didn't think he got too close the the umpire either. If I was making dinner at the time though I may have missed bits and pieces. Remember seeing it happen though. If it is different and it happened in the last session (when I was in bed asleep) then we may be talking about separate incidents. Really thought there wasn't much in the incident I saw.

I've read some strange things in the papers after this match, where things have been interpreted in an unusual manner.

think it was the same incident ...he did charge towards the umpire atleats took 7-8 steps towards umpire from silly point

 

[GIMH]

Nobody is trying to deflect anything. We were **** on days 2,3&4 and a lot of 5 and things seriously need to be looked at. But Ponting had a whinge and we called him on it, that's the bottom line.

 

[pasag]

The English whinge in response to Ponting's whinge was far more whingey. Whinge.

 

[GIMH]

Except we're not whingeing, we're calling him a ****, which in turn has resulted in some Aussie whine. Whine.

 

[Athlai]

****ing whingers.

 

[biased indian]

The English whinge in response to Ponting's whinge was far more whingey. Whinge.

Except we're not whingeing, we're calling him a ****, which in turn has resulted in some Aussie whine. Whine.

 

[pasag]

Onya Nasser

 

[Uppercut]

Don't get Gimh's pic-joke there.

Actually find myself in complete agreement with Social here. Whether or not the issue is the 'invention' of the Ebglish media, the alacrity with which that media and some fans here have seized upon it as the discussion point to come out of the match suggests it provided a welcome distraction from the fact your hyped bowling unit produced one of the very worst bowling efforts in Ashes history, or that Collingwood aside that your batsmen appeared gutless and/or diffident. That your two best players are physically broken down or a lone wolf who doesn't care about his team as much as he cares about being "KP". That Strauss was utterly out captained and appears to be having the galvanizing effect of a wet lettuce leaf on his team. That you were utterly outplayed for four and a half days.

But **** that Ponting is a hypocrite because he pays lip service to playing in the spirit of cricket.

Give yourself an uppercut boys. And not the good CW sort.

Nailed it, Matt.

 

[Streetwise]

England do get taken in by their press a bit to easily, Ponting made a few comments in response to questions after the game. A little bit of creative headlines and viola you have the whole of England up in arms. Now if Ponting had accused them of something I could half understand it but it was all the work of some imaginitive editor that has whipped up the peasants into a lather. Quite frankly we are pissing ourselves laughing here in Aus.

 

[zaremba]

But to pretend that this is somehow a phenomenon confined to the English media just ignores the reality. Look at the Australian media online and you'll see they are covering it with more prominence, and with much more bitterness, than the English media.

 

[zaremba]

the alacrity with which that media and some fans here have seized upon it as the discussion point to come out of the match suggests it provided a welcome distraction from the fact your hyped bowling unit produced one of the very worst bowling efforts in Ashes history, or that Collingwood aside that your batsmen appeared gutless and/or diffident. That your two best players are physically broken down or a lone wolf who doesn't care about his team as much as he cares about being "KP". That Strauss was utterly out captained and appears to be having the galvanizing effect of a wet lettuce leaf on his team. That you were utterly outplayed for four and a half days.

As one of those who've seized upon this as a discussion point, it's just completely incorrect to assume that I've done so to cover up those facts. I've acknowledged them fully and have been bitterly, bitterly disappointed by England's performance throughout this Test and I have expressed as much on this messageboard. Particularly in the England 1st innings where I was and remain highly critical of our team's performance. On a pitch like Cardiff, that is where we thew the game away and very nearly lost it.

And as for being critical of Ponting's behaviour and humbug, well I've expressed precisely the same sort of thoughts when England have won (eg Trent Bridge 2005) and when England haven't been taking part (eg just about every time St Ricky has bestowed on us his musings on the Spirit of Cricket). Others are the same. So don't kid yourself that we do this only when we lose. We may be boring but we're not inconsistent.