International Rules & Test Cricket.

[zoyler]

Cricket is not a topic much reffered to on this Board but a I the only one who saw a big resemblence in the behaviour of the Aussie cricket team in the recent test with India and the behaviour of their IR team on their last visit.  Boorish and always right in what ever they do.  Insulting behaviour towards their opponents and the minute its returned complaining about racism.. Behaviour so bad even some of their own journos are turning against them.

[AZOffaly]

Should this be in the non-GAA thread? Anyhow, I think that's more to do with them being Australian than anything to do with what sports they play.

[the Deel Rover]

them aussie feckers they will be taking all our best cricket players if were not carefull

[Frank Casey]

them aussie feckers they will be taking all our best cricket players if were not carefull

I think you'll find that we stole a couple of theirs.

[zoyler]

Why should IR references be on  a non GAA thread. 

I don't think we stole them - I think they stole some of our women and ended up back with them!!

[spectator]

From The Sydney Morning Herald - great article, worthy of reflection by players & supporters of all sports..

Arrogant Ponting must be fired

January 8, 2008

The Australian captain's disrespect for his opponents has embarrassed his country, writes Peter Roebuck.

RICKY PONTING must be sacked as captain of the Australian cricket team. If Cricket Australia cares a fig for the tattered reputation of our national team in our national sport, it will not for a moment longer tolerate the sort of arrogant and abrasive conduct seen from the captain and his senior players over the past few days. Beyond comparison it was the ugliest performance put up by an Australian side for 20 years. The only surprising part of it is that the Indians have not packed their bags and gone home. There is no justice for them in this country, nor any manners.

That the senior players in the Australian team are oblivious to the fury they raised among many followers of the game in this country and beyond merely confirms their own narrow and self-obsessed viewpoint. Doubtless they were not exposed to the messages that poured in from distressed enthusiasts aghast to see the scenes of bad sportsmanship and triumphalism presented at the SCG during and after the Test. Pained past players rang to express their disgust. It was a wretched and ill-mannered display and not to be endured from any side, let alone an international outfit representing a proud sporting nation.

Make no mistake, it is not only the reputation of these cricketers that has suffered. Australia itself has been embarrassed. The notion that Ponting can hereafter take the Australian team to India is preposterous. He has shown not the slightest interest in the well-being of the game, not the slightest sign of diplomatic skills, not a single mark of respect for his accomplished and widely admired opponents.

Harbhajan Singh can be an irritating young man but he is head of a family and responsible for raising nine people. And all the Australian elders want to do is to hunt him from the game. Australian fieldsmen fire insults from the corners of their mouths, an intemperate Sikh warrior overreacts and his rudeness is seized upon. It might impress barrack room lawyers.

In the past few days Ponting has presided over a performance that dragged the game into the pits. He turned a group of professional cricketers into a pack of wild dogs. As much can be told from the conduct of his closest allies in the team. As usual, Matthew Hayden crossed himself upon reaching three figures in his commanding second innings, a gesture he does not perform while wearing the colours of his state. Exactly how he combines his faith with throwing his weight around on the field has long bemused opposing sides, whose fondness for him ran out a long time ago. Hayden has much better in him.

Michael Clarke also had a dreadful match but he is a young man and has time to rethink his outlook. That his mind was in disarray could be told from his batting. In the first innings he offered no shot to a straight ball and in the second he remained at the crease after giving an easy catch to slip. On this evidence Clarke cannot be promoted to the vice-captaincy of his country. It is a captain's primary task to rear his younger players and to prepare his successor for the ordeals of office. Nothing need be said about the catch Clarke took in the second innings except that in the prevailing circumstances the umpires were ill-advised to take anyone's word for anything.

The Indians were convinced Ponting grounded a catch he claimed on the final afternoon at the SCG. Throughout those heated hours, the Australian remained hostile, kicking the ground, demanding decisions, pressuring the umpires. So much for the corporate smile that has been produced these last few years.

Probably the worst aspect of the Australians' performance was their conduct at the end. When the last catch was taken they formed into a huddle and started jumping up and down like teenagers at a rave. It was not euphoria. It was ecstasy. They had swallowed a dangerous pill called vengeance. Not one player so much as thought about shaking hands with the defeated and departing. So much for Andrew Flintoff consoling a stricken opponent in his hour of defeat.

Nor could Ponting and Gilchrist stop themselves publicly chiding Tony Greig for daring to criticise the timing of the declaration. They should have been thanking their lucky stars that three wickets had fallen in five balls, one of them in dubious circumstances. Australia had 150 runs and five minutes to spare. It was unfitting conduct from an Australian captain or vice-captain. By all accounts Ponting was later rude towards Indian reporters at his news conference.

Ponting has not provided the leadership expected from an Australian cricket captain and so must be sacked. On this evidence the time has also come to thank Hayden and Gilchrist for their services. None of them are bad fellows. All will look back on this match not as their finest hour but their worst. Obviously a new captain and side is required. But that is a task for another day. It is possible to love a country and not its cricket team.

[DUBSFORSAM1]

Cricket is not a topic much reffered to on this Board but a I the only one who saw a big resemblence in the behaviour of the Aussie cricket team in the recent test with India and the behaviour of their IR team on their last visit.  Boorish and always right in what ever they do.  Insulting behaviour towards their opponents and the minute its returned complaining about racism.. Behaviour so bad even some of their own journos are turning against them.

Yes it is alright to call someone a monkey alright (and this has happened before with Symonds in India).....the policy as agreed with India was if any racist remarks were raised they were to be raised with the umpires and the match referee so they just followed the agreement before the test series....
First time that I remember an Australian team complain about anything said on the pitch...

[stephenite]

The Indians are completely at fault here - talk about sore losers. Having watched the test match in it's entirety, the Indians are not short of a few mouthy players themselves. As has been pointed this lad Singh has been caught racially abusing Andrew Symonds before and it's not on.

The Indians are talking about bad gamemanship - yet when it was coming down to the last few overs they were pulling every stunt in the book in order to try and scramble to a draw, sending lads out to the crease with 2 left gloves and than holding the match up while someone got him a new pair and craic like that.

Sure the Aussie players went mental after winning the game, they won it in the second last over with one of their not so recognised bowlers taking a hat trick of Indian batsmen, unheard of and to top it off they had just equalled the world record of consecutive test match wins.

Had the Indians managed to scramble to a draw we wouldn't be in this situation - that said the umpiring was woeful beyond belief

As for Roebucks article in the SMH -  him and Ponting have form and whilst it's true to say there would be a lot of people out here that were disgusted with the Aussie players reaction to the victory, it was not that bad in my view. But trying to compare the cricketers with the general, boorish and world renowned arrogance that is the Aussie pscych so wonderfully represented by the IR players is off the mark. The cricketers were not that bad

[thejuice]

I just find the re-action of the Indian public and likewise the pakistan public after the WC. they were out in the streets burning effigies, Some people need a bit of f**king perspective, its only a game, and more to the point its only cricket.

[spectator]

As me oul mucka Paddy O'Bruce put it the only important thing to note at the end of it all is the result, rise above the rest of the begrudgers, naysayers and inbreds, we're better than them 

[Aerlik]

What I find is the "we are not racists" attitude of Aussies.  Crap.  I wonder if Symonds had been Aboriginal would there have been as much fuss?  Definitely not.  This country has a very tangible racist streak running though it and I for one hear it every single day I am at work. 

What also makes me cringe is the well-worn claim of stuff being "un-Australian".  Give me a bucket.  There are vastly more interesting/important things in the world and the Australian media outlets have been boring the life out of us with basically hours of coverage this past week.  There is WAAAAAY too much emphasis on sport in this country.  I cringe for my son's future education.

I just find the re-action of the Indian public and likewise the pakistan public after the WC. they were out in the streets burning effigies, Some people need a bit of f**king perspective, its only a game, and more to the point its only cricket.

Please remember that the media will go out and "find" a story and the chances are in a population of over one thousand million people there will be a couple of hundred not happy and will show it.  Put it into perspective.

[stephenite]

I'd agree with most of that Aerlik - but Australia are not alone in that most successful modern western democracies have tangible racist streaks running right through them.

The emphasis on sport is an interesting one and I agree with that wholeheartedly, however I find it interesting to discuss why this appears to be the case. My own theory is that, as a nation, 'Australia' is a relatively new country like America and as such their distict lack of a long history or tradition breeds a need for them to be accepted in the global world as a nation or even 'race'.

To me that is why you hear things like un-Australian and un-American still used today but nobody knows exactly what this term is supposed to define. It goes down to a deep seated insecurity in their psyche, perhaps genetically passed to them by their outcast ancestors who set these countries up stole these countries

Or I'm full of shit and don't what the I'm talking about, but it's always a good discussion/argument provoker in the pubs here in Oz!

[Zapatista]

There are only two things in this world I hate - Racists and Aussies!

[thejuice]

Please remember that the media will go out and "find" a story and the chances are in a population of over one thousand million people there will be a couple of hundred not happy and will show it.  Put it into perspective.

Well I was aware that not everyone in the whole country was out protesting, sorry for not pointing that out. But it is a bit ridiculous that anyone would go that far even a minority of people.

I've some Australian friends and relations, they're good friendly people, but they have their dunder-heads there too as we saw from the re-action to the IR series who were not able to see anything subjectively, but sure we have our fair share of them in Ireland.