Scant
support for under-fire Ponting
SYDNEY,
Jan 9: Some
of Australia’s greatest sportsmen today came
out against the "win at all costs"
attitude of cricket captain Ricky Ponting and his
team which was damaging the country’s
reputation.
Batting legend
Neil Harvey and fast bowling great Jeff Thomson
were joined by the members of the elite
"Sports Australia Hall of Fame", which
includes Australia’s sporting icons, in
attacking the cricket team for their conduct
during the second Test against India at Sydney.
Harvey, a 1948
invincible team member, blamed the Australian
captain for the fiasco and said, "Ponting
should have kept his mouth shut and nothing would
have happened."
"It is quite
unheard of for a captain to dob on someone like
this and it is quite an unsportsmanlike act. I
think Ponting should be chastised by Australian
cricket officials for his actions," he said.
"I hope
Harbhajan gets off on appeal and let’s get
the game back to normal. That would be the most
simple and best way out," Harvey said.
He said to him
‘monkey’ was not a racially offensive
term and "it’s a bit rich for the
Australians to get on their high horse
considering how they act."
Ponting, however,
found support from Glenn McGrath, who himself had
earned a reputation for sledging during his
distinguished career and gentleman cricketer
Richie Benaud who counter-attacked the likes of
Peter Roebuck who had demanded the sacking of
"arrogant" Ponting.
Benaud described
Ponting as an "outstanding" leader and
said, "the thought of Ponting being sacked,
I think that’s absolute nonsense."
Former pace great
Jeff Thomson, however, was harsh in his criticism
of the team and said Ponting had no business
reporting Harbhajan Singh.
"The Aussies
act like morons and bullies and they can’t
cop criticism from someone like myself. I think
it was appalling that none of the Australians
went over and shook Anil Kumble’s hand at
the end of the SCG Test. They just played up and
carried on like idiots like they normally
do."
Equally miffed
were the hall of famers, who believe Ponting and
his teammates were doing enough damage to the
country’s reputation.
John Bertrand, who
led an Australian yatch team to America Cup win
25 years ago, said, "it’s not war.
Their desire to win at all costs is beginning to
blur their moral compass.
"We will be
seeking a meeting with Cricket Australia to seek
to get the Australian team to readjust their
behaviour so that they do show respect for their
opponents," he said.
World champion
marathon runner Rob De Castella and Olympic gold
medallist Herb Elliott, echoed the same view.
"We
don’t like what we are seeing and hearing at
the moment," Elliot said.
Australian
football league hero Ron Barassi said, "it
concerns me that the Australians are regularly
being referred to as being arrogant and because
it is mentioned so often, you begin to
wonder."
Former Australia
pacer and Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson too felt
the team did not play the Sydney Test in true
spirit of the game and suggested a counselling
for the men in baggy green.
"There’s
certainly been a lot of feeling from ex-players
who think the baggy green has been
disrespected...I just think a bit of counselling
needs to be done with how these players perceive
themselves."
Predictably,
former Australia coach John Buchanan sided with
Ponting and said, "Ricky was between a rock
and a hard place. The captains are the ones
driving the ship. He reacted by the book, so
it’s hard to criticise him."
Ex-Australia
captain Steve Waugh trod a middle path and said
both the sides should have discussed the issue
and buried the hatchet. (PTI)
I
requested Ponting not to charge Bhajji, reveals
Kumble
CANBERRA,
Jan 9: Indian
skipper Anil Kumble today revealed that he had
requested Ricky Ponting to withdraw the
"racist abuse" charge against Harbhajan
Singh but his plea was not taken too seriously by
the Australian skipper, who was perhaps unmindful
of its implications.
Kumble said he
made the request before the hearing began in
Sydney Tast week but the Australian captain let
it go.
"I did make a
request to Ponting, if it can be sorted out
before it went up to the match referee. But he
said a report has already been made," the
Indian skipper disclosed.
"Having
played cricket for this long, I knew such
allegations could spiral into something bigger, I
envisaged it could become a larger issue,"
Kumble said, reflecting on the issue which still
has the potential to disrupt the tour.
Harbhajan was
slapped with a three-Test ban for allegedly
racially abusing Andrew Symonds, outraging the
Indian board and fans. An appeal against the ban
will come up for hearing soon.
Kumble said the
Indians, who arrived here for a three-day
practice match against ACT XI, are trying to move
on from the controversy, which cast a threat on
the tour itself.
"I think
it’s important to move on, cricket is larger
than individuals and I respect that and it’s
important that we move on," he told
reporters on being asked whether the two captains
will sit down for a chat to sort out thorny
issues.
"The focus
for us is to ensure that we get the best possible
out of this game" he said after arriving
here for a three-day practice match against ACT
XI starting tomorrow.
Kumble also did
not commit himself on whether the captains’
agreement, to go by the fielder’s word on
close catches, before the start of the tour would
remain in practice for the rest of the series.
He also refrained
from commenting on his team’s stance on the
charge they have pressed against Australian
spinner Brad Hogg, saying, "we would wait
for the hearing and then let you know."
Kumble reiterated
that Harbhajan never used the word for which he
was accused and punished by match referee Mike
Procter last week.
"It is a
serious charge. From what we gathered from our
teammates, the two people who were in the middle,
that remark was never made," he asserted.
"Whatever
people believe the word was said, he didn’t
say it," he added.
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