A gentlemen's agreement?

The days go by, and the statements keep coming. And after looking like it was powerless in the face of the Indian board's financial might, it's the ICC's turn to make a stand today. Malcolm Speed, the CEO, is adamant that India will have to abide by the decision reached by John Hansen, the New Zealand High Court judge who will hear Harbhajan Singh's appeal.

"India have signed off on the appeals process," said Speed. "They were there when all the discussions took place. We can't have one set of rules for the India team and another set for everyone else. We will follow the process and and I hope, whatever the outcome all parties will be able to say they have had a fair hearing."

Speed also denied that there was any deliberate attempt to delay the hearing till the end of the Test series. And as that looks set to resume in Perth next week, Chetan Chauhan, India's team manager, has shed new light on the incident that nearly saw the plug being pulled on the series.

"They had a pact in Mumbai after incidents during that series and the person who started the row was the one who broke the pact by reporting the incident," said Chauhan, referring to what happened between Harbhajan and Andrew Symonds. "He [Symonds] has admitted that he had said something to provoke Harbhajan. So there was a cause and an effect."

The version I've heard indicates that Symonds used a homophobic slur after Harbhajan tapped Brett Lee on the bottom with his bat. So, an alleged homophobic taunt followed by an alleged racial one. Must be what passes for a gentleman's agreement in these enlightened times.

At least India were back to the main event today, playing a warm-up game against an ACT XI. Wasim Jaffer and Rahul Dravid made runs, but the failures of Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Karthik and Yuvraj Singh against an insipid attack gives them more headaches ahead of the trial by pace at the WACA.

All eyes will be on the bowlers tomorrow. Appeal or no appeal, India will most likely leave out Harbhajan and play three seamers. RP Singh will be one, and Irfan Pathan's allround ability and experience of Australian conditions should get him a place. That leaves Pankaj Singh and VRV Singh to joust for a place. With Chris Rogers having international ambitions of his own, the first session tomorrow could be pretty spicy.

Comments

[kinshuk]

i'm all against racism.....
but, i'm also all against ny other kind of abuse......

if harbhajan did say what he did (nd tht's an if, which a lot of ppl just don't want to acknowledge 4 very obvious reasons), then ban him by all means.........

but, in that case, i'ld hope tht the indian side also acts like sissies and keeps complaining about every sledging incident......
tht'ld get half the aussie side thrown out of the grounds (nd a couple of other guys like nel as well)

the only problem i think'll b getting mike procter to agree, b'coz he clearly seems to believe that only the asians deserve to be punished...not the aussies, not the south africans..........

interesting, but, sm ppl might call procter racist.....but, they obviously know nothing about racism...or about over appealing.........

it's racism when symonds says harbhajan called him a monkey...... nd it's words straight from the bible that the aussies keep mouthing every now and then.........

it's over-appealing when sehwag nd six other indians do it.....but, it's quality spin bowling in action when shane warne appeals, or when slater or ponting wag their fingers...........

[jim, sydney]

W.G.Grace often refused to walk, and didn't like to walk off using his own initiative before an umpiring decision if there was a chance of reprieve (which seems to be the sin of the moment after the last test). Not only that, but he would refuse to leave after being given out!
Why is he revered not reviled? It sound like he was a much worse jerk than anyone going around today!

[Harry]

Believe all you want Wombat and whine about the neutral umpire's calls (Dravid's was very badly wrong, Ganguly's out I thought) but it was a very poor effort by a batting lineup as supposedly richly talented and mentally strong as India's. They had given up on the game from just before tea the day before when they couldn't brak through Hussey and Hayden. I was at the ground and to me it was very apparent there was only going to be two results , a draw or an Australian win from then. Yes they got one bad call but they folded within, Kumble's fine batting the only exception.

From a purely cricketing point of view, you won't see a better spell of bowling than Stuart Clarke's after lunch on Day 5, when he dismissed two very high quality players with superb tactics and execution.

Its now just straight out amusing to see all the whingers - see this thread, we have a pious South African in amongst the Indians and Poms for gods sake - saying the only reson Australia win is because they sledge. Take a look at that spell of Stuart Clarke's for the real reason. Ganguly said as much yesterday.

[jim, sydney]

DOUBLE STANDARDS? A rugby or rugby league player throws a forward pass to a team-mate who is offside and the team scores. Immoral? They should call the penalty on themselves and cancel the try? A world football player deliberately drifts off side then scores in a crucial game? Immoral cheating? Should he cancel the goal and give the opposition a penalty? No, these professionals play by the whistle, and when they forget to and wait, they find the game going on regardless, and they get left behind in the rush of the oppositions counter-attack. A runner breaks off the line fractionally but doesn't get picked up for it and goes on to win the championship. Cheating, or isn't it his call? The same can be said for a yachtsman at the helm at the start of a race who knows he got a lucky break having gone across the starting line early, or has not been pulled up for what may have been an illegal tack. Of course, the general public should by now expect him to disqualify himself because self-policing seems to be expected for all decisions in all sport if the cricket bloggers run world sport moral codes. A footballer who makes a potentially "yellow card" tackle offence should call it on himself or send himself off?
There seems to be an absurd double standard proposed by many people when it comes to a cricketer who openly says he merely wants to play the game "by the whistle" and the umpire's decision, and will accept that when it is final.

[Steve]

Andy

The latest Indian defence is that Harbhajan said something that sounded like monkey. They also say that the original hearing assumed he spoke in english and that they hadn't raised this at the time....fat chance. The target keeps moving and they keep squirming. Looks to me more and more like he said it.

They are playing semantics....too tricky by half!

[Tontbum]

Sledging should be banned in cricket altogether. It's not within the spirit of the game. Umpires should have the authority to send players off the field for the remainder of the session and possibly even the following session. If the Aussies (or any other team) had to field with only 8 or 9 players on the pitch, they'd soon learn the errors of their ways.

[Tarun Y]

Cameron -

LBW's go FOR you and AGAINST you. That is the nature of the game.

Nicks, and BLATANT, LOUD nicks at that don't and shouldn't have to.

If you can compare a Leg-Before decision (not given) to that Symonds nick to the keeper on day1, then sorry mate, you know absolutely nothing about the game (and the spirit of it - because Symonds SHOULD have walked and had the cheek to admit in the post-game interview that he should have been out on 30!!).

[Wombats R Us]

Re: Harry
"Kumble's article today finally gets round to conceding India folded miserably on the second innings in both bat and ball. I can't help thinking that much of this hulabaloo is an attempt -and hasn't it been successfull! - to draw attention away from the Indian capitulation."

Actually I think you'll find that Kumble said exactly that when interviewed by Indian TV straight after the game. However in my opinion there wouldn't have been such a capitulation if both Dravid and Ganguly hadn't been given dodgy decisions (Ganguly with the help of cheating from Clarke and Ponting).

[Harry]

FRom my perspective as an Australian supporter:

Ponting shouldn't have reported it. Given our track record of sledging we are being rightfully ridiculed as people who can hand it out, but whine like sooks when its handed back to us.

The criticisms of Australia's onfield demeanour, while initially justified and needing to be addressed by the team, have gone way over-the-top and are especially irksome given the holier than thou attitude of India and its supporters, despite some preety poor efforts by their players in that test. It is media-driven envy and spite. Interesting post a few down on how this whole controversy is being exploited by populist Indian politicians.

I was at the test for three of the five days and the crowd behaved generally very well and warmly applauded the Indians. This action stands in contrast to how Indian crowds carried on in the recent 1 day series over there.

The BCCI's threat to pull the tour unless Singh is let off is bullying. India is bringing far more shame onto itself by the BCCI's actions than anything that happened on the pitch.

Kumble's article today finally gets round to conceding India folded miserably on the second innings in both bat and ball. I can't help thinking that much of this hulabaloo is an attempt -and hasn't it been successfull! - to draw attention away from the Indian capitulation.

So in summary, India have lost a lot of sympathy from Australians with the way they have acted this week. Yes they got a tough go from the - neutral - umpires but the way your team and administrators have behaved since has been deplorable.

Lets hope common sense returns soon, the captains meet and sort it out, apologies from both camps are made and lessons learned.

And to Batman - the disgusting abuse a few years back to the SA players was made in Afrikkans, not a language the Aussie yob is generally familiar with i.e. the odds are high it was made by expat Saffers. My point is not to try and excuse Australian crowds - we can be dreadfull - but to be careful with the smears.

[Andy]

Steve... Chauhan's stement indicates that he admits Bajji having said "something". Chauhan doesn't admit that Bajji said something racist. Btw, this cat and mouse game can go on forever.

New rule: Shut up and play Cricket. Fine and ban anyone who says anything to the opposing team members. Only kudos allowed for when a batsman reaches 50, 100 etc

[Batman]

A Don,

Please explain to me how comments from ground announcer in South Africa (which were patently NOT racial in tone or content) are relevent to a discussion relating to racial sledging from crowds and by players?

If you want to bring rugby into it, look no further than Justin Harrison's racial comments to Chumani Booi for which he was correctly censured.

The point I was trying to make is that racist sledging, chants etc should be vilified and deplored whenever and wherever they occur, not merely when someone from your team is copping it.

I agree with "what happens of the field stays on the field", but when the sledging crosses racial lines then it needs to be aired out in public for all to see.

From your comments, can I take it that you're peeved that Ricky Ponting was the one who chose to take this "off the field" despite Kumble's request that it be sorted out in private?

I agree wholeheartedly regarding the petulance of the Indian team and the gutless ICC. But I also think that there is much that needs to change in the Australian cricket team, who are unfortunately taking on the thuggish, churlish traits of their supremely gifted captain.

Australian insularity never fails to bring a smile to my face. See things for how they are mate, and while you're at it, take off the rose coloured spectacles, you may be surprised by how much your perspective changes.

[a don]

Oh come on Batman at 05:58 AM. What about the ground announcer in Seth Efrika calling the NSW Waratah rugby team "Sheep rooters".

No one is holier than thou.

Lets go back to basics. What happens on the field stays on the field. Otherwise we will be trading insults for the rest of our lives.

Austrlaians have shifted in the last two days from feeling some sympathy for the Indian team to anger at their sanctimonius double standards and the petulance of the BCCI's denials and demands for preferential treatment. We have had a gutful of the whinging.

[Batman]

As a neutral (well as neutral as a South African supporter living in Australia gets) I find this whole brouhaha to be nothing more than a storm in a teacup, with petulant and precious behaviour from both sides.

What I will say though, is that I find it amazing that those Australians who are quick to comment about the racist crowd reaction to Symonds in India, neglected to express the same righteous indignation and condemnation of their own crowds when the South African team copped some of the most horrific racial abuse from the Australian crowds when they last toured Australia.

Their complaints (backed up by televsions footage) were by and large pooh-poohed by the Australian public and were laughed off as being nothing more that the Aussie supporters being "over boisterous".

Don't get me wrong, I deplore racism in any shape or form but I also detest hypocrisy, and this is hypocrisy of the highest order.

Racism is racism and should be condemned by all, irrespective of whether or not the perpertrator is "one of yours" or not...

[Steve Melville]

I never knew Symmo called him a poofter.

[Stevo]

Interesting that the indian supporters seem to have forgotten in a recent ODI against england Harbhajan refushed the leave the crease after he was clean bowled by peterson - he stood there for over a minute apparently disputing the fact that he was out CLEAN BOWLED. If my memory serves it was also Tendulka at the other end - I wonder if he saw the broken stumps or is his eyesight as dodgy as his hearing

[Lawree]

I think India should choose Sehwag ahead of Karthik or Yuvraj. Sehwag can score at a brisk pace, can change the course of the match, and sometimes win matches. You cant say these about the other two in a Test match setting.
The bowlers ahould be RP Singh, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan.
Jaffer deserves another chance( Theres no other choice anyway)
For Australia, Hogg should give way for Tait.I am looking forwards to the opening day of the Perth test when Lee and Tait will be bowling against Sewag, Jaffer and Dravid.
And my two penny worth about the BCCI armtwisting the ICC and its match referres'decisions.The Asian teams think that their actions/mistakes are punished much more than when a non Asian teams do the same mistakes, sometime even go unpunished( the Slaters and the Donalds).And their thinking is valid.And the only way they can get even , is to weild the money power and the clout power that they possess now , and this is likely to happen for a long time to come....
You do feel sad for Iran and Iraq. But you feel helpless against the powerful America.You do feel sad for the ICC....

[Ken Hall]

It appears that India will demand that the player is let off the charge when the appeal is heard, if this happens and the ICC caves in one has to ask what does ICC stand for? Could it be..India's Chums Club.

[oscar the grouch]

It's starting to look as though the greatest flaw in the umpiring was in fact failure to impose the ICC standards of conduct, not the calls, in the light of where we are now.

The whole stupid incident started with Harbhajan committing a Level 2 offence: Inappropriate and deliberate physical contact between players during play. Then Symonds also committing a Level 2 offence: Using language or a gesture that is obscene, offensive or of a seriously insulting nature to another player, umpire, referee, team official or spectator. Followed by Harbhajan commiting either the same Level 2 offence or possibly the Level 3 offence - or using words which sounded sufficiently similar as to cause Ponting to believe there were grounds for making the charge.

Now, the background to all this goes back to India where, it has been admitted by all, Harbhajan used the monkey taunt as did some Indian supporters. It is reported that the Australian team wished for a report of racism to be laid at the time but Ponting prevailed to keep it between the teams. Oh, and for Indian supporters, remember that Australia lost to India then, so much for the 'win at all costs' charge against Ponting.

Symonds and Harbhajan discussed the thing man-to-man and if there was ever any doubt about the reception of the monkey taunt it was dispelled at that time. If it - or a word so close to it as to be indistinguishable in the general melee at the time in Sydney was used, then the intent was clear. No person, having seen Harbhajan's performance in England, can be in any doubt that he has mastered adequately the nuances of verbal riposte as it is undertaken in cricket these days, so spare us the 'unsophisticated amateur' apologies in that score.

As for the suggestion that the monkey reference is meant as some sort of godly allusion - ok: I'll accept that if Harbhajan will publicly allude to his mother as a well-fed sacred animal by calling her a fat cow.

It would have been ideal if Symonds had buttoned his lip when Harbhajan slapped Lee; it would have been correct if the umpires had slapped Harbhajan with the Level 2 offence immediately, thus depriving Symonds of any reason to intervene. However, to have Symonds now portrayed as the instigator of the whole damn thing and for that matter to have Ponting portrayed as a man utterly and unscrupulously bent on winning by any means is both unjust and unsupported by the facts.

Symonds is certainly somewhat volatile, Ponting can be unremittingly graceless but Harbhajan is also up to his neck in the whole damn mess and has been shown to be as 'robust' in his behaviour as any person in international cricket. Any cricket 'fan' who refuses to accept that this whole mess is a case of men from both sides behaving badly and who turns it into something approaching war between nations is a sad and pathetic individual - and I don't care whether you're Australian or Indian, that applies equally.

[Cameron]

It matters not at all the Symonds started it. Singh would have had any multitude of comebacks he could have used other than racism. There is currently no rule against sledging per se but there are strong rules against racism. The only credible defence the Indians should be mounting is that he didn't say it, anything else rubbish and the Indians should grow up a bit. It was clearly understood after what had happened in India that this was a racist comment. Whether or not other topics of "sledging" or indeed all sledging should be off limits is another matter and if the Indians feel strongly about it they should take it up through the ICC. I am sure they would receive support from other cricket playing nations. I know I am not permitted to bully, harras or denegrate anyone in my workplace on any basis, not just racism.
The argument about the claimed catches is also not nearly as clear cut as the hysterical Indian fans and media are making out. I had a look at the rules of cricket yesterday and my interpretation was that it does not matter if the ball is grassed after the fieldsman has complete control of the catch. For example if Ponting or Clarke completed the catch by being in complete control of the ball and the place it on the ground in the process of standing up this would be fine. I have seen the footage of both catches and they are not clear cut. The view of the Australian commentary on the Clarke catch was that a third umpire would find the footage that they had available to be inconclusive and refer it back to the field umpire who would need to make the final decision.
I think this whole argument highlights the idea that the fieldsman should be relied upon to make the call is deeply flawed and Kumble would be right to abandon it. It just has too much potential to cause friction between the teams and I know I have seen several examples where a fieldsman truly thought he caught the ball only to be proven wrong by the video. Lets give it completely back to the umpires and then in this situation the Australians would have rightfully appealed if they believed the catch to be taken and the umpires can make the call. There are four of them at the match so they may as well do so.
Tarun Y, you can't take the position of critisicing the decisions and exclude LBW's. That is just a convenient way of excluding the majority of the bad decisions that went against the Australians. Your arguement in support of that is the arguement for accepting the umpires decisons on all matters.
I don't think their would be anyone in Australia who would disagree with the view that the Indians got the worst of the decision making in the match but the reaction and subsequent treatment of the umpires by the Indian officials, journalists and fans has been disgraceful. It is no wonder that there are no Indian umpires on the panel if that is the way they are treated in their home country.

[D.PATEL]

As a 63 year 3rd. generation Indian from East Africa,I must say how embarassed I am by this whole episode.

Having studied breifly in India and having followed events in India over the past 50 odd years may I say that the whole state of cricket has been hijacked by populist politicans there.This has absolutely nothing to do with cricket.

In the past cricket in India used to administered by polished officials and ex players who had no interest in regional politics.

Witness Messrs Pawar (an ex village boy and now a 'populist' politican),Mr.Shah and Mr Shukla.Between the three of them they cannot even string together a proper sentence in English.

This is more to do with money than Indian's pride.

My Indian brothers are now going down the Swanee in a canoe without a paddle.

As to the Australian fans,STOP apologising.Your team can be very billigerent,but this is all to do with votes back in India for these uneducated politicians.It is all to do with money.Period.

[LM]

To put my comments into context I'm English married to an Australian and I've found a lot of the comments on here particularly ignorant and cheap.

I believe that most people with the interest of cricket at heart will be disappointed with the BCCI's reaction, its threat to withdraw the Indian team from the series. The repercussions of this could be felt for years and international cricket may be irrevocably damaged with national cricket boards flexing financial muscles whenever they perceive a slight.

However, this has been on the cards for some time, ever since Darrell Hair was (in my opinion) wrongly stopped from umpiring at the highest level. In my opinion Darrell Hair acted correctly in accordance with the laws of the game during the Oval Test of 2006 and the Pakistan team were at fault. Perhaps he should have warned them of his suspicions before imposing the penalty, but that is a minor point.

Now let's discuss the conduct of the teams on the field. Anybody who says that the Australian Cricket Team didn't cheat or try to cheat is a liar. Ask any of these posters what they think of football/soccer players diving to get a penalty awarded by the referee and they will tell you that's cheating. What is the difference for then appealing for a catch or an edge that never was? There isn't a difference; you are trying to get the umpire to make an incorrect decision.

Another point is the so called spirit of cricket. The Australian Team have supposedly got a document saying that they will play the game in the correct spirit, with respect for themselves, the opposition, the umpires, etc... Remaining at the crease after the umpire has given you out does not seem to me to be respecting the umpires. Like wise not shaking your opponents hand at the end of the game does not seem to me to be respecting your opponent. Am I wrong? Please let me know.

Finally, the sledging. If Harbhajan did call Symonds a monkey he deserves his 3 match ban, personally I think it should be a lot longer. I don't care if he did or didn't know that it had racist connotations, surely he could guess. However, Australians complaining about sledging (especially racist comments given their history and the history of their crowds) is pathetic. They can obviously dish it out, but they can't take it.

However, I feel that sledging is a disgusting habit. What is the difference between making a comment about someone's skin colour or the morals of their partner? Both are intended to be hurtful. Likewise commenting on someone's parentage or sexual orientation. Comments like these wouldn't be accepted in work places so why should they be accepted on the cricket pitch?

By the way, I'm glad England dropped Prior. I think he should concentrate more on his keeping and less on how to be a potty mouth.

[Tarun Y]

Leaving aside all insults ... and talking cricket ONLY ...

Casting our minds towards Perth, all indications are that the pitch is now going to be as fast as it was in the 70s and 80s.
Is it really all over for India? Or, can India show some spine and fight-back as they did on a grassy track in Jo'burg in 2006, after having gone down 4-0 in the ODI's?
Admittedly, there is no Sreesanth or Zaheer Khan this time, which is a hammer blow.

Looking towards team composition - Dileep, what are your thoughts on Pathan playing? As an all-rounder? He has to be an option - considering he's got a few runs in this warm-up game, and off the back of a hundred vs Pakistan.
I'm assuming Yuvraj will probably make way ... (though he has got a 47 here vs Aus in a ODI back in 2004 - but was the pitch as quick as its going to be now?)

Dileep, you mentioned a Twenty-20 game recently on the "quick" pitch, where Lee and Tait were (As you put it) "scary".
Looking at that scorecard, what seems to have gone unnoticed, is that New Zealand fielded two spinners - and they seemed to have done well. Vettori 1-24 (off his 4 overs) and Jeetan Patel 2-40.
Why so? Yes, I'll accept that there is a 'zameen-aasmaan' (land-sky) difference between T20 and tests, but - Is there an argument for India fielding BOTH Bhajji and Kumble?

With Pathan in, would you have him as part of a four man bowling attack with two spinners, or three seamers (incl. him) plus Kumble?
If a five man attack with Pathan, and two spinners, who would you go for - VRV (tall, quick-ish) or IShant, who went "wicketless" (although should have had Symonds when he was on 30!!) ??

[Sam]

No Aussies aren't blind and stupid Mavric and its name callers like you who are stuck in the middle ages or have nothing better to say that fuel the race fire. Bucknor was terrible and Indias tail wasn't much better. This drama is ridiculous and precious.

The Indian team and its fans have no moral high ground to stand on. Oz crowds give Indian batsmen standing ovations whilst Indian crowds greet Oz batsmen with monkey chants. You should be ashamed of your racists like the rest of the enlightened world is ashamed of theirs.

The Indians dont alweays walk and also sometimes appeal when its not out. No surprise the indian fans are whinging when their cricket royalty is outplayed by Aussie "monkeys" and "cheats".

There are examples of poor play and sportsmanship on both sides. Kumble can steal any famous quote he likes, it doesn't make it true, just a way to share his sour grapes with the media.

India you can take your bat and ball and go home if you want, back to your own little world where everyone treats you like rock stars, and hail you despite or maybe because of your tantrums. Either that or show some fight on the field and get on with it. The almighty BCCI cant save you there.

...and if any any aussie player makes a racial slur, you can take them to india with you.

[Manas]

QUICK LERNERS, the youtube link was hilarious;

[Robert Kennedy]

The Indian team attracted a fair amount of sympathy in Australia as a result of a couple of incorrect umpiring decisions in the Sydney Test match.
That has subsequently been largely eroded.
Apparently there is a groundswell of opinion in India that the Sydney Test result be voided. Why not go one further and give them the victory.
Also, give them a win in Melbourne as well and let them go home as 2-0 series winners. Immediately.