Echoes of Bodyline

When this tour began, many nursed the fond hope that it might match the 2001 series between these sides or the 2005 Ashes. Instead, after a couple of spiteful days in Sydney, it's in danger of becoming cricket's biggest crisis since Bodyline. The BCCI's reaction to Harbhajan Singh's three-match ban on racism charges even includes the same national-pride rhetoric that came out of Australia in 1932-33 when Douglas Jardine went to work on leg theory.

Anil Kumble's remark at the end of his press conference on Sunday night - "There was only one team playing in the spirit of the game" - immediately invited comparisons with the events of 75 years ago. "Not since Bill woodfull in the 1932-33 Bodyline series has a rival captain spoken so strongly against his opponents," said the Daily Telegraph in Sydney. The Indian board's subsequent statement doesn't highlight the much-talked about spirit of the game, but instead addresses "unfair allegation of racism against our Indian player". "The game of cricket is paramount," it goes on to say, "but so too is the honour of India's cricket team and every Indian."

Interestingly, while it touches on everything from the country's fair name to the freedom struggle and the values it espoused, there's no actual denial that Harbhajan said something. It's unclear what the "false and unfair slur" is. At no point does the document deny that the M word was used.

What has incensed the Indians is the fact that Mike Proctor handed down his punishment despite what they saw as a lack of proof. According to them, it was one man's word against another, and no cognisance was taken of what Symonds may have said to provoke Harbhajan. Again, you can only wish that the archaic laws were more in keeping with those of other sports, where a match official could have a word with the offenders and tell them: "One more word out of the two of you, and you're both off the park."

The upshot of all this has been the Indians staying on in Sydney, instead of proceeding to Canberra where they have a warm-up game that starts on Thursday. No practice is scheduled for Tuesday either, and the focus seems to be to ensure that Harbhajan remains available for the remaining Tests at Perth and Adelaide. The Indian board have already taken steps to ensure that no action will be taken against him till their appeal is heard.

On another front, the board appears determined to ensure that Steve Bucknor doesn't officiate in Perth. India have been uneasy about Bucknor's slipping standards for a while now, and this latest episode evokes uneasy memories of the stand-off between Darrell Hair and the Pakistan team at The Oval in 2006.

What all this will do for the already fraught relationship between the two sides is open to debate. James Sutherland, Cricket Australia's CEO, has asked both captains to meet and sort out their differences, while Australia's finest journalists have expressed their unhappiness at the manner in which a thrilling game of cricket was sullied by other factors.

Writing in The Australian, Mike Coward said: "That the match will be remembered as much for a vulgar confrontation between unthinking hot-heads Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh as for Australia's last-gasp triumph and Tendulkar's valedictory innings is distressing.

"The standard of play often was outstanding and occasionally exceptional but the standard of player behaviour was questionable and, at times, unacceptable. And the standard of umpiring was poor."

Peter Roebuck went two steps further in the Sydney Morning Herald. "India have been dudded. No one with the slightest enthusiasm for cricket will take the least satisfaction from the victory secured by the local team in an SCG Test that entertained spectators, provided some excellent batting but left a sour taste.

"It was a match that will have been relished only by rabid nationalists and others for whom victory and vengeance are the sole reasons for playing sport."

Perhaps the most sensible opinion came from Steve Waugh, who had this to say about the Harbhajan incident in his column for the Daily Telegraph. "Perhaps a better outcome may have been for both captains, coaches and named players to get together at the end of the day's play and work out a solution before they went past the point of no return - which now has the potential to affect relations between both countries."

Echoes of Jardine, Larwood, Woodfull and Bodyline?

Comments

[Arun Pingaley]

To all those who think this is not such a big issue: Exactly why do countries play cricket against each other? If we can have an honest answer from the Australian supporters it will be nice. Please understand that Australia wins only if it wins honestly - not through umpire aided wins. Ergo, India loses only if it plays badly not through umpire aided loses. In this case, the umpiring was bad enough to be suspect. So, India is more than justified in being miffed at 'losing' a match when they had a great chance to square a series.

Now coming to the Harbhajan issue, if he used a racist word, then by all means hang him. But the question is where is the proof. Natural justice demands that only the guilty ought to be punished. If it is a case of one's word against the others, then on what basis did the Refreee make the decision. This decision of his also makes him look unprofessional and lets not forget that this is the same match refree who also ruled Tendulkar guilty of ball tampering earlier. He too seems to have a pattern.

Now, for those who feel India is flexing it muscles - lets get this straight. If India is done in by bad umpiring, not once but two matches in a row - then unless we all agree that matches in Australia have to be played only for Australia to win and no other team can honestly win there, then surely BCCI has every right to defend what they think is unfair to India. If this bothers others, I would like to ask every one how they would have behaved if they had lost two tests on a trot to Australia and the umpires repeatedly ruled against their team, especially when they had a FAIR chance to square the series. How many of you honestly would still want to see the same umpires? How many would want to follow the advise you all have been liberally giving here.

Lets face it, 'tis far easier to preach. When injustice happens, then if a Board just sits and watches their team lose matches and their bowlers being banned without adequate proof of guilt then that Board has no business to manage cricketing business of that country. For once, I am forced to admit that BCCI has taken a right step in the interests of the Indian players.

As regards money power, lets face it, India can do without any advise from the West on how not to wield money power. In every facet of life - whether it is ruling and looting other countries for centuries as colonialists or contributing to global warming by not reducing emissions proportionate to their populations, the West has used the same money power to get away with every possible crime. Now, are we to hear words of advise from the West? Looks like the boot is on the other leg and surprise, surprise it bites !

[Anuj]

excellent, the australian trailer park mentality speaks again. calling indian cry babies, its amazing how a country which has 28% of its medical field with drs from overseas, mostly indian can have this view. Indians are quick to over-react?? australia over reacts in everything, from cricket, to haneef and to jayant patel, who was an American trained dr not indian. Australia is a country of convenience, might i remind you that there is no proof that HS calles AS a monkey. did u know indians have a god who is a monkey??

[Rocket]

ashokpai and venkatesh R. OK - I don't know if HS said "monkey". What I meant was OBVIOUSLY Mr Procter listened to all versions of events over the 6 1/2 hour hearing and decided that on balance he was satisfied how events took place and dished out his ruling accordingly.

That said, Indians are not happy, but instead of copping it on the chin, lodging a protest and going through the appeals process that is available to them, what do they do - threaten to go home.

Issues getting confused…

Spirit of the Game - I would like our team to be more Pat Rafter and less Lleyton Hewitt, but they’re not. They may act ungracious at times but ungraciousness is not cheating. Time after time other players say they “enjoy” the challenge of playing against Oz and try to replicate it. Umpiring was hopeless but that’s cricket and certainly not the players fault.
Racism - They want to bone the tour because they reckon HS was unfairly dealt with – not for any “spirit of cricket” crap. Australian players are not angels but Indian players are not above reproach either. The Aussies carried on when they got 3 wickets in 5 balls to win the game with 8 minutes to spare. I can grant them 5 minutes of celebration in this instance much like I can grant HS running literally half way to the boundry and doing a couple of rolls when he snapped up Ponting in the second innings. Not particularly gracious behaviour but probably understandable in the circumstances. These guys are sportsmen (and rolemodels) but certainly not GODS or infallible.

I have huge respect for Tendulkar and Kumble, but it does not mean they are always right.
Tendulkar and all the Indians are saying he’s innocent. People can assume words or intentions have different meanings. When this happens processes have been put in place to arbitrate and this should be respected. One can say “he’s innocent” if they reckon he didn’t mean to be racist, but Mr Procter decided on balance that he was satisfied of the events etc. So have an arguement with him. But no, what was the reaction - Pull out of the Tour??? Grow up.

BY the way, Pup’s effort was a disgrace – first slip for F@(*$ sake!! Hopefully he won't try that again but given the circumstances of what preceeded him in the game he made the split second decision not to take that first step towards the pavillion and wait for the ump to tell him. The wrong decision no doubt, poor form yes but in no way against the rules. Added to other instances in the game, the whole shebang was not very nice - but definately no reason to pull out of the tour!!

[Martin]

Just how many games has India won on this tour? India are coming across as cry babies who can't win on the field. They are just trying to distract their homeland from the fact they can't beat us. Surely there must be one team that can beat us, oh hang there isn't. Teams only beat us when we play badly not because they play well. Call us arrogant but it is the truth.

[Trax]

The team from down under has always had issues with the teams from the subcontinent.

Was wondering given the fact that both India and Pakistan, nuclear neighbours with a history of 3 wars in 60 years have never had a single issue against each other in cricketing terms.

Hmmmm this does paint an interesting picture where and with whom the fault lies.

[Raz]

Its all gone a bit out of the hand, the BCCI has showed who run the world of cricket by flexing its muscle and the ICC has given in to it. Any future tour of the Aussies to the subcontinent is going to be a nightmare for CA and any of the players from the current ausi squard.

Ponting n Co went about like small kids complaining about things said between man to man, calling someone a monkey aint racist in India but so is calling someone a bastard not acceptable and outright offensive to the highest possible order in the subcontinent be it in India/Pakistan/Srilanka.

Its just a clash of different cultures and point of views, Ponting should have known better given his exposure to the teams from the subcontinent.

Ppl walking to a nick is very very rare but trying and projecting as the saint himself...well thats not the case for you Mr Punter

Cricket has lost its face value, no more a gentleman's game.

[James]

I watched the game live on TV as a neutral, thought, "ooh that was a good game, exciting finish, Aussies win again, rubbish umpiring". At no point whilst watching that did I think this is what Bodyline must have been like!! India got some shocking decisions, and the Ganguly catch was definitely a big incident, but I can't believe the response from India. Were the Aussies any better or worse sledging wise than they have been for about 15 years? What did India expect? I'm not saying it's right, it's not at all, but everything they did in this game they have done before (outside the grassed catch) and within the rules.

The only reasons India can possibly have for such a response is that they lost the game with 3 wickets in hand, two overs from the end and that Harbajan has been accused of Racism.

The rest gives you an idea as to why the ICC is so weak...

[Bill Daniels]

Some anonymous person said ..

"...Racial discrimination is not in Indian blood, "We come from a nation where we allow a lady of a catholic origin to step aside for sikh to be sworn in as a prime minister by a muslim presedent to govern a nation of over 80% Hindus....."

Whate exactly does the nature of a person's imaginary friend have do to have with race - ones religious cult and race are two entirely separate things.

[Andrew]

Prash,

Forget "Bawdyline"

With a bunch of drama queens on and off the field, as well as in this and other bogs throughout the cricketing world, perhaps the better description of this whole affair is "Bollyline"

[Paul McM]

It is always hilarious to read pontification by our pommy friends in a UK newspaper. Always quick to criticise the Aussies, liberated by complete ignorance.

What exactly have Ponting and the Aus. team done wrong, other than continue to win ? The outstanding aspects of the match were the following :
Firstly, the umpiring was dreadful. Bucknor has been stood down, I am sad to see it, but he is 62 years old and having a blind man umpire a test match is taking equal opportunity too far

Secondly Harb. called Symonds a monkey. He has form in this regard, has done so before and deserves to be punished. 3 matches is fair. Can one imagine what would have happened if Tiger Woods was playing golf here and a local called him a monkey ?

Thirdly, the Aussies refused to walk, and waited for the umpires decision. Not everyone's cup of tea, but within the rules and spirit of the game. Peter Roebuck, your famed expat, is the journalistic equivalent of a fish flapping around in a bucket. He called today for the standing down of Ponting, Hayden and Gilchrist (the original 'walker'). Good luck Pete, wont happen.

Perhaps if India (and England) focused less on advising Australia on how to conduct themselves, and more on playing cricket, the world competition would be more balanced.

[oscar the grouch]

R Venkatesh - I specifically said in my first piece that on the balance of probability the result would have been a draw and that I feel sorry for Anil Kumble and his team that their efforts did not have that result. The point I am making is that despite the actual quality of the umpiring - which we all agree was dreadful - there is nothing like sufficient certainty that if all decisions had been scrupulously correct, India would have won or Australia would have lost.

Now, we have the result that the BCCI have succeeded in determining that India will only play if the umpires are 'agreeable' to them. I loathe bias in umpiring, and Australia cops that in spades from Rudi Koertszen, who wouldn't give us an lbw unless the batsman's foot is dragged through the stumps, but can any team or nation take full pride in winning a match adjudicated by a 'picked' umpire? If you can say yes to that, then you are as equally as guilty of winning at any cost as Australia is charged with.

Sprinter - it's not 'my version', it's the maths. Prove the maths wrong to me and I'll accept your point. I've laid it out, would you take the time to do the same?

[venkatesh R]

Mr.Rocket,stop saying HS have uttered that word, nither you nor me know about that. first ask ur aussie players do they believe only in their talent, if so ask them to play without sludging.. they use it as weapon and if someone turn that weapon against them .. they cant bear it. and u said Indians have done racial comments.. ya in a nation of more than 100 crores there may be some(like the crowd in the Aussie tour to India).. but ask the same question to Aussies also..
ask any country which have visited India, some complaints will come but that will be only with the facilities.. not with the people or behaviour.. but if u ask the same countries after the australian tour the answer would be different..because some of the aussie thinks the cricket is not played only with bat and ball..and i have read some of the australian newpapers.. they have mentioned that the word was uttered on the only B**** player in aussies side.. when i read that only i (not only me most of the Indians, May be HS also)came to know that. I wonder how U came to an conclusion that India was denying because they lost.. No not at all.. If so they would have felt, they would have done wat they are doing now in the second test itself.

[Sprinter]

Mr.Oscar the grouch what you are saying is your version of events!!

what i would say is even if one decision is corrected then INDIA might have ended with draw!! there were only 7 balls to play!! Also there is one more point LBW's are always dependent on umpires. if you take out all of LBW decisions then AUS has got 0 bad descions. So this tells us all the story.

As for the sportsmanship of AUS, i have never seen any of it. and saying *astard is the most worst word in INDIA!! so i would say ban Hogg for 10 Test matches. Also how can you trust Mr.Punter?? If you ask me i would say he is not perfect!

[venkatesh R]

Mr.oscar the grouch, Its not me who brought maths into the picture, u said with a calculation and i gave my views and if u would have taken the word 'My friend' in such a way, i cant help u, i can only say 'sorry ..'. But again coming to ur view.. Dravid is given out..Jaffer has been given out in a No ball... i dont think Australian could have won the match..

[robert john]

"A plague on both their houses!"
International cricket has long ceased to be a game played between gentlemen.In the last few decades,the razzmatazz of one-day cricket brought with it enormous riches for the game's administrators,players,bookies and sundry criminal species,all at the expense of the spectator.Cricketers dumped their "whites" and purity for multi-coloured threads and multifarious pursuits,in order to fatten their already bursting purses.The game played on the pitch was secondary to the real games being played back in the pavilions and hotels,where wheeling and dealing and matchfixing reached its sordid heights with the controversial death of Bob Woolmer,still a mystery.

The disgraceful habit of sledging on the field,is an Australian invention,which has been copied by other nations in reaction to the provocation from the cricketers of OZ.Poor umpiring,despite the advantages of modern technology extensively used in other sports,merely add to this lethal cocktail that has ruined the once noble game of cricket,which is given importance and attention far beyond its now paltry worth.It is why I seldom watch cricket live or on on ,preferring to watch instead games being played on village greens by gentle youth with minds still free of the malodorous stench of corruption and animosity that permeates international cricket today.

[Billy]

And I thought it was just England that moaned about losing! Toys are defintitely out of the pram on this one.

Surely the best response by India would be to go and beat Australia!? Go and play in Perth and win!

[Paul Naidu]

Ponting is a cheat and a lier. He is not a good sportsman and this has been reflected even in other matches e.g. appealing for the dismissal against Sri Lanka's Sangakara when his bat was nowhere near the ball, in fact it was a 180 degrees away ... and you gueseed it, the umpire gave him out robbing him of a history making second century in two consecutive innings. Previously Ponting has even admitted that Australia has a psychological advantage over umpires so, the Aussies appeal anything because umpires will probably rule in their favour. The arrogant Aussies were so determined to win the test match and win 16 in a row that they did it by cheating. Ponting also insists that he didn't ground the catch - what a joke!! Television replays show clearly that he did. And not to mention the Clark catch!! It has been said that poor umpiring decisions balance themselves out. Not so, Australia ALWAYS get more bad decisions going in their favour. I have studied their last five test matches closely (amongst others) and more wrong decisions have favoued the Aussies than their opposition. WHY IS PONTING LYING ABOUT HARBIJAN? IT'S TO SIMPLY GET BACK AT HIM. AFTERALL HARBIJAN HAS THE WOOD ON HIM GETTING HIM OUT ON 8 OCCASIONS. Ponting can't get the better of him on the field so he resorts to getting back at him in some way off the field. The Aussies have a history of arrogance and poor sportmanship and are responsible for one of the most cowardly acts in cricket history ... remember the underarm incident. Get your act together and stop being cheats, you are a disgrace to the game.

[Apurv Patel]

Any victory that has come out of this match should be made into Pyrrhic victory for the Austrailians. Once ban on Harbhajan Singh has been lifted, and India agrees to play the Perth test, India should have their own Dandi march in Perth.
Declare both innings for without facing a ball. Also when we go to bowl, do not bowl one legitimate ball. Keep three fielders behind square, when the batsman hit the ball, walk and stop the ball, return it to bowler but do not try to run them out, bowler to go back to his run-up. When they stop running bowl another ball. When one bowler tires, get another bowler to continue the over. When they declare, India should declare their second innings too.
At the conference just say better team won. Put both Mike Procter and the two umpires in a position, where they are mere spectators of a farce called cricket. History will judge Sydney and Perth tests as a farce, and will down in history books as another bodyline series.
Do not play a legitimate game until Ponting comes and says that the Catch of Ganguly was not a catch and the appeal he made for alleged catch against Dhoni was not a completed catch, and apologizes for it. Rest of the umpiring mistakes cannot be blamed on the Aussies, but with this farce ICC will wake up as well.
Australian Cricket has to suffer, and only team that can do it is India.
Virendra Shewag was banned for one test match and he had to serve it in India with one match miss against England. Also the records of Tendulkar and other Indians still say suspended sentence. And this time it will be no different , administrators of BCCI are only interested in the money pot of 2011 world cup, and Sharad Pawar has been nominated to guard that gold pot, their interests are not cricket.
I am never ever going to see one match where Australians are playing, and that is my Dandi march. I have the power of money, my money pays for all that is going on. I refuse to be part of the cheating going on. Each one of you who gets to read this has to make their own decision on how to deal with it, I have made mine.
Apurv Patel
New York
apurvpatel@gmail.com

[Billy]

What a load of nonsense. One person gets banned for racial abuse and then they stop the whole tour because they disagree with it. Get on with tour, go through the appeal process if you don't agree with and move on.

With regards to the umpiring decisions, well that's just cricket and I'm sure every country has their hard luck stories about decisions that might have gone their way and could have helped them save/win a game.

As for the way the Aussies play cricket we might not like it but that's probably because they end up winning!

Get on with the tour and give the fans a chance to see fantastic cricket like we've seen over the first 2 tests.

[ashokpai]

@ Good Sport Aussie
I'm not supporting Lou Vincent, its just to echo the sentiments about the aussie crickters and also hardcore aussie "friendly banter" fans who will never understand what this whole issue is about looking at the comments made by most here. unless you see that all the teams around the world are complaining about the rabid attitiude of the aussie players on field you will never get it. after the aussie team pioneered it, others have taken to it (like say for example sreesanth, bhajjie etc who go over the top because its not in their blood , but have to force it out as an artificial expression, much to the delight of the aussie players who've mocked it - cos they cant cop any of it themselves )

@ Rocket
Indians dont have racism, they have other problems like casteism. indians respect their elders, and aussie blokes might not. the word 'bastard' is much worse for indians. but did the indians compain about it ? nope. indians are much better sport than aussie players cribbing about racism when bhajji's not sad it. I will take the word of sachin , not symonds who's a known sledger.
- and no, you are no way simple folks who get on with life and some small time sledging, thats how you chose to downplay the whole affair. thats very consistent with the media, the players and supporters like you. you are a whole lot more complicated, and united. its a bit like the lou vincent quote. he summed it perfectly. (that quote is given below, in case you have missed it).
- lehmann was caught red handed, on tv, he was nailed beacuse of evidence. there's no such evidence for bhajji. he was nailed for hearsay. tommorrow, the aussie emboldened by a past success will nail sachin or dravid or ganguly. we dont want bhajji to be an innocent victim of aussie racism with a twist. if bhajji's convicted, he's a victim of racism by symonds who knows it very well, that racism is a big issue and anyone can be falsely nailed.
- i will not believe the word of clarke, gilchrist and ponting or any aussie too. they have lied in front of the TV simply waving the uncertainty card. playing cricket for years you know that yu have grassed it. if you are true sport, you know that you might have grassed it, instead of questioning oneself, instead they ask the umpire - just so that the luck might be in your favour. that luck was steve bucknor (bad luck personified for india).
- there are too many happy co-incidences for india to believe that aussie players are good sport. far from it, they are not leaving anything to chance claiming that india is in the wrong. that is beyond what one team can take in a test match.

[Good Sport Aussie]

Seems like everyone is getting a bit precious here. Lets not get the umpires performance mixed up with other things. Umpires sometimes rule in your favour..sometimes not, whether you're batting or fielding.
If the umpire gives you the "bird" then you go, if not then you can stay under the rules of cricket. Accept all the rules of the game, not just the ones you like. As for the sledging etc....well lets not all behave like some cheap version of a big girls blouse. Let's ask some of those nice rugby boys about some of the comments in the scrum. They might make our cricket types look angelic. When I have travelled to other parts of the world, my best advice was to ensure I paid heed to cultural AND language differences. Even when travelling to the good old USA, there are certain words which have very different meanings there to what we are used to at home
Finally India 10/10 for dummy spits and to many of the other comentators...there seem suddenly to be a lot of "holier than thou" cricketers and supporters out there. For ASHOKPAI who part quoted Lou Vincent...sledging was perfected by Sir Richard Hadlee and immortalised by Sean Fitzpatrick...both countrymen of Lou Vincent (NZ)
If any of us do not want our national teams to play hard and play for keeps then let's not pay them the almost obscene amounts of money that we do and let's not treat them like celebrities. Can't anyone out there remember John McEnroe.

[Manu]

shame is what Mr Ponting & his swearing team has brought for their pride nation

[Mahendra]

Ponting should be sacked. India was under British rule for two centuries, it knows what racism is all about. It started off with the white race only but could not be allowed to continue now, Harbhajan is more decent than any swearing Aussie, Ponting and Co have brought shame for their nation, please go back to basics of humanity learn respect to earn that..

[crappletize]

Dinesh, you obviously didnt see the indian crowds making Monkey gestures to symonds during the WC? or is this just another, head in the sand, indian denial.

"Racial discrimination is not in Indian blood,Australians have all made this up, Ponting and team are disgrace to the world of cricket, they just want to win matches by hook or croock

Posted by: Dinesh Kumar | January 07, 2008 at 06:18 PM "

[Sundar Mahadevan]

Hi Dileep,

I am briefly borrowing your comments board to send out this message to all keen followers of the game of cricket and the spirit in which it should be played.

We, a group of people who really care about the game of cricket have created a Petition addressed to the BCCI to call off the Australian tour and bring back our boys immediately. You can read the Petition at this link:

petitiononline.com/bcci

If you agree with our Petition, please endorse it by signing it. Your comments are always welcome.

For once, let's get together and be heard.

Sincerely,
Sundar Mahadevan
Sportsmanship must win.