is the author trying to suggest that as the australians can't mend their ways, so cricket officials should not punish them as their sledging is a result of their so called natural aggressive nature!!!!
ICC does not have the guts to take any action. They go about blaming all and sundry, without accepting their miserable failure on vital aspects of the game. They seem to be too busy in making money through sponsorships and have left the playing rules unattended. ICC has to take the blame for the present deterioration in the behavior of the players, especially the Australians on the field.
They are blaming that the on-field umpires should have taken action in the Mcgrath-Sarwan affair. What did they do when the umpires called the bowlers for chucking? The bowlers have been cleared and are now happily chucking (Shoaib Akthar, Muralitharan, Bret Lee, to name a few) since they have been cleared by ICC.
When teams play internationally they have to respect the culture of other teams too... Say if someone has cultute of physically beating the australians becaus it is in the culture to do to someone sledging at you....will it be allowed because that's what happens culturally.
Australians better start behaving or will someday face the same thing what bodyline bowlers had to face ( being physically beaten...)
yes, I agree with u.. the ICC is not taking any action and is just blaming the umpires.. In fact, even now Mc Grath and Sarwan must be dealt with.. Sarwan also must be punished for being involved in the ugly incident..
Congratulations Daniel for supporting the much maligned Australian cricket team. What a way to defend their antics. I did not know Australaians were so (un)civilised. Tomorrow someone might say that excessive appealing is an Indian cultural thing. Why because they are very docile? Since they can't be aggressive what they do is meekly appeal. This is probably due to the fact that Indians have been ruled by outsiders. So they have the mentality of being slaves. Hence instead of a direct confrontation they tend to request their masters (which in this case are the umpires). How is my theory?
If the Aussies are not likely to change, then better stop them from playing. It does look that Aussies use sledging as a tactic whey they are under pressure. The writer seems to justify the acts of the Australians by saying that it comes from their socital culture itself. If that is the case then the term "ugly aussies" shall be applied to anyone in that country and nothing can be worse than this. It is better for the whole of the sport and the country if they can change their behaviour.
I can only call your article a great account of escapism. If you go by emotional & cultural backgrounds, I think that no one can ever be faulted/punsihed for bad behavior. And so goes the right of any Aussie - player/spectator/umpire to call Murali a chucker because he has some explanation of his own for his (mis)actions.
The point is finally, Murali chucks. So does Brett lee , Akthar & Lawson. And Aussie team behavior stinks. No excuses.period.
When 6 memebers of Indian team were reprimanded by Mike Dennis in SA, nobody took into account that sub-continent people are by nature emotional & hyper-reactive. Without a warning Shewag recived a ban.
Whereas, Slter & McGrath escape with their unruly behavior & finger pointing to umpires - venkat & sheps, repsectively.
Instead of finding excuses, it is better if everyone understood that there is an apparent non-uniformity in the way ICC handles things. And, find a solution to bring back the glory of 'Gentleman's sport' to cricket. A new format for ICC test trophy is not the foremost priority. Cleaning-up bad umpiring decisions & player behavior is.
