The 'one' downside to your argument is Dizzy's 201* being scored post mullett.

i loved this article !! as an indian 'cricket' fan i cannot wait for the series to get back on and all this banter to end.
its good to see that at least some cricket writers can manage to see the lighter side of this

To be fair to you, Rob, your post on English wicket-keepers went up before the proverbial hit the fan in Sydney. Anyway, good to see Symonds' increasingly important contributions to the Australian test team being acknowledged. Unfortunately, his (and the rest of the team's) skills and entertainment value have been, are, and probably will always be over-shadowed by how far they push things on the field. As has been said many times before by more articulate others, if only our Australian side could be gracious as well as good - now that would be something to really admire.

Hmmmm....With umpires like Bucknor even my grandma can score a double hundred! At best this guy is an over-rated bully.

He may be a good player but the way he has caused slur on my team ( when he was in India as well as now in Australia) he creates a total revulsion. Frankly it does not matter what his origin is as for all of us he represented Australia and he some how make everybody understand what his origin is. Then we see article this written on a high

Rob, there is a place and time for every article.Unfortunately at this point of time this comes across as utter tosh. As swaugh said concentrate on SCG and prove that you have your cojones as a journalist.

Samson or not, poor old Symo is getting a bit thin on top. Whilst he reckons that tying up the loose strands keeps them out of his face while bowling, I reckon he is undertaking the dreadlocked equivalent of the comb-over!

As for the 'black' player issue, it's been printed everywhere down here, and not just after the events of the SCG Test (which, despite horrible umpiring) let us some great knocks from Symonds, Tendulkar, and my favourite Indian, Laxman. With all the uproar it is interesting to note that none of them would have reached three figures had the umpiring been spot on, so perhaps it isn't all bad!

As for other long-haired gentlemen of the game, they are pretenders at best. Sidebottom - curly amateur effort. Bracken - except for the colour, emo kids may be jealous, but apparently his wife likes it. The one other standout has to be Ishant Sharma, who is sporting a rather fine mane, and I thought bowled pretty darn well for a 19 year-old without luck.

Rob, do you get paid for this? If so, can I have your job? Because that's what we need as the cricket world lurches towards crisis, isn't it? A flimsy and poorly written piece on the hairstyle of the man who happens to be the catalyst for the crisis. Oh, and by the way, "no West Indian cricketer has ever had dreadlocks?" Heard of a fellow called Curtley Ambrose? Bowled right arm. Fastish. Had a decent career a while ago. Still in decent shape, they tell me. Do us all a favour, Rob. Go and face him in the nets and you can admire his remarkable hairstyle at first hand. While being peppered with bouncers. You fool.

With all that and more, 'Samson' is pulling down all the 'Delilahs' of the cricketing world. His remarkable transformation with the long thick locks is like Bob Marley belting out "Three Little Birds'. With the 'leg spin' controversy around him allegedly being called a 'monkey' in the air, IT IS TIME FOR SYMONDS TO SHAKE HIS LOCKS, GRIN AND BEAR IT AND LET OUT HIS 'RAPUNZEL' HAIR

Superb piece. More power to your pen. Let us pause a moment to truly appreciate the remarkable cricketer in Symonds. Now if only (like other talented Aussies) he will realize that you don't need to spit vitriol at the opposition in order to be appreciated.

Symonds is more a weapon than a warrior, more an instrument of war than a strategist. He can flex those shoulders, but not those grey matter holders. We all know that. And love him for it. So the question is, who's firing over his shoulder now? Who has that chip which he's placed on his shoulders? There has to be a vested interest sumwhere for someone as chilled as Symmo to call Harbhajan a racist and go the distance he has to vindicate it. What gives, Mr Homes?

Someone like Viv Richards never needed locks to profess black pride and no one in their right mind would think of casting a racial slur on him. Some people are born black, with pride, others have it thrust upon them. Symonds, for all his talent, has not shown any of the maturity or dignity or grace of Lloyd's men

Great article. In the ongoing furore happening in Australian-Indian cricket, it is indeed nice to read a light-hearted piece. Nothing wrong with a cricket writer writing about cricket, and there is much going on in the cricketing world besides just the issue down under. And this is coming from an Australian!

At a time like this - this is what you choose to write about.Yes, Symonds is a fine player; yes - he has dreadlocks.
What relevance has all this with the current issues at hand?
Symonds is "black" due to his mixed west-indies origins. Dizzy is "black" due to his partial aboriginal origins. This has absolutely zip relevance to their position (past and present) in the test team. Should a mixed Mongolian-Tibetan bowler prove himself a worthy addition, I guarantee you he'll be in the squad (lest anyone thinks me a racist, my origins are even more mixed and such a player is indeed playing Sydney grade cricket right now).
If Harbajhan called Symonds a monkey he should be banned. Indian excuses aside - if you called Anil Kumble (or even worse - his mother) a monkey, he - even being a soft spoken, modern, enlightened Indian, would punch you in the nose.
Leave the hair, and concentrate on the real issues.
By the way - Amla (SA), Yousuf (Pak) and Hamish Marshal (NZ) take the cake for hair.

A nice light hearted article but some of the comments about Symonds. Symonds has never proclaimed his "blackness" or wanted to be known for it. As for his being upset - the facts please: IN INDIA - he was subjected to RACIAL slurs - asked what to do -HE SAID LEAVE IT. It was raised by others - not Symonds as he did not want the issue to distract from the cricket. IN AUSTRALIA - he reacted to Haberjan's comment - and they argued - HE DID NOT REPORT IT - the Captain did - AS INSTRUCTED IN INDIA BY THE ICC, BCCI AND CA - i RACIAL ABUSE/REMARKS OR WORDS WERE USED BY ANY TEAM, FAN OR PLAYER. Symonds as is known is easy going and a tough competitor - but do not blame he furore on him - BUT - in this instance the TIME HAD COME FOR ACTION FOR WHICH THE CAPTAIN TOOK RESPONSIBILITY FOR REPORTING. Thereis no room in any country, sport or race of people for RACISM. What is happening in Austrlia started in India - should have finished in India and been left in India - it has not been.

What does this mean. symmonds is not even fit to be a street cricketer for his behaviour. If only gentelmen like Walsh existed now we would have better test cricket. I really doubt if Ponting's men would have dared the same behaviour with Javed Miandad. He would have definitely hit them with his bat.

Symonds did not create the Harbhajan controversy. Harbhajan did that all by himself. He knew that calling Symonds a 'monkey' was racist since the kerfuffle in India. The teams agreed before this series to not target Symonds with this 'monkey' business (pun intended). Even the BCCI and Indian authorities acknowledged that this monkey business is racist by arresting spectators making monkey taunts at Symonds.

Harbhajan was stupid - to hit Brett Lee on the buttocks with his bat. And then compounded his stupidity by making the racist 'monkey' taunt. Allegedly, of course.

Thanks Jonathan for that insight. You would be the first one apart from Symonds and Clarke to claim Harhajan called Symonds a monkey. By the way, I hpe you hahve a small thing called 'prrof' onstead of accusations, speculation and conjecture. The whole response about this racism issue looks to be that Bhajji's bunny wanted Bhajji out and took the easy way out. (see how easy it is to speculate without an iota of data or fact to back it up)

Symonds certainly gives the impression of being a simple (or even simple-minded) person focused on cricket and on nothing else. This is doubtless a screen behind which reside large stores of reflection and concentration. He's the only person among the current one-day stars to have made such a successful transition to test cricket. His example rather than this looks should interest others like Yuvraj and Dhoni.

Cliff is quite right with his comments. But I have add this below,

Harbhajan Singh calling Symonds a ‘Monkey’, to racist white people this would be like a Chimpanzee calling a Gorilla a ‘Monkey’. Have the Indian’s had a look at their skin colour?
IT IS TIME TO GET OVER IT !!!

Nice to read an article about cricket on Cricinfo. I've been a fan of Symonds since before he'd played for Australia and am thrilled to bits with his rise.

I personally think Harbhajan said it, as Symonds isn't the type to just make it up, and some of the comments coming out of the Indian camp make it sound like they are trying to excuse the term monkey, which is a fishy. However, like you say Sri, I have only my gut feeling and Roy's word to go on, the Indians have Harbhajan and Sachin (who's evidence I would take VERY seriously, given his response I'm very sure he heard nothing) and the basic concept in western justice of innocent till proven otherwise. Without seeing the transcript of the hearing I can't see how Proctor could have come to his conclusion "beyond reasonable doubt" as he put it. To all the Indians out there who say the Aussies are liars, you have a similar dearth of evidence to make that claim, so leave it out. The man who has stuffed up the most is Proctor.

Had a lot of admiration and respect for Andrew Symonds, but he's used it all up this test. I fancy scoring a century too if I bat 4 times. Really, no one cares about his origin or his pigmentation, you guys are giving him too much importance.

The amazing lack of comment on this blog is because we Aussies have taken the word of our Indie brothers.

No offense was meant with the monkey comments. Apparently y'all revere some kind of monkey God and that was the spirit in which the comments to Symonds were given.

One day I hope that I, personally, can repay such generosity of the spirit.

Most of us (including some of the Aussies) believe that Symonds did not deserve a hundred at the SCG. It was all courtesy M/s Benson and Bucknor. He did not even walk off when he knew he was out and had the audacity to mention it in an article. Stupid "Pup" or Clarke edged the ball to the slip fielder and waited for the umpire's decision. I think he is being moulded as another fine Aussie captain after Waugh and Ponting. We all know the past of Waugh and Ponting and how sledgy they were. The famous Waugh and Ambrose incident and the Lillee-Miandad incident where Waugh and Lillee should have considered themselves lucky to have been still alive. Remember, Dean Jones calling Amla a terrorist... All you Aussies should be ashamed of your senior and current cricketers about this.

Ponting, Clarke and Symonds totally behaved unsportsmanlike and the foolish umpires took their word for the catches that they had grassed or were inconclusive from the TV replays. Well, Ponting signed an agreement with Kunble about taking the player's word. Why not take the players word for the edge or snick?
The entire world knows and agrees that the Aussies are cry babies... We have seen Damien Fleming showing dissent to the umpires many a times but was never found guilty. Remember the McGrath LBW appeal against Sachin when he was hit on the helmet. Ponting very well knows he cannot go past Bhajji's first ball and was the first one to allege that bhajji called Symmo a monkey. It's okay for an Aussie to call someone 'bastard' or a 'wanker' but reacted strongly against the 'monkey' comment.
When have the Aussies asked their spectators to show respect to the visiting teams? The Aussies spectators are the worst crowd in the whole world and regularly pass racist comments. hypocrites...

I'm not a indian but a pak but on this one i gotta take my fellow indians side. Australia showed poor sportsmanship and the umpires, wel lets just say i can do better. India were robbed the victory in this test. Symonds was clean out on 30 something, if he was given out the whole complexion of this test would be different!

So basically your sayin Symonds is showin his black pride throudh dreads? It doesnt matter about hair dos and lol about improving performance this isn't no fairytale story!! Think before you post mate, thats a hint ;)

Changing your hairstyle isn't always a guarantee of massively improving performances. A couple of years back I went blonde. Have yet to get past 14 with the bat since, haven't held a catch and only get wickets with half trackers. And I'm half Irish by the way. I've been called Herr Flick, Warnie, Blondie, Wordsworth (ref: Jamie And The Magic Torch) and other less than complimentary names. Doesn't matter to me. I just get on with the game.

The BCCI and Australians need backsides kicking up to their shoulderblades. One is greedy and throwing its weight around, the other is arrogant and needs to learn humility and honesty. Neither are doing the game any good.

And now the ICC is letting the BCCI dictate who can and can't umpire test matches. It's a slippery slope dear friends...

Did I notice that Andrew Symonds was born in England?
If Brad Hogg called someone a bastard - even lightheartedly - maybe he should admit to it & apologise?
If the (former) international players being purchased by the competing Indian Leagues resume sledging, will they lose their contracts?
Why does the ICC have no spine?

To all the India fans, who accuse Symonds of lying, I don't understand why you would lie about being called a Monkey? I'm not even an Australian fan, but I believe the BCCI are abusing their power here, and the ICC need to stand up and stop thinking about how fat their wallets are so the game can actually move forward. And sure the Australians have shown that they are the most arrogant team in the world again but it's no surprise as Jamie said one is abusing it's power and one is guilty of arrogance and a lack of integrity. It has all turned into a giant joke really, can we stop the crap and just enjoy some cricket?

have I missed something? What exactly has happened to badge the aussies arrogant and not gracious winners? They play the game with professionalism. First off if this "Monkey comment" was said to a play in soccer in europe then the player would be banned for a lot longer because it's a very offensive comment. 2nd if ponting hadn't of "dobbed" on harbajan then he would be up for a fine from his own board for not protecting his players properly. Indians are just sore losers. Yes they had some terrible decisions against them which cost them a test match draw. I remember not long ago in the Uk Ashes tour damien martyn had at least as many bad decisions in that series as the entire indians have had in this series. it happens! get over it! geez. Is there any wonder why Australia is so far ahead of the rest of the world. They play with common sense and not cultural pride and emotion. They play with their skills wether it's physical or mental skills. Give up then india! It's 2-0 to us isn't it?

Well said Jamie Dowling. Both sides need a good sandal up the coit.

The Indian reaction is like a child throwing toys -burning effigies, tit-for tat, 'we'll leave the tour'. Their selectors made bad calls and they played no warm up games. They were thrashed in Melbourne.

Your players are not Gods ok. They are fairly average ICC ranked players.

The australians need to learn how to munch humble-pie. Ponting you need to grow a diplomatic brain. And Clarke, walk or learn to bat.

All this boring bullshit as a result of a few howlers and a monkey jibe. You got to be kidding me.

Hey Rob!
Ever heard of a person called Martin Luther King? He didn't have dreadlocks last i know. Or a person called Nelson Mandela? Don't think he had dreadlocks.

You dont need dreadlocks to be the human you are, as much as the color of your skin doesnt make you a better or worse human.For all of you who think that Syminds is an ambassador for the colored people- think again. There are many of us who live with more dignity in greater adversity and with much less pay.The loser in this has been the game of cricket that has been dying since sledging was glorified by the media, fans and players. And now that it comes back, it haunts you.I read one captain say that he had to go by the rule book; the same same captain can rule an opponent out-was that in the rule book?.The TV replays conclusivelt show the dishonesty. I am yet to read an apology from anyone.The spirit of cricket was killed finally at Sydney. Ban HS for life if there is proof of the comment.

I THINK THE ICC NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT ALL ‘SLEDGING’ FROM ALL COUNTRIES. THEY NEED TO TELL ALL CRICKET PLAYERS & OFFICIALS:
A) NO MORE ‘MONKEY BUISSNES’
B) NO TOLLERENCE OF ANY ‘CHEEKY MONKEY’S’
C) LEAVE THE MONKEY GOD ALONE BECAUSE HE WON”T’GIVE TWO MONKEY’S WORTH’
IN THE WORDS OF ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER ‘IT’S A SANDAL THAT WILL PACK THEM IN THE ILLES ‘
IT HAS CERTAINLY SOLD A LOT OF PAPERS. PLENTY OF AIR TIME & HAS PEOPLE WHO DO NOT WATCH CRICKET TALKING.

Cliff-Biskek, Jonathan - You guys are totally out of it. I did rather be called a "monkey", then a "fucking homo". That phrase is patently ofensive, even to a homo. Forget all your holier than thou attitide, I will not trust a single of this Australian players. Genetically they have cheaters blood in them and are uncivilized. Ricky's problem is very simple - he thinks he is the greatest batsman in the history of cricket, wants to move towards that goal - the only blemish in his record is being "Bhajji's Bunny". So guess who he goes after. calling the Aussies hypocrite is the greatest understatement of this century. Guys wake up and get off this fairness wagon. Start calling a spade a spade.

"Genetically they have cheaters blood in them and are uncivilized" By far the majority of Australian
s are not descended from convicts, but obviously you wouldn't know that. Are Indians 'genetically' slaves to the British? I'm not sure you even know what genetics are. The comments on Cricinfo stories at the moment are hilarious...relax we lost the game, it was the UMPIRE'S fault, why on earth do you feel the need to embarrass yourself by attempting to mock the Australians? You are making the rest of us sane Indians look stupid.

I think you're on to something there Rob. Did you know, many professional swimmers and cyclists shave every hair on their body to reduce drag (but then, they're not the most superstitious types around, are they? And they're rather boring too. Enough about that...). I dread (no pun intended) the day that this infiltrates cricket, its hard enough trying to distinguish between bowlers unless there's a distinct difference in their skin tone (so important according to the nuptials section of the classifieds in one country).

I also do find it funny that Symonds has been labeled "black". I mean, at best he's "half-black". Or for that matter, "half-white". Why not "white" then? "Half-aboriginal" takes the cake though.

You know, the only thing that keeps coming back to me from this entire racial issue is; Is it more racist to insinuate that calling a "black" person a monkey is racist, or to actually call a "black" person a monkey? Take your pick.

Anjo = new Rob Steen fan...