The front of the Age's sport pages reflects the anger inside Australia following the outcome of the Harbhajan Singh hearing © The Age

On the topic of India's over-the-top reactions to the events in Australia, Harsha Bhogle, in the Sydney Morning Herald, explains that it has a lot to do with the change in attitude of the average Indian over the decades.

Since I was a little child, my abiding memory is of visiting journalists and cricketers coming to India and making fun of us.We were a country finding our feet, we were not confident, we seethed within but we accepted. The new generation in India is not as accepting, they are prouder, more confident, more successful. Those bottled-up feelings are bubbling through.

The Daily Telegraph reveals that Ricky Ponting made the decision to agree to have Harbhajan Singh's racial abuse charge downgraded after a series of secret meetings with lawyers during the Test match in Adelaide.

"Just fix it then," Ponting is understood to have said when emotions flared. As Symonds came to terms with the judgment, it's believed he said: "I can't believe this is happening."

The Australian has acquired the full text of Justice John Hansen's decision in Harbhajan Singh's appeal.

Australian newspapers are full of reaction to the outcome of the Harbhajan Singh affair, in The Age it is reported that the Australian cricketers are furious that Harbhajan Singh has escaped suspension.

"The thing that pisses us off is that it shows how much power India has," said a contracted Australian player, who refused to be named. "The Aussie guys aren't going to make it (the accusation) up. The players are frustrated because this shows how much influence India has, because of the wealth they generate. Money talks.

In the Sydney Morning Herald, Alex Brown says, "in matters directly involving the Indians, don't expect an impartial outcome. Both the BCCI and the ICC have shown their hand in that regard during the past month."

In the Australian Peter Lalor writes, "India, the team that bleated about the spirit of cricket after being beaten in Sydney, has again held a gun to the game's head and had its demands met."

Adelaide Now's Geoff Roach tracks the day's events.

An air of anxiety began to stir among them as the start of play drew nigh without any sign of the principal players. That soon turned to frustration when it was learned the Australian participants had performed their own version of an Indian rope trick by driving into an underground car park and entering the building via a basement lift.

Fearing the same would happen with the Indian party, most camera operators surged 80m east to the car park entrance – only to have to sprint frantically back as a black BMW disgorged Harbhajan and team manager Chetan Chauhan outside the front at 10.50am.

The Australian sports radio stations too are abuzz with listeners calling in to air their opinions. Click here to listen to a few stations.

It’s not just inside Australia comment that the result of the Harbhajan hearing has attracted comment. In The Times, Christopher Martin-Jenkins is less than complimentary about the BCCI’s role.

One understands, of course, the particular sensitivity of matters pertaining to race, but either the BCCI, like all other national representative bodies, accepts the rules of the ICC and, in this case, the procedures that everyone has agreed, whatever the outcome, or there is potential anarchy.

It would not be a good thing if it were to become the expected outcome of every appeal that, whenever a nation's pride is ruffled, oil will be poured on troubled waters. Every case has to be judged on its merits.

Also in The Times Patrick Kidd writes that both teams should move on.

1) If they felt that he had done nothing wrong, India were right to fight this to clear his name. They should now refrain from gloating or complaining about being picked on and get on with the cricket.

2) If Australia thought they had heard a racial slur, they were right to complain. They should now accept that they were mistaken, not complain about the verdict and get on with the cricket.

Prem Panicker, writing in rediff.com, wonders whether in the light of the judgement ICC would take any action on Mike Procter.

Is it fair to say that Procter brought the game into disrepute by delivering a contentious verdict where there was—according to the ICC’s own man—no evidence to underpin such a judgment? And if that is a fair assessment of the performance of the match referee, is it fair to ask what, if anything, the ICC does, what processes it has, to monitor its own officials, to pull them up, to ensure optimum performance?

January 29, 2008

When Gilly went to water

Posted on 01/29/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	Shane Warne believes Adam Gilchrist provided the Australia team with common sense © Getty Images

Moments before heading out for his final session of Test cricket, Adam Gilchrist admitted he bawled his eyes out, caught up with emotion after addressing his team-mates. Alex Brown has more in the Age.

The tears began to well during the tea break, with Gilchrist preparing for the final session of a decorated 96-Test career. Eager to address his Australian team-mates for one, final oration, the vice-captain arose moments before play was set to resume.

While the tears flowed, Adam's brother, Glenn, was unaware of the events at the Adelaide Oval. Camping in Queensland, he was unreachable on his mobile phone and was finally informed when he walked into a shop to buy milk. Read more in the Courier Mail.

He was uncharacteristically flat. He obviously had something on his mind. I wish the bugger would have told me! I flew home and went four-wheel driving all weekend.

Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist might not have been best mates but in the Courier-Mail Warne reflects on what he liked about Gilchrist. Some of it is arguably faint praise: "Gilly is one of those solid citizens and a very good family man who rarely did anything wrong". Warne even manages to bring John Buchanan into the mix.

We had a mutual respect for each other and our positions in the team. He is a guy who was everyone's friend and Gilly will be missed around the dressing rooms a lot for his input and his commonsense. And when John Buchanan was in charge, let me tell you, we needed as much commonsense around as we could because I believe the coach had none. Speaking of the ex-coach, he should thank Gilly and the captain Ricky Ponting for an extension of his contract at the time because they were the only two people who wanted him to stay. Everyone else who was asked said "let him go, he has had his time". Gilly supported the coach. I say good on him for standing up for what he believed to be the best thing for the team.

Mike Coward writes in the Australian that for the first time in many years an element of self-doubt is detectable within the Australia team.

The Australians will be disconcerted by this unconvincing conclusion to the Test match season. They've lost confidence and rhythm since the first two wins of the summer against badly chosen Sri Lankan teams last November and after taking an unassailable lead against India. Certainly this is the case in the field where so many catches have been missed. This fact alone suggests a changed mindset. While it has been another successful season, there is no doubt the winds of change are gaining in velocity. To maintain heady standards with a restructured team is the task before Ponting.

With Australia's retirement list upto five, Nick Bryant looks at the possible replacements. Read more in BBC Sport

January 27, 2008

Gilly changed the way one looked at keepers

Posted on 01/27/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	"Once he started playing for Australia, he forced cricket boards across the globe to have a rethink on how they wanted their keepers to be" © Getty Images

Adam Gilchrist's retirement has got many emotional, some relieved, and plenty more appreciating just what the explosive wicketkeeper-batsman brought to the game. Anil Kumble, who has played against Gilchrist on numerous occasions, and who shares a mutual friendship with him, writes in the Hindustan Times that he was a different kind of opposition played and that it all boiled down to the fact that Gilchrist was a nice man, humble, straightforward, quite down to earth.

He also came across as someone who cared and made that extra effort to show it. I remember getting a surprise call from Gilly when I crossed 500 Test wickets. We weren’t playing after that and I was home when I got this call and the voice announced, ‘this is Adam Gilchrist’. Australia were touring Bangladesh at the time and he told me that he had been trying to get in touch with me for the last 10 days and that it had been really tough getting through from there. It was really nice of him, but he is that kind of guy.

Meanwhile, Sharda Ugra, who has covered cricket for years, acutely observes Kumble himself, noting a calm demeanor and pointing out how a scientific temper has been of more use than tempers of other kinds.

Over 18 years, he has only ever made news on the field and, on his day, he is a looming, fearsome adversary. But to an India punch-drunk on shortterm heroes, usually younger and younger batsmen in increasingly brief forms of the game, Kumble has virtually been invisible.

Read on in India Today.

January 26, 2008

Gilchrist should be celebrated, not castigated

Posted on 01/26/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	Adam Gilchrist should be appreciated, not attacked © Getty Images

Adam Gilchrist broke the world wicketkeeping record on Friday but that has been overshadowed by questions over his form and future, which Mike Coward in the Weekend Australian thinks is unfair.

It is a phenomenal achievement and this gentleman cricketer should be lauded like no other for there has been no other like him in the history of the game. His critics, who have been more conspicuous this summer, have one thing in common - a disturbingly short memory. All things being equal this consummate professional cricketer should be celebrated not castigated.

Steve Waugh in the Daily Telegraph reminds readers of the skill with which Gilchrist handled Shane Warne’s bowling.

In the Sydney Morning Herald Peter Roebuck analyses Ricky Ponting’s defensive mindset when Anil Kumble was still fresh in his innings.

This conservatism was a mistake because wickets remain crucial in the toughest times. Clearly Ponting did not want to give too much away. India have to win the match to level the series. Nevertheless the field that greeted Brett Lee as he stood at the top of the mark was humbling. A single slip had been placed to pounce on edges. The man behind point was in shouting range. Everyone else was lining the boundary. All seven of them.

Martin Flanagan writes in the Age that Ponting is facing unfamiliar problems, while Jon Pierik in the Herald Sun looks at Brad Hogg’s struggle to have an impact at Test level.

In the Courier-Mail Robert Craddock runs the rule over the five India stars unlikely to tour Australia again.

January 24, 2008

Decreed by the gods

Posted on 01/24/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

Sachin Tendulkar scoring a century at the ground Don Bradman made his own during the 1930s and 1940s must have been a moment decreed by the gods, writes Mike Coward in the Australian.

It has been very helpful for those who did not have the privilege of seeing Bradman to hear the little bloke, as he was so cheekily called by some of his peers - notably Bill O'Reilly and Sam Loxton - speak of Tendulkar in such glowing terms. While Bradman knew many of his records would never be equalled let alone broken, he was gracious enough to recognise the genius of a player of the modern age. After all, he played at a very different time - his career being played on 10 grounds in eight cities in Australia and England. Conversely, Tendulkar has played on 43 Test match grounds in 13 countries if you separate the sovereign nations of the Caribbean.

Alex Brown in the Age wonders if Sachin Tendulkar might do the unthinkable and pass Brian Lara’s record of 11,953 runs during the Adelaide Test.

Following his unbeaten innings of 124 yesterday, Sachin Tendulkar moved within 213 runs of Brian Lara's all-time Test run-scoring record, set at this very ground in 2005. By mortal standards, you'd suggest the prospect of Tendulkar overhauling Lara in this Test as likely as a South Australian conceding the point that Don Bradman was, in fact, a New South Welshman. But here's the thing. Tendulkar is no mortal.

Will Tendulkar play in 2012?

Posted on 01/24/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	Peter Roebuck has reason to believe Sachin Tendulkar will tour Australia for yet another Test series © Getty Images

Steve Waugh, writing in the Daily Telegraph, is impressed with Mitchell Johnson's progress. Waugh says Sachin Tendulkar's hundred was one that was typical of the "last third of Tendulkar's career."

Unhurried yet perfectly paced, mixing control with brutality and text book with innovation while recognising the significance of first-innings runs to his side.

His balance while playing his strokes was guided by a head that was repeatedly over the ball and unwavering in its stability. His knees were supple, allowing a smooth transfer of weight.

The "master of the single", Peter Roebuck believes, will be back in Australia in 2012. He says in the Sydney Morning Herald:

Unless his nerve fails him or batting becomes a chore, Tendulkar will be back in 2012. Far from losing focus, he looks eager. Rejecting the captaincy helped him to renew his vitality. After a struggle, he has come to terms with age; has learnt to combine the singles of experience with the boundaries of youth.

January 23, 2008

A champion's farewell?

Posted on 01/23/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	Sachin Tendulkar won't say if this is his last tour of Australia © Getty Images

Will the Adelaide Test be the last in Australia for India’s stars Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman? The answer could be yes and no. The Age finds out that while Kumble knows this is his last visit to Australia, Tendulkar and Dravid have not written off their chances of another tour.

In the Australian Mike Coward writes that if it is Tendulkar’s last Test in Australia, Adelaide, Don Bradman’s hometown, is a fitting farewell venue for a number of reasons.

Aside from his visits as India's master batsman that began in 1991-92 when he was 18, he was also in Adelaide for treatment for a severe back injury in 1999. To the delight of Rod Marsh and Wayne Phillips, principals at the Cricket Academy, he insisted on living with the students in a single room in the dormitory accommodation of the Del Monte guesthouse in suburban Henley Beach. Tendulkar laughed when reminded he had once asked Phillips for permission to leave the digs to buy fish and chips at nearby Henley square.

Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald says Australia need not fret about their Perth loss, as the return of Matthew Hayden and Brad Hogg will help immensely, while India must retain their focus.

India must surge again. Rows about the one-day side will not help. Nothing in Sourav Ganguly's batting or fielding in Perth suggested that he deserved a place in a 50-over side chosen to play on large, antipodean fields. Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman will also be going home, and not a whimper has been heard from their supporters. India cannot allow anything to distract them from matters in hand.

In the Daily Telegraph, Jon Pierik suggests Ricky Ponting faces one of his toughest challenges in Adelaide.

January 21, 2008

The stuff dreams are made of

Posted on 01/21/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	India are winning on a far more regular basis than in the past ©Getty Images

India's cricket history is a story of a few peaks and many heartbreaks. After the victory at Perth, Pradeep Magazine, writing in the Hindustan Times, is hopeful that the Indian team will win on a more consistent basis.

... has our time come? An Indian team after the Sydney fiasco was not supposed to fight back against a real champion side, like this one has done. That itself is the stuff dreams are made of.

Are we finally near fulfilling that dream where victories like these won’t make us react as if we have conquered the world? There does seem a hope that this team is capable of giving our headline-hunters in the media enough wins to treat sport as it should be: Sport and not war.

In the Indian Express, Mini Kapoor wonders whether the uproar following the Sydney Test, along with India's win and Anil Kumble's decision to drop charges against Brad Hogg, would bring back "an Australia we once knew? An Australian team that’s tough but still knows that cricket is, in the end, still a game? A game that is there sometimes for the losing."

January 20, 2008

Butcher than butch

Posted on 01/20/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	Ricky Ponting: A Norman Mailer clone? © Getty Images

The Observer's Will Buckley likens the Australian team to the famed writer, the late Norman Mailer, who was described by another novelist, Jim Lewis, as being "the greatest lesbian writer since Gertrude Stein." According to Buckley, this was because "Mailer was so aggressively heterosexual that he had crossed the line from macho to butch."

For Mailer, substitute the Australian cricket XI, who can lay fair claim to being the greatest lesbian sports team since Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova doubled up to win a Wimbledon and a couple of US Opens. Ricky Ponting's men are that butch. They are butcher than Terry Butcher at his butchest.

Not that this was always the case. A quarter of a century ago Australia were losing the Ashes and Kim Hughes was in tears, a double humiliation that convinced the Australian selectors to stop selecting curly blonds as captain and start picking Mailer clones. Allan Border, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and now Ricky Ponting, all hewn from the same baggy green cloth. Has there ever been a ballsier quartet in all of sport?

Success followed with a unique, at the time, run of 16 Test victories; followed by another 16 streak, which they attempted to better on Sky Sports last week. Being Mailerish, the achievement was not without controversy as their record-equalling win was surrounded by insult and injury. The Indians wanted to flounce off, the Aussies stood their ground. The world and his Australian wife took the Indians' side. Ponting's men were on the cusp of history, yet despised in their own land. Totally butch.

Meanwhile, Iain Fletcher, writing in the Independent on Sunday, describes the new-found peace between Australia and India during the Perth Test.

The Sunday Telegraph's Scyld Berry says that after Australia's loss at Perth, "England will have the comfort of knowing the Australians are not invincible" looking ahead to the Ashes.

January 19, 2008

Kumble finally gets his due

Posted on 01/19/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	Anil Kumble: Finally in the limelight © Getty Images

Peter Roebuck pays tribute to Anil Kumble in the Sydney Morning Herald, and says in hindsight India will question its delay in appreciating its champion cricketer.

In so many ways Kumble has been the rock of the team, a constant in the raging seas of life. He has been a Churchillian bowler, prepared to fight them on the beaches and on the fields and never to give up.

Few men have so far outstripped the natural resources assigned to them in their early days. But sport has always been inclined to mistake style for ability, show for substance.

In the same paper, Chloe Saltau says that "[Ishant] Sharma, with his heavy bling and natural physical gifts, could be a megastar in cricket-mad India".

Greg Baum writes in the Age, "three young Indian quicks who are all younger than Australia's youngest and had never set foot in Perth previously, exploited the local conditions better than the Australians. This as much as the result will exercise Australian minds; it hints at decline."

Meanwhile, in the Daily Telegraph, Robert Craddock says that Australian fans must get used to the occasional loss.

India's keeper of faith

Posted on 01/19/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

In a team full of forceful personalities with no shortage of alpha males, Laxman is an ephemeral presence, writes Sharda Ugra in her blog Free Hit.

Laxman's walk to the crease is all purposeful, rolling-shouldered, Johnnie Walker advert. Once there, he combines a stillness of demeanour with a bustle of run-seeking. Unlike in Sydney, his innings at Perth wasn't filled with strokes that picked the ball 13 cms from outside off and sent the disoriented thing to mid-wicket, but he could still look like he was batting for pleasure. At the end-of-day press conference, he remarked bafflingly that he enjoyed playing under pressure. Perhaps he thinks the words are synonyms.

Australia's castle ready to be stormed

Posted on 01/19/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	You could imagine Ricky Ponting getting about the outfield with a much-thumbed copy of the Spirit of Cricket in his back pocket, newly annotated by Anil Kumble © Getty Images

A fascinating fourth day is shaping up at the WACA and Robert Craddock writes in the Daily Telegraph that if Australia are beatable in Perth, they are beatable anywhere.

If India can storm the castle, unchallenged for 16 Tests, you can bet within months other nations will be bursting through the barricades and crash-tackle an Australian side that will soon tour Pakistan, India and the West Indies.

Mike Coward in the Weekend Australian believes that India appeared in a better frame of mind than Australia after the Sydney saga, and the Age’s Greg Baum also explores that theme by observing Australia in the field.

They were not sulking, but they were nonplussed. It was as if they now understood what they couldn't do, but were still unsure about what they could. You could imagine Ricky Ponting getting about the outfield with a much-thumbed copy of the Spirit of Cricket in his back pocket, newly annotated by Anil Kumble.

In the Sydney Morning Herald Peter Roebuck says Brett Lee had too little support, while Chloe Saltau in the Age and Peter Lalor in the Weekend Australian both look at Shaun Tait’s miserable return to Test cricket. Lalor writes that Tait “has been the cactus in the school play who somehow managed to miss his cue and forget his lines”.

January 18, 2008

Hayden's absence costs Australia

Posted on 01/18/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	The Australian team are sorely missing the services of Matthew Hayden, with the bat and in the slips © AFP

The Sydney Morning Herald points out that Australia are perhaps lagging behind in Perth due to the unavailability of Matthew Hayden, who's out due to a hamstring injury.

Matthew Hayden's absence from "the leather lounge" - as he describes his customary spot in the Australian slips cordon - has been almost as costly for Australia as his temporary vacation from the top of the order in the third Test against India.

Steve Waugh feels Australia should not lose faith in Shaun Tait, who went wicketless in his 21 overs. He says in the Daily Telegraph,

One of the problems in choosing a four-man pace attack is that the No. 4 bowler, especially if he is the man out of form, can tend to get the thin edge of the wedge.

I always found it very difficult managing an attack overstocked with fast or slow men. It's very hard to give everyone enough bowling, the end they like to bowl from or the ball when it is nice and hard.

Irfan Pathan, who yorked Waugh with a reverse-swinging delivery Waugh in his second Test, came in for praise.

When I first saw him four years ago I marvelled at the way he could swing the ball both ways and it has been surprising to see him dropped because of poor form and only appear for the third Test of the series.

Australia succumb to the tyranny of niceness

Posted on 01/18/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

David Hopps has been dispatched to Perth by the Guardian to cover the aftermath of Bollyline. Except, as he's been discovering, there's not a lot of aggro to report. Quite the contrary in fact. The Aussies have been so concerned about minding their Ps and Qs, they've temporarily forgotten how to win a cricket match.

Many psychologists will tell you that niceness is bad for you. Some psychologists even talk about the "tyranny of niceness", the urge that prevents you reaching your full potential. No psychologist is yet on record as saying that niceness can cost you Test matches but, if Australia lose in Perth, Ricky Ponting might well receive a cold call from one.

Australia have occasionally played about as naturally as Pete Doherty at a gig for the WI. Feral appeals have been arrested halfway through. Umpires have received heartfelt apologies for undue enthusiasm. Close-in fielders have politely asked the non-striking batsmen if they are in their way when they clearly are not. They are behaving as cricket would wish them to behave yet they are not entirely comfortable with it.

Elsewhere in The Guardian, Mike Selvey has been musing on the implications of Shane Warne's new favourite sport, Poker.

Well, good for him to get involved in what clearly is a burgeoning market, particularly online. But Texas Hold 'Em's gain is cricket's loss, or more specifically that of Hampshire, the county side he is contracted to lead this coming season as he has done for the past couple of years.

This week it was revealed that he will not be joining them for the start of the season and may miss chunks later on as his poker commitments take over. A contracted cricketer, one of the most famous ever employed by that county, is not going to fulfil his playing obligations because of poker.

Is this the end of a dynasty?

Posted on 01/18/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

As Australia face the potential end of their 16-match winning streak Robert Craddock in the Herald Sun asks the question, is this the finish of a great cricketing dynasty?

It is a fair question and one that must be asked in the wake of not just yesterday's collapse, but the startling themes of the past seven days of bare-knuckled Test combat between Australia and India. Even if Australia wriggles off the canvas and wins the third Test, it can be said with some surety that the mighty Australian aura is fading. Since the start of the Sydney Test, India has stood toe-to-toe and eyeball-to-eyeball with Australia, highlighting some deficiencies and cutting down some lofty reputations.

Greg Baum in the Age looks at the strangely unfamiliar Australia line-up that struggled on the second day in Perth.

This was something of an unknown Australia, sapped, by circumstance and attrition, of much of its renowned hard-headedness. Missing were not only Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer, but here, temporarily, Matthew Hayden; four stronger players in the mind Australia has not known. In their place were four players with a total of 13 Tests between them and already learning harsh lessons about how begrudging opponents, umpires and luck are in Test cricket.

In the same paper Chloe Saltau chats to Australia’s fitness advisor to find out how the players keep soldiering on in 40-degree heat.

January 17, 2008

India's pace brigade rattle Australia

Posted on 01/17/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	Ishant Sharma was impressive on the second day, showing good control to claim two wickets © AFP

The stunning display by India's young pace attack comprising RP Singh, Irfan Pathan and Ishant Sharma, who shared eight wickets between them to bowl out Australia for 212, has made many take note. Peter Roebuck, in his column in the Sydney Morning Herald, praises the 19-year-old Ishant, who claimed the vital wickets of Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke.

Sharma widened the breach. Already he has captured the imagination of Australian supporters. The sight of any other fellow walking out to bat in Sydney with two left-handed gloves might have provoked suspicion. But the Delhi-ite has an air of innocence that discourages murky thoughts. Presumably his cricket bag works along the same lines as his hair. Even his catching is naive and the sight of him hovering under a skier counts among the game's amusements.

But his spirit shines like a beacon from the lighthouses he resembles. The lofty paceman began by removing the home captain with a late swinger and followed by enticing Michael Clarke to push at another demanding delivery. The heat began to take its toll on the religious stringbean and before long the Australian rally was underway.

The Australian's Mike Coward appreciates Irfan's character and believes that he "still has a priceless opportunity to realise his vast potential and enjoy a distinguished career as a genuine allrounder."

In the Herald Sun, Steve Waugh calls Brett Lee "the world's No.1 fast bowler" and says it will need a strong performance by him to rescue Australia.

No return to the WACA of old

Posted on 01/17/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

Despite all the build-up the WACA pitch did not show too many glimpses of its fiery old self, Peter Lalor explains in the Australian.

Oh, there had been talk that the good old days were back. Talk that curator Cameron Sutherland had found a way for men to wear moustaches and open-neck shirts without looking like somebody on the way to a fancy dress party. The curator has applied a few centimetres of the old soil to the top of the deck, but it is not the elixir of youth that all had hoped for. You can sew the hair back on to a balding man's head but it does not give him back his vim or vigour. Alas, it is 2008, there is no way it will be 1976 again.

In the same paper Mike Coward says Australia’s decision to play four fast bowlers was perhaps made due to some dodgy advice.

On the evidence before us, Ponting, Hilditch and the West Australians, have been duped. On Tuesday, former opener Justin Langer recommended Ponting bowl first. But after sighting the deck yesterday before presenting Chris Rogers with his baggy green cap, Langer abruptly changed his advice.

Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that India threw away their advantage with lame dismissals, while Ben Dorries in the Courier-Mail reflects on a day when everyone was conspicuously on their best behaviour.

January 16, 2008

Behaving or boring?

Posted on 01/16/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	It was a kind of day where you wouldn't pick up anything interesting on the stump microphones © Getty Images

The WACA pitch could have perhaps been spared the headlines given how it turned out, but Greg Baum reflects on a rather quiet day in Perth, unlike the preceding Test in Sydney and its ugly aftermath, in the Age.

It looked like the end of the match - not the beginning. As the Australian and Indian teams took the field for the third Test at the WACA Ground yesterday, each player shook the hand of their opponents, football-style. That's 72 handshakes, 73 if you include the extra pat Australian captain Ricky Ponting gave Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh. At any rate, as the gesture count goes, it was a day-one record.

Writing in the Herald Sun, Robert Craddock wonders if the subdued on-field attitude of the Australians will affect their performance.

No doubt Australia's on-field persona will thaw out in time to finish somewhere between their current mood and the boisterous intimidation of Sydney.

But it will be interesting to see whether a more subdued approach to verbal intimidation takes some of the sting out of Australia's game.

Steve Waugh gives his take on the day's play in the same newspaper, and says Australia were conscious of their image right from the first major appeal of the day.

They were appealing with great gusto and then suddenly they weren't.

In fact they were not sure what to do or how to appeal, an obvious post-script to the scrutiny of the side's behaviour in the second Test at the SCG.

Meanwhile, news.com.au reports the Indian team has been provided with a police escort for their trip from the team hotel to the ground.

Cultural divide

Posted on 01/16/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

As the Australia-India Test series resumes in Perth with everyone having taken time to chill out after the events in Sydney, Mihir Bose, the BBC Sports editor, writes in the British Daily Telegraph about the reaction to the whole Harbhajan Singh incident, the split of opinion that he has encountered and a language barrier.

I had got on to the story because I was intrigued that Harbhajan should have used the word 'monkey'. I grew up in India and the word had never been seen as a racial insult. The Indian word for monkey is 'bandar' and in my childhood was used a word to chastise children who were naughty. I was often myself called a bandar if I became too high spirited. What I also wanted to know was, if Harbhajan did call Symonds 'monkey', did he use the English word or the Indian word, bandar?

In the Guardian David Hopps says that even though the series has survived, there are other issues bubbling under the surface and mostly they concern money and power.

India's post-Sydney mix of wild threats and risible excuses - none more ridiculous than the claim that because monkeys are venerated in India, if Harbhajan had used the term it could not be racist - have lost it much respect in Australia. In the week that the Indian board announced a £500m, 10-year TV deal for rights to its new Twenty20 competition - the Indian Premier League - its lack of sober assessment has smacked not for the first time of power without responsibility.

Another problem swept under the carpet

Posted on 01/16/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

Robert Craddock writes in the Daily Telegraph there were sweet words of reconciliation between Australia and India ahead of the Perth Test but meanwhile the ICC was ignoring a lingering issue.

The postponing of Harbhajan Singh's appeal against a three-match ban for racial abuse until after the end of the Test series was another example of the game turning its head sideways when eyeballed by controversy. Official excuses that it would take time to assemble witnesses were rubbish. They could have all been in Perth over the last three days.

In the Australian, Mike Coward hopes cricket can move on from the drama of Sydney.

By their demeanour and deeds over the next five days, the elite cricketers of Australia and India have an opportunity to apologise en masse for one of the sorriest weeks in the game in recent memory.

Likewise Peter Roebuck, who writes in his column in the Age that the time for bitterness has passed.

Everyone needs to move beyond the reprisal mentality. Hopefully, it will be a cracking contest. It is not beyond our capacity to ensure the series ends on a high note.

January 15, 2008

The question of one's image

Posted on 01/15/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	Indians cannot condemn Australia's triumphalism at match's end without considering Harbhajan's exuberance upon dismissing Ricky Ponting, says Greg Baum © AFP

Image is everything and nothing, says Sharda Ugra in her blog Free Hit.

Cricket is a game of skill and performance. On the tour of Australia, the most searing examination of skill and performance in the game that there is, it must be noted that the young Hindustanis who ‘give it back' have been somewhat silent on the scoreboard.

The affairs in the Sydney Test and its aftermath were not as simple as black and white, writes Greg Baum in the Age.

In Sydney, the Australians behaved thoughtlessly, suggesting that in their relentless quest to win, they enclosed themselves in a cocoon in which they study batting, bowling and fielding intimately, but grow oblivious to other sensitivities existing between Australia's pre-eminent sporting team and its public. Reportedly, they have been shocked by the backlash. In Perth, we should see the redress.

But India was thoughtless, too. Indians cannot condemn Australia's triumphalism at match's end without considering Harbhajan's exuberance upon dismissing Ricky Ponting. Both had the effect of rubbing an opponent's face in it. Personally, I was more entertained than offended by Harbhajan's effort, but I know Indians who were shocked.

Shaun Tait, named in the playing XI for the Perth Test, looks forward to getting a chance in his diary on bigstarcricket.com.

Who reprimands the media?

Posted on 01/15/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

When journalists are in breach of ethical behaviour who reprimands them, asks cricket historian Boria Majumdar in the weekly magazine Outlook.

Having read cricket history for a doctoral dissertation, I have read reportage on the game spanning more than a century. It is impossible to remember one comparable series where the journalists have acted with such lack of grace.

In the Guardian Lawrence Booth writes that an appeal to cricketers' humanity might work better than pious pleas on behalf of a spirit of cricket that has never really existed.

We - the fans and the pundits - will go on demanding complete commitment, we will go on criticising batsmen for getting out (it happens from time to time) and bowlers for sending down half-volleys. We will call them disgraces to their respective nations and we will make sure damn sure they do not want to fail .... We will, in other words, continue to get the game we deserve.

What's become of Steve Bucknor?

Posted on 01/15/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

The sun seems to be peeking through the grey clouds hanging over the fallout from the Sydney Test, with good news for Brad Hogg among others. But what has become of Steve Bucknor, the umpire sacked after the Test, wonders The Australian.

In The Age, Greg Baum says it’s time for the cricket to take centre stage again but pauses to suggest the idea of cultural misunderstanding between international cricketers is a myth:

They are all widely travelled cosmopolitans, visit each other's countries frequently, form friendships across national divides and mostly play together in England anyway. They understand each other well enough. Whatever Harbhajan said, he meant. Whatever the Australians said to provoke him, they meant.

But, back to the cricket and in the Sydney Morning Herald, Chloe Saltau reckons the Australians could use Shaun Tait in short, sharp bursts if, as expected, he’s called into the team. He has been used similarly at times this season for his state, South Australia.

January 13, 2008

ICC come off worst in Sydney storm

Posted on 01/13/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

If "monkey" and "bastard" are considered to be insulting terms, perhaps the ICC should "compile a dictionary of words that are offensive to the modern cricketer, or his culture," questions John Benaud in his fine piece in today's Independent on Sunday.

There was a time when the greatest insult to an Australian cricketer was to mention the phrase "no sheep in the top paddock". After the SCG Test the words "monkey" and "bastard" are apparently offensive. Speed and Co have a new challenge: compile a dictionary of words that are offensive to the modern cricketer, or his culture.

Before they make bigger asses of themselves they should recall the Collis King incident, Mount Smart Stadium, New Zealand, 1978. King, a most talented West Indian all-rounder then playing in World Series Cricket, took a terrible blow to the right groin and collapsed. The physio applied the magic "freeze" spray, but to no avail, and the stretcher arrived. This roused King, who looked down at his "magic-sprayed" groin, sat up abruptly and announced: "Jesus, I'm turning white; quick, spray me all over!"

Sledging's nadir

Posted on 01/13/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	In the spotlight: Harbhajan Singh © Getty Images

Mike Atherton, in the Sunday Telegraph, dissects the events of the Sydney Test last week and wonders whether the exposing of apparent racism reveals our concern in preserving cricket. Cricket as it used to be.

Funny thing, though, race. Sometimes what is perceived as a racist issue is not really about race at all. In Sydney, race was the issue that lanced the boil, but the pus underneath had been gathering and festering for years and concerned much more fundamental cricketing issues. Like what kind of team are Australia? Can a team who play exhilarating cricket and try their damnedest to win every game actually be bad for the game? Ultimately, the aftermath of Sydney was about the kind of game we want to see preserved. What does the game stand for, if anything at all, and what kind of game would we like to see played out on the most visible arena of all? In short, what is this thing we call the 'spirit of cricket'?

Let's get back to racism for a minute, for the surprise expressed after Sydney that it could exist on the cricket field goes to the very heart of the matter. No other sport, save golf perhaps, sees itself in such pure, mythical terms. Yet cricket has constantly failed to live up to these inbuilt ethical standards - cheating, match-fixing and, more recently, sledging have given constant lie to the notion that cricket is different to any other sport. The phrase 'It's not cricket' is one of the most remarkable marketing success stories of all time, especially when you consider the constant failure in reality of the players to live up to that ideal.

Revealed: Aussies' mission statement

Posted on 01/13/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	© Getty Images

Michael Jeh writes a tongue-in-cheek take on Australia's Spirit of Cricket in the Mid Day. The paper goes on to say that the piece should be "read with a spoon of double standards and a pinch of hypocrisy!"

Writing in the Pioneer, Ashok Malik argues that Australian cricket's race problem is actually an internal one, the sport being a white Anglo-Saxon bastion in an increasingly multiethnic society. "This makes Ponting's team either over-prickly or over-defensive when it comes to its lone coloured cricketer."

And Sharda Ugra, writing in the India Today, is worried about Australia's next tour of India in October.

How the rest of this Australia tour goes is immaterial but the atmosphere around the next one, if it is played so soon, will be pure poison. The cricketers may move on but India won’t forget. Corporate wolves will howl, the excitable in the media will put a sports contest ahead of news of the deaths of soldiers and farmers; there will be headlines of quasi-war, ‘vengeance’ and the ‘battle for honour’.

India is a gracious country but the return of Australia 10 months from now will bring out its least gracious face. Australia is a country of generous sports fans but its commanding cricket team travels the globe representing them like trash talkers, disrespectful of all opposition.

Harbhajan's latest belated excuse is an insult to all women, writes Sue Mott, in the Sydney Morning Herald.

The central tenet of Harbhajan's case is that he was disgracefully rude to a fellow cricketer's mother. The whole cricketing world seems to be united in the view this as such a minor infraction it can be viewed as a positive. No monkeys. Only mothers. All good. In fact, every one of them connected with the case, from ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed to the lip-happy bowler himself, should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. And one can only hope their mothers let them know so at the earliest opportunity.

January 12, 2008

The absence of rational thought

Posted on 01/12/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	The aftermath of Sydney is still filling column centimetres all over Australia © Getty Images

Mike Coward in the Weekend Australian gives his thoughts on Peter Roebuck’s call for Ricky Ponting to be sacked.

The most disturbing aspect of this sorry saga has been the absence of rational thought. The customarily temperate have been intemperate and so the issue has broadened to encompass nationalism and social and moral mores. The game has not been strong enough to prevent it from running out of control. Most irrational and damaging of all was the call for the axing of Ponting as captain at a time when it is widely acknowledged that he is maturing into a leader of some stature who can be compared favourably with renowned predecessors.

But Roebuck sticks by his argument in the Sydney Morning Herald and suggests Simon Katich and Brett Lee as a leadership team to succeed Ponting.

Robert Craddock, meanwhile, uses his Daily Telegraph column to paint a grim picture of the upcoming third Test.

Tension as thick as Kolkata's pollution haze will engulf Perth next week. At the first sign of trouble old wounds will be salted. The bottom line is the two sides don't like or trust each other and no amount of lecturing can change it.

The weekend newspapers allow plenty of space for analysis of Sydney. Tim Lane writes in the Age that cricket’s bosses treat the players and fans like fools, while in the same paper Brendan McArdle looks at some of Ricky Ponting’s shortcomings.

Paul Marsh, also in the Age, defends Australia’s players, Philip Derriman writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that sledging is hitting new lows at junior levels, and the same paper’s New Delhi correspondent Matt Wade reflects on being an Australian in India during the past week.

January 10, 2008

Shaking Ponting's tree

Posted on 01/10/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

In the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Roebuck defends his column from earlier this week in which he called for Ricky Ponting's sacking.

Time to shake the tree. Sacking the captain was the only story remotely dramatic enough to bring everything out into the open. And so the article was written. It had almost been sent earlier in the match but a fever had taken hold and the thought occurred that mood might have been affected. But the point was valid. The leadership had failed.

And so the debate began. And so Australia set about reclaiming its cricket team. Of course the players were angry, even shocked. Some of the column was too forceful. The comparison with wild dogs was unfair. Just that I have six dogs in Africa, likeable canines until they form a hunting pack. The reaction was startling, phones ringing, offers of money to go on television, threats, compliments. But the journalist is not the story. A nerve had been touched and the important matters were going to be addressed.

Peter Lalor writes in the Australian that the lack of understanding between India and Australia is symptomatic of something bigger and continues a pattern that needs examining.

The Indian argument goes like this: monkey is not offensive, bastard is. The Australian argument goes like this: bastard is not offensive, monkey is. It is a small symptom of a much larger cultural misunderstanding. And then there is the apparently larger issue of the match referee not believing Sachin Tendulkar's account of the monkey slur. To be honest, if the Little Master says it wasn't said, I'm inclined to believe him. He's a man of the highest integrity. Of course, there is the possibility that Sachin didn't hear it as opposed to it not being said. Still, there is another nagging sense of deja vu about the indignation of the Indian team.

It's not all about winning

Posted on 01/10/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	Poles apart: Ricky Ponting and Anil Kumble © AFP

Rohit Brijnath, writing in the BBC, feels that conduct is just as important as winning.

It is interesting that despite losing two successive Tests, the Indian cricket captain is still respected, and after winning 16 Tests in a row, there are calls in his own country for the Australian captain to be sacked.

A lesson is to be found here: how a team plays sport is important, but so is how it conducts itself. India's XI can barely field a ball competently, yet have become worthy of support simply because in the midst of madness they performed with dignity in Sydney.

No one ran, as Ponting is wont to, to remonstrate with the umpire when Australian batsmen were not given out when clearly they were; no one created a scene when Indian batsmen were given out when clearly they weren't. When Kumble spoke about "spirit", he spoke with the authority of a man who demanded it from his team.

The Telegraph's Michael Henderson says India's financial preeminence in the game needs to be recognised while discussing the present crisis.

In the Indian Express, Harsha Bhogle calls for a stop to on-field chatter.

January 9, 2008

'He called me a fool!'

Posted on 01/09/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	Australia are backing the wrong man to be their next captain © Getty Images

Christopher Martin-Jenkins of the Times joins the debate surrounding all that happened at the Sydney Test. He believes the BCCI's threat of cancelling the tour did the game a favour by stirring up the other issues raised by the Sydney Test, notably foul-mouthed sledging, cheating and the helplessness of umpires.

Somehow, Australia always seem to get the rub of the green at home. Visiting teams have been getting furious with umpires there since Don Bradman refused to walk when Jack Ikin was convinced that he had caught him early on England’s first postwar tour, and probably long before.

To my mind there was nothing worse in the recent game than Michael Clarke failing to walk after he had cut his first ball off the face of the bat to slip. That was enough to make me think that Australia are backing the wrong man if they want Clarke, not Mike Hussey, to be their next captain.

In the same paper, Simon Barnes writes that ever since sledging became widespread, it was always going to escalate to a point when two teams could no longer bear to be on the same pitch.

Continuing escalation is inevitable. If I called you an idiot, again and again and again, you would eventually call me a bloody fool. What would you think if I then staggered back in horror. “He called me a fool! He said bloody! This mustn’t be allowed!” That is what has happened.

In the Guardian, former Australian coach John Buchanan and former England fast bowler Frank Tyson argue on whether the Australians play fair.

An over-the-top media

Posted on 01/09/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

Dileep Premachandran turns a critical eye on the frenzy-filled writing by the Indian media. He writes in the Guardian:

"Bring the boys back home," said one, as though they were caught in some war zone fighting for national honour. Long on hysteria and short on fact, it was typical of the journalism without rigour that has become India's stock in trade.

Individuals who aren't aware of Glenn McGrath's achievements and what a full-toss is are sent to report on international games. Once there, they spend all day on the phone chatting to the office, discussing what 'spin' to give to the day's events. Once, Peter Roebuck and I asked a very earnest friend how much cricket he had managed to watch in between phone calls. His answer was revealing: "One over." These are the folk on location providing "insight".

When Ponting let the crisis happen

Posted on 01/09/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

"If Australia skipper Ricky Ponting had shown a little more sensitivity, an iota of the maturity that his opposite number from India has shown and perhaps, an understanding of the implications of what he was doing, there may have been no crisis in world cricket," writes Kadambari Murali in the Hindustan Times.

Kumble tried to reason with him, repeated that Harbhajan had made no racist remark, something Ponting knew, and no offence was intended.

He said it would be better for everyone concerned if they kept this out of the public domain.

But Ponting wouldn’t listen. Another attempt was made to convince the Aussies to drop the charge of racism, at Sunday night’s hearing, by all the members of the Indian Committee but to no avail.

“Apparently, Ponting was unwilling to see reason,” said a source, adding that Kumble was quite frustrated by the Aussie skipper’s inability to understand the sensitivity of the issue or its ramifications.

“He reminded Ponting, as did others at the hearing, that this went far beyond either of them and far beyond this Test, and the game of cricket.”

January 8, 2008

Players are the problem, not umpires

Posted on 01/08/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

Jonathan Agnew, the BBC’s cricket correspondent, has used his blog to give some forthright views on the current mess in Australia. He starts with Australia themselves.

What a shame it is that the legacy of this fine team will be so tarnished by the ugly and offensive manner in which it plays the game – and has done for at least three years.

Ricky Ponting’s men have trampled all over the spirit of cricket by offering the lame excuse that they are "hard". In their world, deliberately conning the umpire is part and parcel of the game

He then turns to the decision of the ICC to remove Steve Bucknor as umpire.

As I warned when Darrell Hair was seen off by the Pakistan Cricket Board 18 months ago, the way was opened for powerful cricket teams to dispose of officials when a decision is made they do not like. How dare the game be held to ransom in this way.

But the real fault lies with the players – and it is their behaviour, attitude and respect for the game and its traditions that need urgently to be addressed. Umpires will always make mistakes – just as the players do (although you wouldn’t believe it sometimes) and undermining their confidence by removing their most senior colleague in this way is unbelievably foolish.

India on shaky ground

Posted on 01/08/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	If Harbhajan Singh did call Symonds a monkey, then it was absolutely neccessary for Ricky Ponting to lodge a formal complaint © Getty Images

Mike Marqusee writes in the Guardian that as per the laws of cricket today, racist abuse is of special magnitude and if Harbhajan Singh did call Symonds a monkey, then it was absolutely neccessary for Ricky Ponting to lodge a formal complaint and for Mike Procter to punish Harbhajan accordingly.

Racist insults poison the game for players and spectators alike. They demean not only the opponent but an entire branch of the human family. Crucially, they have repercussions beyond the playing field. When one player abuses another's racial or ethnic origins, he both expresses and legitimises one of the most potent anti-social toxins at work in the modern world.

Following his strongly-worded article in which he called for the sacking of Ponting, Peter Roebuck has now written that the Indian team is also on shaky ground. He writes in the Melbourne-based Age:

India has a right to demand a second hearing, but it is hardly fit and proper for the entire tour to shudder to a halt in the meantime.

By skulking in hotel rooms the tourists stand in danger of losing public sympathy. Of course vociferous fanatics will remain loyal but only fools play to that gallery. The players should have continued with an admittedly idiotic itinerary. After all, Kumble's comments were made in the longer term interests of the game. Imperilling matches hardly serves that purpose.

It is about justice, not world domination

Posted on 01/08/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

"No sooner does India protest some gross inequity, than some bloke ... will harangue the world about how India should not be allowed to control cricket. It is about justice, not world domination," says Prem Panicker in his rediff blog.

Here is the situation: An allegation has been made. The only available, credible evidence is the word of the man making the allegation on one side, the word of the person against whom the allegation was made on the other, and the word of Tendulkar in the balance.
In India, such a case would have been dismissed out of hand - on the grounds that there is no evidence to prove the charge. Explain to us, if you will, what the principles of justice are in Australia - do you condemn first, and make up the reasons as you go along ... Can you, or anyone at all, explain how a judgment can be made against Harbhajan in this case?

None of this is to defend a player if he was in fact guilty, mind - the point being made is that neither we nor you know he is. One guy says he is guilty, he says he is not, and a player with international stature, with an unblemished reputation of close to two decades, says he is not guilty. So, sorry, we protest; we appeal the verdict; we await the appellate process - and if to your paranoid imagination all of that translates into India bidding for world domination, then so be it.

Meanwhile, the Indian cricket team attempted to relieve some of the pressure around the possible cancellation of the Australian tour by visiting Bondi Beach. Read a little about their sojourn, with audio bytes from Chetan Chauhan, the team manager, right here.

The Harbhajan affair simplified

Posted on 01/08/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	Opinions have been strongly divided on Australia's win © Getty Images

In the midst of a hurricane, with tensions, tempers and emotions on overdrive, one article - aimed at eight-year-olds - emerges as one of the more balanced pieces about the Sydney-gate affair. Read on in CBBC here.

The Sydney Morning Herald's Matt Wade, reporting from New Delhi, rounds up what the local newspapers have to say about the whole controversy.

Greg Baum, writing in the Age, says its time for both sides to shake hands, grow up and move on.

What to do? Calls for sackings are knee-jerk, the threat to abandon the tour nonsensical. Apart from anything else, the all-powerful television moguls here and in India would not countenance it. The tour will go on, and so will the captains. So law and order it must be.

The Deccan Herald's R Kaushik runs through the heated day's events and presents his case.

A clearer picture might emerge by the morrow, when an emergent Working Committee meeting in New Delhi will decide the next action. In the interests of Indian cricket and Indian pride, it has to be strong. And unyielding. Never mind the repercussions.

Steve Waugh, in a column for the Hindu, feels the incident is a case of cultural differences and says he does not brand Ricky Ponting unsporting.

At the end of the day, much of what is happening between the teams springs from an inability to understand each other’s culture. For an Indian, calling someone a monkey is not a terrible insult, and certainly not a racist one.

I saw the footage of what had happened involving Andrew Symonds when the Australians were in India. Most of the spectators were just having some light-hearted banter, and there was no malice in most cases.

The Hindustan Times' Pradeep Magazine writes that jingoism should have no place in fair play, accurately pointing out that no matter how many dollops of jingoistic claptrap the Indian media dishes out, the fact remains that in the end India could not bat for 70 overs to save a Test.

January 7, 2008

Ponting must be sacked

Posted on 01/07/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	The Australian team's behaviour surely hasn't impressed Peter Roebuck, the former Somerset captain © Getty Images

Peter Roebuck, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, has called upon Cricket Australia to remove Ricky Ponting from captaincy following the controversial Sydney Test.

If Cricket Australia cares a fig for the tattered reputation of our national team in our national sport, it will not for a moment longer tolerate the sort of arrogant and abrasive conduct seen from the captain and his senior players over the past few days. Beyond comparison it was the ugliest performance put up by an Australian side for 20 years.

Roebuck also didn't spare Michael Clarke, who is being groomed as Ponting's successor.

Michael Clarke also had a dreadful match but he is a young man and has time to rethink his outlook. That his mind was in disarray could be told from his batting. In the first innings he offered no shot to a straight ball and in the second he remained at the crease after giving an easy catch to slip. On this evidence Clarke cannot be promoted to the vice-captaincy of his country.

The response to the story is here.

Greg Baum, writing in the Age, calls for an end to the petulance.

Most of the offences that soured an otherwise fine Test match were petty. The exception was the charge and counter-charge of racism. Blatant dissent. Frivolous appealing. Refusing to walk when caught at slip. Refusing to walk when caught anywhere. Petulant and cynical slowing of the over rate. These would be frowned on in junior cricket. These ARE frowned on in junior cricket.

Robert Craddock, writing in the Courier-Mail, says the ICC faces one of the biggest days in its history.

India's threat to boycott the Australian tour has come down to a battle of who runs cricket - India or the ICC ... If the ICC feel Harbhajan was worth suspending they must not crumble in the face of a subcontinental blackmail from the world's most powerful cricket nation.

January 6, 2008

A sledgehammer for a walnut

Posted on 01/06/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	Harbhajan Singh was banned for three Tests © Getty Images

The three-Test ban Harbhajan Singh was given for an alleged racial comment against Andrew Symonds came too late in the night for most Australian newspapers. But in the Age, Greg Baum argues that a suspended sentence would have been appropriate.

Symonds had the right to expect better from a fellow professional than from a mindless crowd. Harbhajan said he was sorely provoked. The Australians said he had a history. Both doubtlessly are true. But did it warrant the throwing of the whole anti-racism book at Harbhajan? Did this walnut need a sledgehammer? Cricket is right to make an example of an offender. But it must be the right example, the right offender. Really, this ought to have been sorted out on the field, between players, captains and umpires. Since it was not, a suspended sentence should have sufficed. That sentence would have said to Harbhajan: if you didn't know better before, you do now.

Peter Lalor, writing in the Australian, disagrees and says Harbhajan deserves no sympathy if the allegations are true.

He could have used all sorts of expletives, he could have even ignored Symonds, but, according to a number of the Australian players, he went to the poison well to dish out the most toxic thing he could think of.

Steve Waugh says in the Daily Telegraph that the Harbhajan situation could have been handled better.

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.

Dodgy deeds leave sour taste

Posted on 01/06/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	© The Age

The initial fallout to the shenanigans at the SCG has started with Peter Roebuck firing the first shots. In his Sydney Morning Herald column he argues that India were robbed and that no sensible person would take satisfaction at Australia’s win.

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. Truth to tell, the last day was as bad as the first. It was a rotten contest that singularly failed to elevate the spirit.

Until another shocking decision was made by a 61-year-old umpire, reliable in his time but past his prime, the fifth day of this unattractive contest was offering plenty of tension to put alongside the memorable hundreds contributed by capable batsmen on both sides. Thereafter they might as well have drawn stumps, as all interest had been removed. Once justice and fair play have been ejected there is no point in playing the game.

Doing it for Laxwoman

Posted on 01/06/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

The Sydney Test has been hard-fought and controversial, so it’s pleasing to see some humour from Kerry O’Keeffe as he reflects on the first few days’ play in his Sunday Telegraph column.

VVS Laxman is using his wrists better than Edward Scissorhands. He posts a brilliant century in front of his wife, Laxwoman, and his children, the Laxettes. Sadly, Rahul “The Wall” Dravid is batting like a bug dying on your windscreen: you want to focus on the road but are compelled to watch the stricken insect’s last moments.

Peter Roebuck in the Sun-Herald writes that Ricky Ponting has taken his eye off the ball in this Test and has let Harbhajan Singh get under his skin. If Harbhajan is found guilty at a code-of-conduct hearing he should be banned for four Tests, according to Jon Pierik in the Sunday Telegraph.

Damien Fleming writes in the Sunday Age that umpires need to be given more technological assistance, while Keith Stackpole in the Sunday Herald Sun thinks back to his playing days, when umpires preferred players not to walk because it took the game out of their hands.

January 5, 2008

An undisputedly great batsman

Posted on 01/05/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

Mike Coward writes in the Weekend Australian that the SCG crowd truly appreciated Sachin Tendulkar’s third, and probably last, Test century at the ground.

For 127 years the game's greatest players have celebrated their art at this special place and earned the plaudits of the grateful citizens of the city. But aside from Don Bradman, surely few can have received such a sustained and emotional ovation as that accorded the diminutive giant of the contemporary game, Sachin Tendulkar. When the little maestro completed his second run through cover point to complete his 38th hundred and eighth against Australia, the crowd of 29,358 rose as one to acknowledge not just this innings but his undisputed greatness as a batsman.

Tendulkar's brilliance is also recognised by Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald, Greg Baum in the Age and Steve Waugh in the Daily Telegraph.

In the Age, Tim Lane reflects again on the walking debate and says the Australians cannot have it both ways, forcing decisions from umpires and then complaining about bad calls.

And for a piece of history read Mike Coward’s article on the remaining Invincibles watching the Sydney Test.

Wearing thick sunglasses and a badge that announces his vision impairment, [Sam] Loxton declared flippantly: "I'm not going blind, it's just that I can't see." As he looks towards proceedings in the middle from the comfort of the SCG Trust box he relies on his mates [Arthur] Morris and [Neil] Harvey for commentary. And how they relished sharing the news of VVS Laxman's batting on Thursday.

January 4, 2008

The delicate touch of a surgeon

Posted on 01/04/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

	VVS Laxman reserves his best for Australia © Getty Images

Thankfully, the players generated more newspaper copy than the umpires on the second day at the SCG and in the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Roebuck looks at VVS Laxman’s love of playing Australia.

It is passing strange that Laxman reserves his best performances for his team's most feared opponent. Against lesser sides he can look awkward, like a bear trying to perform a jig. At such times he seems inferior to tap-dancing colleagues. Then his mind becomes bogged down with thoughts of his own fallibility and his boots might as well be cased in mud.

Mike Coward writes in the Australian that cricket fans should be thankful that Laxman did not follow the advice of his parents and give up on cricket to concentrate on a medical career.

When he is on song and living up to the sobriquet of Very Very Special, there is no more attractive batsman in world cricket. One can envisage Laxman as a surgeon, deftly and delicately cutting and suturing, then accepting with grace the commendations of those who assisted. He is a humble man.

In the Daily Telegraph, Jon Pierik looks at some of the costly mistakes made by Adam Gilchrist and Mitchell Johnson.

But of course there was still room for questions over umpiring and the likes. Robert Craddock in his Courier-Mail blog argues that reminiscing over batsmen who used to walk is folly – remember WG Grace? Jake Niall, who is primarily an Australian football writer for the Age, wants a technological revolution to help umpires, while Malcolm Conn in the Australian suggests that match referees are useless.

January 2, 2008

How could they get it so wrong?

Posted on 01/02/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

Poor umpiring was the story from the first day in Sydney and Peter Roebuck, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, was particularly surprised by Steve Bucknor’s inability to hear Andrew Symonds’ edge to the wicketkeeper.

At such times it is easy to sit in a box with all the aids and blame the poor umpire for his mistake. But the snick was heard by pals sitting in the hullabulloo on the boundary's edge. It was heard in the sponsors' boxes, where the wine was flowing. It was heard by every fieldsman. Mahendra Dhoni has a reputation as a fair opponent, and he seemed to regard the decision as a formality. But Steve Bucknor did not hear anything. Clearly, the sweet-natured Jamaican is past his prime. Indeed, he was expected to retire after the World Cup. Those responsible for allowing him to linger were also partly responsible for a decision that changed the course of the day and possibly the match and series. David Richardson is the ICC's man in overall charge of these operations. He was lucky to survive the debacle at the World Cup.

In the Australian, Malcolm Conn says the poor decisions this series have not been limited to umpires – Mike Procter has conceded he should have found Yuvraj Singh guilty of dissent in Melbourne.

Jon Pierik in the Herald Sun looks at whether technology is the answer, Robert Craddock writes in his Courier-Mail blog that we just need better umpires, and in his Daily Telegraph column Steve Waugh suggests that umpires should be able to officiate in Tests involving their home country.

There were some cricketers out on the field on Wednesday as well, and Mike Coward in the Australian assesses the efforts of India’s new-ball duo RP Singh and Ishant Sharma.

January 1, 2008

The world to blame for Australia's success

Posted on 01/01/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

Australia are aiming for a record-equalling 16 straight Test wins and in the Australian, Mike Coward says it’s time for the rest of the world to be held accountable for not providing a challenge.

The game is at a critical point in its evolution with its traditional values and virtues being undermined or destroyed by the crass commercial imperative. India's hysterical reaction to its Twenty20 World Cup success in South Africa late last year was characteristic of the myopia that exists. Six months earlier, India had shown no interest or care for this style of the game. Now it is seen as the future and a perfect fit for a Bollywood view of the world.

Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that India must lift in Sydney or their tour will be doomed, while Greg Baum in the Age suggests their batsmen need to force the issue.

In the Australian, Peter Lalor remembers Sachin Tendulkar’s superb display when he last played a Test in Sydney, in 2003-04.

Having edged outside off stump a number of times beforehand, in Sydney the great batsman decided to remove the cover drive from his game. Like an ascetic he had cut off that which caused him to sin. It worked a treat. Tendulkar applied himself for almost 12 hours in two undefeated innings at the SCG to scuttle Australia's hopes of sending Steve Waugh from the field in his final Test with a victory.

The home advantage

Posted on 01/01/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08

In the Hindustan Times Pradeep Magazine criticises the Australian media which, according to him, resorts to all sorts of dubious write-ups whose aim is to completely destroy the players.

The Indian fielding was poor, maybe even laughable, and no one is taking away the right of the Australian media to criticise it. But to write that the fielders were behaving as if waiting for servants to fetch the ball is an obnoxious piece of below-the-belt writing, which needs to be ignored rather than highlighted.

In the same paper, Kadambari Murali is impressed by the conviction and total self-belief of the Australians.

They’ve consistently also maintained that to keep winning, it’s vital to get over the fear of failure. The team works in percentages, backs itself to win most matches and is prepared to lose one here and there in the bargain. Only Australia could have lost the game to India in Adelaide in 2003-04 after scoring 400 on the first day. They still didn’t change their way of playing because of just one failure. They maintained the same scoring rate and played for a result.

The Hindu's S Ram Mahesh feels Australia are coping well without Glenn McGrath, replaced by Mitchell Johnson, who gives them the option to attack and to strangle.

The lefty angle slanting across the right-hander, particularly at high pace, is the most severe of challenges for front-foot play. To drive anything but the fullest of deliveries is to court the risk of exposing the blade’s susceptible outside half. And forcing strokes with the vertical bat off the back-foot are for none save the foolhardy.