[nukkad] Open your eyes, Ricky

["Gireesh Dixit" <>]

Open your eyes, Ricky 
Australia's captain needs greater awareness of his team's actions
January 8, 2008
        
Ricky Ponting is not a popular man in India (c) AFP

        
        
Somebody, probably a preschool teacher, needs to explain simply to Ricky 
Ponting about the damage that has been caused by his team during the Sydney 
Test. While India burns and fumes over issues ranging from race to umpiring and 
sportsmanship, Ponting continues to believe his team has done nothing
wrong. 
It is extraordinary that he doesn't understand the significance of India's 
threat to boycott the tour or Australia's direct and indirect roles in the 
lead-up to it. He is as temporarily blind as some of the officials were at the 
SCG. 
On a day when there was a call for Ponting, Australia's most successful 
captain, to be sacked 
<http://blogs.cricinfo.com/surfer/archives/2008/01/ponting_must_be.php> , his 
only concession was that he would sit down with Anil Kumble and talk about the 
situation "if Anil thinks that is necessary".
"But I'd be really surprised if he thought it was." 
If it's necessary? At the time Ponting was speaking to the Australian the 
entire tour was in doubt. A day earlier Kumble had accused Australia of not 
playing in the spirit of the game, an insult that should be even more damaging 
than "monkey" or "bastard" to any self-respecting cricketer. Obviously
it's not to Ponting, who remains convinced the match was played hard, fairly 
and properly. 
He still does not realise how bad the situation has become, which is where the 
expert at dealing with children comes in. "Yes, Ricky, I know you won the Test, 
and it was very, very exciting. Yes, you were a very good boy for giving 
Michael Clarke a bowl right at the end. But, and this is the hard
part, sometimes cricket is not all about winning. Your team was very naughty 
and now India are very, very upset." 
Ponting does not believe it. "I don't think there is much, if any, animosity 
between the players on both teams," he said, showing his lack of grasp on the 
issue. "Sure, there was a lot of emotion flying around from our side and the 
Indian side at the end of the match. I'm more than willing to sit
down and talk to Anil." 
In his column 
<http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23020032-5013997,00.html>  
in the same paper titled "I did the right thing by the game", Ponting said 
everyone in the Australian team knows how important the spirit of cricket is to 
the way they play. Not on the evidence of the Sydney
Test, with the contentious catching rulings, sledging, poor sportsmanship, 
persistent appeals on flagging umpires, and ungracious celebrations. 
The Indian players would laugh at Ponting's suggestion over his team's attitude 
and his view on "running to the umpires". Ponting passed on the information 
about Harbhajan Singh's racist comment to Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor, which 
eventually led to Harbhajan getting a three-Test ban and the
tourists considering going home. 
"Anyone who knows me and the way I play will be aware I do not make a point of 
running to umpires and making complaints," Ponting wrote. After his aggressive 
exchange with an Indian journalist at the end of the Test, where he said anyone 
who doubted his integrity over catches should not be in the
room, Ponting is losing credibility by the day. The only problem is it's only 
those outside the team who can see it. 
Peter English is the Australasia editor of Cricinfo




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