Sunil blasts the Australians

[FRAZ]

BTW, if you want to witness sledging on a grand-scale, attend a tennis tournament and listen to the way that many players talk to each other - just because it isnt publicised doesnt mean that it doesnt happen

So you are backing it up or just telling a story !!!

 

[social]

So you are backing it up or just telling a story !!!

Ive witnessed it, if that's what u mean

 

[FRAZ]

Ive witnessed it, if that's what u mean

My question is still there wandering alone like an orphan .......

 

[social]

My question is still there wandering alone like an orphan .......

Do I approve of their behaviour, no

Hope your question has found its' parents now becuse I'm out of places to look

 

[adharcric]

Uhh WTF?

 

[FRAZ]

Uhh WTF?

yup !!

 

[Craig]

Commented during the world cup for their 'overly-aggressive' attitude and playing style.
You simply cannot accept that Australian sporting culture is way too win-oriented and as a result, produces way too many yobs who are loud, boisterious and totally uncouth compared to any other culture i've heard of.



No. Aussie team = uncouth. Thats the biggest reason to hate them.
WIndies were #1 for longer and in more comprehensive fashion than the Aussies and they were loved.
Brazilian soccer team is #1 and its loved.

FIFA rankings

 

[Craig]

Dire tbh... You realise that they are humans, and will be prone to lapses in judgement. You keep on throwing McGrath in when I'm talking about Slater. McGrath was a different case because he definitely STARTED that particular slanging match using completely unacceptable comments and then got upset when someone returned fire. It was understandable that a comment about his wife upset him, but I have no sympathy for him because he created that situation himself. McGrath is one of the "gooses" I referred to earlier in this thread - he's a great player who I generally admire enormously, but he sledges too much and says foolish things sometimes on the field.

Slater is a bit different because through the majority of his career he was a pretty friendly affable kind of guy who didn't have or cause problems with his behaviour. His nadir in India in 2001 is something that he's been honest about afterwards, in terms of acknowledging how far out of line he was, and it pretty much ended his international career (first hand accounts make it clear that after India he was on borrowed time in the team and he was dropped during the next tour for good). So he's admitted his error, he paid a hefty price for it, and has discussed, WITHOUT SEEKING TO EXCUSE HIMSELF, the various things that were going on in his life. That includes the end of his marriage, an ongoing struggle with a chronic disabling illness that left him in pain most of the time, and the beginning of a slide into a form of depressive illness.

Now you can right all of those things off as "excuses" and then use this specific incident as an fig-leaf to cover your generalisations, but to be honest, I think doing so says more about you than it does about Slater...

Best post of the week IMO and one of the best I have seen in a while.

 

[Burgey]

How many teams keep yelling at umpires till they give the right decision? How many teams publicly remonstrate an umpire in the middle of the field for not giving the decision in their favour? How many captains have said demeaning things to an umpire on the cricket field? How many teams appeal for a hit wicket when one of their own players throws a bail off the batsman's stumps? How many teams indulge in personal sledging on the cricket field at every given opportunity?



Look, I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of these Australian players in person and some of them are really really nice guys, some of the best blokes one can meet. Very down to earth for famous sportspersons. But somehow a lot of them just seem to think thatin the field, they can do whatever they want to do and get away with it.


And as far as Windies not being saintly when compared to this Australian side, I reckon the way the rest of the world talked about them then (and even now for that matter) shows it all. I am not sure if you will find too many kind words towards this Australian bunch. And its not like that West Indies side lacked aggression in the field. There is a difference between playing aggressively and just being spoilt brats on the field. And Australia have been on the other side far too many times. On the one hand you have nice blokes like Gilly, Martyn (perhaps Langer) etc. (Brett Lee against most sides is rather nice, but isn't the same against England or New Zealand for some reason). So many past players wont rave about the 80s Windies side this much if they weren't pretty nice guys. I guess the fact that they didn't shoot out too many personal insults on the field helped them get this reputation.

Mate, the answer to your questions in this post is - every team has done it at some stage or another and most still do. Look at the question of appealing for one - how many times have we watched teams operating on days 4 and 5 in the subcontinent with 4 men around the bat and there are four or more appeals an over, even as the ball speeds through wide mid-on to the fence?

Plenty of captains have said demeaning things about umpires, Hansie Cronje speared a stump into the umpires' room at Adelaide Oval when he walked off because he was unhappy with a decision. A certain Pakistan captain recently refused to bring his side back onto the field because of what two umpires did. Gavaskar himself, who now seeks to be portrayed as some paragon of virtue, tried to take Chauhan off the field with him when he was given out in 81. the act of a three-and-a-half year old child whose lollipop spilt on the ground and got all dirty.

Not sure about the hitwicket reference you're referring to, but how many captains take an obvious half volley which came off the batter's abdomen and went to 1st slip in a world cup final and apepal vigorously as if it's obviously out (that would be Ganguly in 2003, wouldn't it, from Gilchrist off Harbarjan's bowling?); how many teams have players who deliberately scuff up the pitch during a drinks break and then get suspended for what is balatantly cheating (that would be Afridi v England in Pakistan last time wouldn't it?) How many teams have captains who are caught tampering with the ball? That would be England with Mike Atherton wouldn't it?

Plenty of teams indulge in personal sledging on the cricket field. Lara sledged Mark Waugh on the WI tour to Australia in 1992-93 because Waugh backed away and played upper cuts in a one day game - he called him gutless; McDermott was called a "white c..." according to his book; Harbarjan never shuts up; neither does Paul Nixon the England 'keeper; Collingwood started the banter with Warne in Sydney, but Warne ended it; Tony Greig was a massive sledger as footage of any game where he took a wicket would demonstrate; Dwayne Bravo sledged Flintoff on WI last tour of England (with hilarious results); the Saffers are as renowned for it as the Aussies; Parore and Ian Smith were both great at it for NZ. Not sure about Pakistan because they speak Urdu all the time on the field, but when they do speak it, they seem to be looking at the batsmen a lot as they make their comments with less than friendly looks on their faces. Draw your own conclusions.

But yeah, as these examples obviously show, the Aussies are evil and have an appalling record of cheating and ill-discipline compared with every other side in the world. They are the only side which behave like spoiled brats, the only side which take losing poorly - I mean look at their disgraceful behaviour when they lost in India in 2001 or the Ashes in 2005 - oh that's right, they congratulated their opponents both times and in the latter case had the temerity to spend most of the series having a beer with them and having the whole world say what a great spirit the series was played in. In the former case, their captain in the great spirit of Aussie spoilt-brattedness spent his own money after the series building an orphanage for young female lepers in India.

Yep, no doubt the Aussies really are the biggest problem facing world cricket at the moment. Never mind match fixing, never mind drug taking, never mind the ICC is an organisational joke, never mind the tragedy of Zimbabwe and the under-resourcing of Bangladesh and Kenya by a world body rolling in money - some bloke has a verbal chop at another fella on the field and the world will cave in. It really is appalling. That's why so many of this Aussie team are always up on disciplinary charges, always being suspended, always surrounded in scandal on the field. Not.

We'll just keep hearing all the old examples - Ponting makes one inappropriate comment to an umpire in Malaysia therefore he's a prat and it's a disgrace and he's unfit to be a captain; McGrath's comment to Sarwan - we've only had that dredged up 14 million times as an example; what next - Lehmann's indefensible rant vs Sri Lanka about 5 years ago- will that be brought up again as an example of how these Aussies "cross the line" so often?

One last thiing - which captain was it who went to every other country's captain and asked them to accept a fielder's word on catches carrying? That would have been Ponting, wouldn't it? What a disgraceful, ill-tempered, unsportsmanlike gesture that was.

By the way, every other captain said no.

Let's have some perspective please.

 

[Matt79]

Saj for sure. Nobody rants like Burgey!

 

[honestbharani]

"but I do think that watching them get away with stuff that other teams (esp. the subcontinental or Windies sides) wont generally get away with has shot up the dislike factor of the Aussie side, esp. in the subcontinent."

r u serious? the Indians love us done they? Ever since Steve Waugh went there and did his stuff

they like Binger and Clarke too [blonde factor lol..well the girls] and from what i heard from Harsha Bogle they are erally well respected the Aussies in India

As I said in my post, most of the Aussies of the current bunch are tremendous blokes off the field. But you wont find too many Indians who love their antics on the field. They are most generally disliked and in some cases, hated.

 

[adharcric]

Saj for sure. Nobody rants like Burgey!

It may just be in line for a different award.

Burgey made several good points but Australia are the worst-behaved IMO. They aren't light-years worse than the others though and it's certainly not the issue it's made out to be.

 

[honestbharani]

Erm... all of them (i'm assuming you're talking about appealing here)

Erm... i seem to recall numerous captains doing this.

I'd say a number of them have, just that we havne't heard it as it hasn't been picked up by stump mike.



Out of interest, when did the first event happen, can't say i recall it . As for the second, i think it would be fair to say the a number of teams indulge in personal sledging on the cricket field.

I think some people are missing the point here, yes we know that the Australian Cricket Team is not a bunch of angels with Halo's floating above their head, and you'd have to ignorant to think otherwise. However, afaic, you'd also have to be ignorant to think that they're the only team like it. As it has already been mentioned in this thread, imo a lot of the negative media towards the Australian team is only created because they are indeed the no.1 team in the world, and have been so dominant for an extended period of team.

I think you'd find that is say South Africa was the no.1 team, there would be just as much focus, bad media upon them, and it would be them Gavaksar would be directing his comments at.

I never said they were the only team. But it is rather obvious they do it more regularly than most other teams and they were the pioneers in this.


And the reason why everyone notices, as others have already said in this thread, is because they do happen to be the champions of this era and whether you like it or not, champions of any sport are expected to set an example in terms of conduct and behaviour on the field is concerned. They basically REPRESENT the sport for people who are not avid followers of the game. My mom knows next to nothing about tennis, but she thinks it is a lovely game because of everything she has read (and seen on the odd occassions, when I get to watch some tennis) about Federer.


I know that New Zealand, England, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, RSA and heck INdia themselves have all been sledgers on a lot of occassions but in the middle of the 90s etc., I can easily say that Aussies did it far more regularly than any other team. It was just obvious. So many players, columnists and casual fans can't ALL be wrong about something that you just pick up through observation.

 

[honestbharani]

The 3 worst behaved teams in international cricket are:

1. South Africa

2. Pakistan

3. India - if for no other reason than Sreesanth is such a complete ****

The two series in South Africa this year between these 3 countries produced some of the worst behaviour seen in years.


As for Gavaskar's comments re the West Indies - crap

They were well known for racial slurs and Michael Holding has admitted as much

The fact that McGrath, Gillespie, Lee (against NZ and Eng), Warney (when he is being hit to all parts, which is not that often, to be fair to him), Hayden (his comments always make me wonder how he has two full feet to stand on, considering how many times he would have had to put it in his mouth) are all easily worse than Sreesanth does nothing to you?



The single most worst behaved team I have witnessed in my time of watching cricket is AUSTRALIA. Blokes like Border, Jones, and the lot I just mentioned above, idiots like Fleming shouting off at SAchin for umpire not giving him out (not banter, personal insults), McGrath insulting everybody's family at every given opportunity and then getting angry because Sarwan responded to a sledge with a sledge which implicated his wife (hypocrisy, anyone?).... It is easy to see why. It is all the more perplexing simply because some of these guys are absolute gems when one meets them off the field.

 

[honestbharani]

Didn't Malcolm Marshall threaten to kill David Boon if he didn't get out?

u really want me to list out how many times Aussies would have said "I ll kill you" and stuff to that effect and has been documented?

 

[honestbharani]

They weren't the only one's who gave home-town decisons. If you read Sir Garry Sobers autobiography (I'm sure you have) you will remember the bit about on his first tour of Pakistan and how he kept getting wrong calls against him because they didn't want to get a ton. One player even bragged about it. Not to forget the 2001 Test at Kolkata, there were some dodgy calls against the Australian players.

I know you probably don't intend to, but that is how it comes across.

trust me, there were dodgy calls against INdi as well. Laxman was 50 odd and wasn't out in the first dig when he was given out. I remember the Gilly shocker in that test, but the Laxman one was a shocker too. And there were a couple of times Hayden was out but wasn't given out. And Steve Waugh nicked the ball when he was on 30 odd off Prasad and was given not out off an obvious nick. And all these decisions were given by S.K.Bansal.

 

[honestbharani]

Tbh, I could never see how this supposed "abuse" our team dishes out is going to do any harm for the game and so on. I understand everyone loves the term 'gentlemans game' but things have changed since English boffins had a laugh and a bat on a sunday afternoon. Its hardly any worse than most other high paying sports, so grow a backbone ffs.

There are cultural differences at work, here. As I said, perhaps to be called a "son of a bitch" will be taken differently by an Aussie and by an Indian. Personally, if someone called me a SoB, I wouldn't really hesitate to try and take the guy's head off. There are lines that shouldn't be crossed in each culture and since cricket is a multi-cultural sport, they have tried to come up with a min. line that shouldn't be crossed and the Aussies cross it way too often and them being the best side in the world, it has just caught on. Everyone thinks it is cool to sledge and stuff. In my school team, the opening bowler thinks it is fun to show the finger everytime he dismisses a batsman. He thinks it will be his "thing" and his idols are Donald and McGrath. Easy to see why this is an issue, tbh.


Why do you think Sreesanth behaves like a tool when he is bowling? Who do you think he got it from? Holding? Marshall? or the local heroes, Kapil? Srinath? McGrath? Donald? I believe the answer is obvious.

 

[honestbharani]

I don't understand what you're saying is "BS" (love the irony of a thread complaining about Australians' lack of manner, yet who's doing all the swearing?). Are you saying that I'm wrong in suggesting those factors would have contributed to Slater acting in an out of character way?

There no doubt are other examples, but that was the one you chose to make your point. Don't get narky because you chose a poor example.

so we find an Aussie behaving in the worst way possible on a cricket field and it is the "worst" example?


This isn't like the "Warney was poor because he was bowling through injuries in 2001 in India and against Bangladesh a year or so ago", is it?

 

[Matt79]

Haha - keep working your way through the thread

 

[honestbharani]

He was biased !

did u watch the match?