Sledgers Sledged???

Australians complaining about racial abuse on the cricket field is like Bill Gates cribbing about mal-functioning Windows or Jack the Ripper raising his voice against eve teasing or Hannibal ‘The Cannibal’ Lecter protesting against non-vegetarianism.
Having all but patented the art and science of sledging during cricket matches, they could have felt a glow of paternal pride inside themselves about the way their contribution to the realm of gamesmanship has been adopted by cricketers of other nations like Harbhajan Singh …

But, alas! They have never been too good at being at the receiving end of their own games.
Take the instance of Glenn McGrath, the great pace bowler and the great bully, who now takes a holier than thou look at the proceedings after having hung up his boots.
He felt that he was playing the game in the right spirits when, frustrated with the determined resistance put up by the gutsy Ramnaresh Sarwan, he went up and asked the batsman how a certain part of Brian Lara’s anatomy tasted.
However, he lost all his cool when the diminutive West Indian batsman responded “I don’t know, ask your wife.”

So, now, obviously Ponting and company are at a loss to decipher where they have gone away from the spirit of the game, although evidences of grassed catches being claimed and umpires being persuaded aggressively to lift their fingers and standing ground after being caught off the most atrocious edges, even in the first slip - are all there for the world to see.

Talking about the question of the ban on Harbhajan Singh, it is pretty evident that the world – the truly non-racial world – is finding it difficult to fathom how Mike Proctor passed the judgement on hearsay, with Michael Clarke’s word ultimately weighing more than Sachin Tendulkar’s. But, then, one must take into account that this very same Proctor had earlier gone on record saying that cricketers of certain countries should be given a greater leeway in terms of ‘gamesmanship’ since that is how they are used to playing the game.
Well, yardsticks redefined.

And as far as Bucknor is concerned, age has little to do with his bloomers. In 1992, he refused to ask for the third umpire when Johnty Rhodes had been short of the crease and India went on to suffer big time for that. In ’98 he was at the centre-stage during the controversial run out of Tendulkar at the Eden against Pakistan. In 1999, Down Under, he gave Sachin Tendulkar out helmet before wicket. In 2000, he got under the skins of the Bangladeshis in their first test match by asking the batsmen to avoid running on the wicket … to such a degree that after playing a shot, Aminul Islam was actually doing a lateral broad jump before starting down the wicket. In 2003, he upheld an lbw shout against Sachin even as the bowler was on his way back to the bowling mark for the next ball – Sachin was left with his jaw hanging. In 2005, at Eden again, he gave Sachin caught behind for 52 against Pakistan when an elephant could have passed between the ball and the outside edge. He made the 2007 World Cup final a farce with a sequence of his pseudo sagacious decisions.

In this context, if Bucknor is not banned, ICC can at least come up with a new official mode of dismissal – Bucknored.

The Aussies and the ICC chiefs are too used to walking over the cricketers of erstwhile colonies. They have got away with it way too often in the past, but it will be prudent on their part to realise that the times have changed. India is a major power in all spheres right now and can call the shots economically, politically and diplomatically. The earlier the world comes to terms with this fact the better it is for the international relationships and the game.