Spirit of sport - my foot

The Second acrimonious Test match between Australia and India ended in a tense victory for the home team in Sydney in the penultimate over with part time spinner Michael Clarke turning up trumps with three wickets in that over.

The dubious umpiring decisions and the aggressive behaviour of the Australians, prompted Indian skipper Anil Kumble to say that one team was playing in the spirit of cricket.

In other words he was inferring that the baggy green caps were not.

Kumble saying that evoked memories of the famous bodyline era in the Test series between Australia and England. Bodyline was resorted to when the England captain Douglas Jardine got his hit man Harold Larwood to direct thunderbolts at the batsmen's body with a packed leg side slip cordon.

Many Aussie batsmen were struck life threatening blows and that prompted the Aussies to say that one side was playing the game and the other side not.

That incident nearly ended Test cricket between the two countries.

But why Jardine was faulted for these tactics was inexplicable. He was playing to the rules.

Then there was also the Greg Chappell incident where he got his brother Trevor to bowl underarm to a New Zealand batsman in a one-day international, and here too Greg was lynched for his tactics. Again Greg like Jardine was playing to the rules.

In spotlighting these incidents my point is to pose the question: Where or what is the spirit of the game?

Kumble should have been reminded that the spirit of the game, in every game was shot and buried from the time the famous Kerry Packer, introduced night cricket and with it plonked in enormous money to the participants.

Today money is what matters. There is mindboggling sums of money to be won and winning is the thing. With winning being the ONLY thing, the spirit of sport and its time honoured virtues went beyond the boundary.

I don't need to educate, not only Kumble, but all other sportsmen and women in what ever sport they indulge in, that the spirit of sport was long dead.

So Mr. Kumble please realise that what remains today is the ghost of the spirit.

The Australians led by Ricky Ponting and which team every other country would love to hate and beat, was taking aggressiveness to the wire in their quest for victory, and big, big money. So don't fault the Aussies, fault the system.

When the Indians stalled the Aussie dream run

On the eve of the Perth Test headlined - Sparks are bound to fly in Perth-I said, as for the Indians, they would be looking to make amends for their defeats in the previous Two Tests and win the remaining two, draw the series like they did the last time they toured and go back with their heads held high. And there is no reason why they should not. And that is exactly what they did.

The Indians admirably led by Anil Kumble did well to turn tables on the rampaging Australians and beat them by 72 runs in the Third cricket Test at the WACA in Perth.

With this upset win, the Indians have kept the series alive. If they triumph in Adelaide they would draw the 4-match series. And a drawn series would be a just result in this series that has seen a lot of drama.

The WACA wicket was going to be favourable to the home team and thinkling that way, they packed the attack with four pacemen.

Then they bowled first and skipper Ponting would have been smiling.

But finally what happened is history now.

Ponting has said that he misread the wicket. The pitch had always been a fast one, and Ponting expected it to remain that way. But like I have always said, a wicket cannot be predicted until one plays on it. Wicket readers please take note.

When the Indians lost in Sydney, not only the players but also the Board of Control for Cricket in India cried foul and they had the audacity to put the tour on hold.

Finally the International Cricket Council fell from grace when they danced to the tune of the Indians and although the Indians say they did not ask for the removal of umpire Steve Bucknor, the umpire was ruled out by the ICC.

The blame for the defeat was fairly and squarely laid on the two umpires Bucknor and Mark Benson.

When the Australians began their victory chase on the fourth day of the Third Test, umpires Asad Rauf and Billy Bowden boobed when they ruled Michael Hussey and Andrew Symonds out. Both going leg before. Now if the Aussies, put the series on hold like the Indians did citing the umpiring errors, would the ICC bend backwards, remove the umpires from further umpiring?

So it would be seen that what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.