Morons and Invincibles

	Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, wants more civility in cricket © Getty Images Enlarge

Civil war of words
Australia's governor-general, Michael Jeffery, has called for more civility in cricket, saying grace and courtesy have been lost from the game. The prime minister, Kevin Rudd, backed Jeffery's comments and Neil Harvey also chimed in. Harvey said cricket used to be a gentleman's game and the players had acted "like a pack of morons", which actually seems a rather ungentlemanly thing to say. Ricky Ponting was having none of it, putting Harvey back in his box and effectively telling the bigwigs to shove off and stick to politics. "I think one thing that a lot of people overlook is that we are not playing cricket in the 1950s and a lot of people, I think, are still living in the 1950s," Ponting said. "Neil Harvey seems to be the hardest man in the world to please where modern cricket is concerned. And to tell the truth there is no one in our current team, and I don't think there's too many around Australia that actually sit back and listen to what Neil Harvey has got to say." So there.

Bradman stays in the test line-up
Wonder what Harvey would say about this one regarding his former team-mate from the Invincibles. Current-affairs television shows would no doubt call it un-Australian not to know about Don Bradman and it seems the government agrees. A question regarding Bradman will remain as part of the citizenship test for new Australians, despite the immigration minister conceding it was not exactly the most important piece of information in the test. "It's a question about whether people ought to be failing the test on the basis of sports trivia answers, many of which would be failed by current Australians," the minister, Chris Evans, said. But after all his huffing and puffing he didn't dare ditch the Don.

I do, but do you?
The cricket world became used to stories about off-field liaisons during the Shane Warne era, but this is something new. Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan captain, has found himself in the middle of a debate over whether he actually has a wife. A woman from Hyderabad, Ayesha Siddiqui, wants to divorce Malik, but the problem is he doesn't think they are married. He does not deny having a relationship with the woman, but he says the two families could not agree on certain matters and a wedding did not take place. The woman's father suggests otherwise. "It was very grand party," he said. "The entire team was here including the then coach Mr Bob Woolmer and as well the director of the Pakistan Cricket Board and some of my friends. They all are witness." As if being the captain of an international cricket team was not enough to think about ...

One-nil to Anil
Anil Kumble, on the other hand, is happily married. But if he wasn't he might be quite a catch. The Indian Express reports that Australian women find the Indian players rather attractive and Kumble is a surprise pick as their favourite. "Apart from his looks and the charming smile, it's the very gentlemanly manner he's conducted through this series and in that Sydney controversy that Kumble has been liked so much," the paper reported. Some of the younger members of the squad might be jealous of Kumble's popularity, but Ishant Sharma, who is young enough to be Kumble's son, also rates a mention from the women of Australia.

Sleep is for losers
Playing an international in Melbourne one night and a domestic game in Perth the next day might seem a tad obsessive, but then David Hussey is the brother of Mr Cricket. Hussey made his Twenty20 debut for Australia at the MCG on Friday night and didn't get to bat. That did not stop him celebrating the victory but the problem was he had a four-hour flight first thing the next morning so he could take part in Victoria's one-day game against Western Australia at the WACA. "It has been huge, and unbelievable," Hussey said of his hectic weekend. "I was pretty tired, I didn't get much sleep because I was on such a high - got to sleep about 3.30am, up at 6.30am to catch a plane by 8.30am. But a quick shower and a couple of cups of coffee and I was right and ready to go." And just to prove sleep is for wimps, Hussey made 45 and grabbed a wicket in Victoria's win.

Quotehanger
"I was bawling my eyes out about two minutes before the final session."
Adam Gilchrist proves himself a big softie after leaving Test cricket with a draw in Adelaide