'He called me a fool!'
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Getty Images
Christopher Martin-Jenkins of the Times joins the debate surrounding all that happened at the Sydney Test. He believes the BCCI's threat of cancelling the tour did the game a favour by stirring up the other issues raised by the Sydney Test, notably foul-mouthed sledging, cheating and the helplessness of umpires.
Somehow, Australia always seem to get the rub of the green at home. Visiting teams have been getting furious with umpires there since Don Bradman refused to walk when Jack Ikin was convinced that he had caught him early on England’s first postwar tour, and probably long before.
To my mind there was nothing worse in the recent game than Michael Clarke failing to walk after he had cut his first ball off the face of the bat to slip. That was enough to make me think that Australia are backing the wrong man if they want Clarke, not Mike Hussey, to be their next captain.
In the same paper, Simon Barnes writes that ever since sledging became widespread, it was always going to escalate to a point when two teams could no longer bear to be on the same pitch.
Continuing escalation is inevitable. If I called you an idiot, again and again and again, you would eventually call me a bloody fool. What would you think if I then staggered back in horror. “He called me a fool! He said bloody! This mustn’t be allowed!” That is what has happened.
In the Guardian, former Australian coach John Buchanan and former England fast bowler Frank Tyson argue on whether the Australians play fair.
Nishi Narayanan is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo