as clean as a whistle...

shared by straight point on Wednesday, March 03, 2010

sorry to those who noticed... i was busy and could not update blog... and this will continue for a while...

but i could not held myself back on what happened today in first odi between australia vs new zealand...

i happen to catch last few overs live on set max and saw mithchell johnson almost stepped on scott styris when later stuck him for two consecutive boundaries... before that johnson was cleary seen pointing a finger on his head as an indicator to styris what he was upto... it was only a timely intervention from haddin, who literally pulled johnson away from the scene, which prevented the circumstances from getting worse...

i immediately checked at cricinfo's commentary... but the holy cows at cricinfo, almost dutifully, not only ignored the incident... but acted as if the match was played in the most humble conditions...

here is the account of that over...

45.1
Johnson to Styris, 1 run, full from Johnson and Styris heaves it through the leg side for a single to deep square leg

45.2
Johnson to Southee, no run, 146 kph, this one is short and quick and takes Southee on the right bicep and falls into the off side. Well done from the young man as he shows no pain

45.3
Johnson to Southee, 1 run, good length and Southee plays forward and edges to third man

45.4
Johnson to Styris, no run, short ball and Styris tries to pull but gets it off the edge into his front pad

45.5
Johnson to Styris, FOUR, 147 kph, bumper from Johnson with mid on and mif off up inside the circle and Styris pulls through wide mid on for four, good stroke

45.6
Johnson to Styris, FOUR, 147 kph, Styris sits back and pulls/heaves over mid wicket for four as Harris can't run it down from mid on

see... nothing happened... as if that was a routine over...

now see this video... of mitchell johnson and scott styris clash...



and also this pic... though not from the same match... but from the same tour...



the similarities are...

both times australia were under pressure...
both times batsman had the better of bowler in picture...
both times the match referee was ranjan madugalle...

but can you spot the difference...?

ok let me help you out...

if only the bowler's name was shanthakumaran sreesanth...

i bet... neither the match referee nor the holy cows at cricinfo would have missed the incident...

31 comments:

Suave said...

You realise both players were charged with offences, level 2 for Johnson, and a level 1 for Styris?

Did you conveniently forget that for your "boohoo they pick on India and indian players" whinge?

Soulberry said...

Suave...the author direction is to point out Cricinfo overlooking/not reporting the issue.

That they do this is known ever since they became an appendage.

The author here is merely recording their bias for posterity and should be congratulated for that.

Quite irrelevant to the topic about the punishment meted out later...that is NOT what the author is focussing on.

Maybe you should take your "boohoo" elsewhere...back where you came from, for making irrelevant comments not related to the topic.

Sorry about that SP, these Ozzie ticks bug me with their one-eyed stoopidity.

Expect more tickpanti in the times ahead.

Well caught Sir, the Muddack ticks are well exposed.

Late Inswing said...

Aussie boorishness and complicity of Crowe /Procter /Broad /Madugalle /Mahanama (all of whom have played at the highest level)is as commonplace as it is unfair.

Thanks for highlighting in words and pictures the duplicity of cricinfo.

Under Taylor the Aussies played hard and fair.

Under Waugh, they were menacing, yet there remained a modicum of respect to opponents.

Under Ponting, they cheat, they get into physical brawls and oh yes, they get soundly beaten in 2 out of 3 Ashes and lose in India, at home and lose the "Best Team" tag.Poetic justice.

namya said...

Cricinfo is the home of cricket SP. They report what they see. You can't blame them if the commentator's eyes wandered off for a measly 3 minutes during the confrontation.

Johnson now has had a shoving match with Benn and another round of boxing with Styris - too bad the ref Haddin (that is indeed ironical) stepped in. So he has been charged with some 60% off his match fees. Bacche ki Jaan loge kya?

cheers

Unknown said...

Is this what they mean by 'hard and competitive cricket'? And then what do the other international teams play?

Every team plays to win. But when the going gets tough, every player reacts differently. Is it just a coincidence that the most Australian players are known to react in an unfit manner in such situations?

Mahek said...

SP, you're not familiar with these signs. If you were you'd have also noticed how Bollinger sent off McCullum with a gesture similar to that of Shaun Tait.

straight point said...

first of all welcome suave... nice to see you after a while and thanks for spicing up the discussion...

i think you are 'suave' enough to know what commentary and bulletin means... and in both cricinfo failed to mention this major incident... even when i wrote the post after about couple of hrs after the game...

i also feel ranjan madugalle has officiated in so many matches that he would be conversant with the laws of game which are :

er the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel

2.2 Level 2 Offences

2.2.8 Using language or gesture(s) that is seriously obscene, seriously
offensive or of a seriously insulting nature
to another Player, Player
Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee or any other third
person during an International Match.

if you do not consider showing middle finger as obscene gesture then wait for the day when someone literally pulls his pants off and does what the gesture means on the field... but till then let me be happy with my bohooo... :)

straight point said...

thanks sb for standing ground in my absence i really appreciate that...

one more thing which i wanted to highlight is that why i chose sreesanth's name... while i could have easily put ishant, zaheer or any bowler for that fact...

i put sree's name only coz even if he does 10% of what these 'professionals' do he invited 1000% attention than them...

in fact sree's look almost juvenile in comparison to some of the mannerism of these professionals...

straight point said...

yes late swing... the decent behavior which the seem to put on for a while just the mask when they were not doing that great... now they have done better the real face is etching to show up...

straight point said...

hahaha... namya... yes i agree if not for haddin we would have seen more drama and hence more fine...

but more than that i was sincerely aghast at the ignorance of this major incident from cricinfo (the home of cricket) ppl...

straight point said...

yes SJ... as soon as they are under pressure they show their real 'class'... they just can't take it that someone had better of him in the field...

no wonder they were after the guy who was seriously threatening to take the game away from them on both occasions...

straight point said...

mahek... you are in a compulsive habit of assuming many a things...

let me reapeat what i comment to suave...

----------
i also feel ranjan madugalle has officiated in so many matches that he would be conversant with the laws of game which are :

er the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel

2.2 Level 2 Offences

2.2.8 Using language or gesture(s) that is seriously obscene, seriously
offensive or of a seriously insulting nature
to another Player, Player
Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee or any other third
person during an International Match.

if you do not consider showing middle finger as obscene gesture then wait for the day when someone literally pulls his pants off and does what the gesture means on the field... but till then let me be happy with my bohooo... :)

---------

just to add... ranjan madugalle should come up with the statement that since sp is not familiar with these signs... this proves that these signs are not offensive... or obscene in nature... hence i let these gentlemen go scott free...

*applauds* *claps*

Ankit Poddar said...

SP,

(wrt your comments to mahek)

if ranjan m was to do that, that would mean a lot of publicity, much deserved might i add!

Mahek said...

What I meant was you missed out on another incident.

straight point said...

yes ankit bit of publicity won't do any harm... :)

straight point said...

mahek.. as i said i only caught last few overs...

anyhow goes to show how they look at other directions when things happen...

Soulberry said...

Cricinfo's in house reappraisal?

How seriously can you take that? Good anyway that someone speaks up there once in a while.

Trideep said...

SP...

You were right.. if it had been a player from subcontinent, he would have definitely got banned for atleast 2 matches.. This kind of behavior has been going on for such a long time.. that now nobody even notices..

straight point said...

mahek i am confused by your comments... at one time you said you were merely pointing that the similar instance happened earlier in the match and at one point you come up with this...

i just said that if the rule is there implement it CONSISTENTLY...

did i say anything contradictory...?

straight point said...

SB... every single voice counts... that's how serious i take it... :)

straight point said...

trideep...

gambhir once brushes the shoulder gets banned... while MJ have done this twice in a short span but gets only 60% fine...

its not even a sick joke...

Mahek said...

SP, what I meant was if you had to pick every incident then you missed out on one from the same game. But it's also a fact that Indian players get away with some verbal volleys, a lot of times when they abuse in hindi.

The incident between Johnson and Styris was different. Both of them got away with light punishments.

Aditya said...

Poor Old sree, he just shouts and stares never flicks his finger or physically touches another player!

As far as I know RM had two options for MJ give him a 2 match ban or a fine and sadly he chose the fan!

MJ has to be in the list if serial offenders ..and it would be better if the ICC took away the match fee fine clause..either ban a player or not...that would put and end to all this and behaviors would also improve worldwide!

@mahek: we aren't talking about verbal abuse here..physical one is what that counts! when the Australian sledge don't you think they wouldn't use derogatory words?

btw, I have Blog-rolled you. Waiting for you to do the same :)
my blog : http://forwardshortleg.wordpress.com/

Aditya said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
straight point said...

yes aditya... this has been sree's story so far... if he sneezes it become a headline... while other seems to get away with murders...

all we want is icc needs to be strict and consistent in implementation... but even this seems hard to them...

thanks for blog-rolling me... i have returned the favor... with pleasure... :)

raj said...

Suava, as expected, is nowhere to be seen. Because people have startetd whipping him with logic, you see.

Soulberry, in the Michael Jeh link, there is this gem
"I saw the mathc, and there was no head butting"
So, remember if you want to defend Gambhir, this is the way
"I saw the match and there was no shoving. Gambhir didnt even contact Watson. The TV footage is graphics-enhanced"
Another gem
"We are ANZACs when it is required. So, you subcontinentals go shove your mouth elsewhere" or something like that.
That shows the attitude of Aus-NZ-Eng block. Their hearts beat for each other, and a change int he power equation in ICC will see them closing ranks and returning to the 20th century imperial cricket conferemce
And the likes of Suave will be happy then and will not speak a word against domination by Eng-Oz - not that they are speaking against the injustices and reprehensible behaviour of Aus and Eng now( Broad?)

straight point said...

exactly raj... the way styris downplayed the incident after the match proves that...

as the post at cricinfo says... wonder he would have said the same thing if a player from 'different' culture would have done that...

at last some sane voice...

Mahek said...

I saw Virat Kohli abuse Yusuf Pathan today and neither player seemed too upset. When Gambhir and Afridi clashed neither player complained to the umpires. The culture thing applies to us just as it does to ANZACs.

straight point said...

tho i didn't see it myself but i take your word for it that the abuse would have been similar in nature... just cos indian players involved does not make their crime any less...

players will keep on stepping the line... its the responsibility of authority to come hard on them at such offenses... so that they will think twice in indulging in such behavior...

Mahek said...

That wasn't the argument made in the first place, was it? It's no use talking about it because the ICC seems least bothered about being consistent on the issue of bad behaviour.

straight point said...

mahek... read my first comment in response to suave's and you would know the argument in first place...

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