Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Sydney Test

As an Australian travelling in wonderful India and one who has closely followed the Sydney Test controversy, I would make the following points. First, the great game of cricket will survive and thrive, despite the recent events.

One need only remember Bodyline, the painful birth of World Series cricket, the tumult in cricket arising from South African apartheid, and the more recent betting and game-fixing scandals. They did not kill off cricket; nor will the Sydney Test.

Secondly, yes, the umpiring was very, very poor. India suffered extremely bad luck on many calls. Thirdly, while the Australian cricket team does occasionally convert "tough" into "boorish," I believe much of the criticism directed at the team, Ricky Ponting in particular, is unfair. His fairness has previously been displayed. Fourthly, as an Australian who has many Indian friends in Australia and India, I know that Australians as a whole are tolerant, even embracing, of foreign people and cultures.

When all is said, Australia and India have played much scintillating cricket and given fans around the world true excitement. No doubt, they will separately, but especially against each other, give fans much to celebrate in the future as well.

I don't know why many papers are bashing up the Australians - they have always played the game hard and tough on the field. This has happened for probably the last 35 years and I don't know what was new in the Sydney Test. Of course, the umpires got many wrong decisions, most of which went against India, and the ICC did a good thing by putting a new umpiring team in place for the next match. On action against Harbhajan Singh, I am from the minority which says we should look at the facts before coming to a judgment.

James Crawford's letter (Jan. 8) came as a whiff of fresh air. His observation that all Australians are not proud of what happened at Sydney bears testimony to the feelings of Mr. Crawford's class of Australians. Peter Roebuck's observation in The Sydney Morning Herald that it was a match that will have been relished only by rabid nationalists said it all.

Such high standard of objectivity from Australians is nothing new. The outrage expressed by many of them over the treatment meted out to Mohammed Haneef will always be remembered by the people.

Too much has been made of the Sydney Test match. It is the media that have blown the issue out of proportion. If umpires err in India, we argue that umpiring is the toughest job in the world. Kumble should rewind his memory to the 2006 tour of India to Pakistan. Indians claimed Inzamam-ul-Haq run out for obstructing the field. Captain Rahul Dravid defended the decision saying it was in the rules, and was not unsportsmanlike. Now Kumble says India alone played in the spirit of the game. When an umpiring decision is advantage India, we forget the spirit, when it is not, we invoke it. What a joke!

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