In calm waters, every ship has a good captain.Captain Ricky Ponting is distinctly un-comfortable in un-chartered territory as he finds himself in an un-familiar role of manning the Aussie ship in un-friendly waters. Aussies lost their last five ODIs and have certainly lost their aura of invincibility. Already in a corner, it is easy to understand why cricket legend Sunny Gavaskar might have touched a raw nerve when he targeted Team Australia’s on-field behavior.
Gavaskar: "There is not the slightest doubt that in the last decade or so the Aussies have been awesome in batting, bowling and fielding, which has taken them to the top of the cricketing ladder. But they have also been awful in the way they have sometimes behaved on the field much to the chagrin of the traditional fans of the game."
Read Ricky’s response: Ponting targets Gavaskar over behaviour. Excerpt:
Ricky Ponting: "If he is talking about us, what about the way India has played their cricket over the last few years?" India won three of 12 Tests last year while Australia were successful in their ten games. "I know who I would rather be going to watch," Ponting told the paper. "Have a look at how many Test matches they have won. He [Gavaskar] has been a big part of that, he has been a selector and he has been on the coaching committee. They might want to start to look at the way they play their own cricket rather than looking at us."
Relax Ricky, its ok, not everybody can handle pressure, and I guess that’s what separates the good from the great. But seriously, we are talking about on-field behavior, not about winning matches. And while there are 20 holes in your childish response waiting to be torn apart, I think it’s time you shut your trap and focus on what you do best – score runs. Your logical reasoning and argumentative skills aren’t exactly your strong points – your batting is. Once you are out of your purple patch and the runs dry up, it will be tougher to fend off the vultures. So here is hoping that McGrath signs off in style, Hayden bludgeons his way through the WC, Symonds provides the balance your team needs, Clark plays to his potential, and you score some runs so you can win the WC and be an ass about it too. Maybe once you are in calm waters, you will mellow down and stick to being brash, arrogant, and abusive strictly on the field.
On a separate note, I think it is beneath a cricketing great like Gavaskar to even acknowledge Ricky’s comments. However, in his response ('Aussies could get whacked in a bar') to Ricky’s moronic statement, Gavaskar compares the Australians and the West Indies side of the 1970s and '80s, adding that the players from the Caribbean were more popular champions.
They [West Indies] did not abuse the opponents. They did not have anything to say to the opponents. When they were dominating world cricket the West Indians did not resort to personal abuse on the field, they just played the game hard, they were very tough competitors but there was nothing untoward in their behaviour towards their opponents. West Indian players always had a smile on their face when they came in at the end of day's play to talk with you and to commiserate when you lost, you could see that there was no arrogance there. Cricket lovers all over the world wanted the West Indies teams to get back on their feet and start winning again.
