Farce in Australia

[fatpunter]

The lunatics have taken over the asylum. An Indian Test player makes a racist remark to an Australian. The Indians take the huff when this is correctly reported. The Indians threaten the ICC that they will run home unless the three match ban is lifted and, while we are on, we did not like some of the decisions from Steve Bucknor so we will run home if he is not removed from the next Test.

The ICC in their ultimate wisdom unbelieveably remove Steve Bucknor from the next Test. What a huge can of worms has been opened.

In my opinion Mr Bucknor is one of the best, and most respected, umpires at Test level. We have all had the odd bad game and what has happened here is that Mr B, on reflection and after many slow motion replays no doubt, has been perceived to have made some errors. I do not know if he did or not but these decisions will have been made in good faith and should be accepted by all the players.

To be removed is absloutely outrageous. The ICC say that the decision to replace Steve has been made "in the best interests of the game". I beg to differ, the decision would appear to have been made "in the interests of keeping the Indians sweet because we stand to lose an awful amount of money if the Indians run home in a big huff".

Would anyone care to prove me wrong here?

We even have the likes of Harold Bird agreeing with this and stating that Steve should have retired. (I have had to use his Sunday name here as whatever anti-filth software is on this site seems not to like Harold's normal nickname and wanted to call him Thingy Bird!))

I repeat, the lunatics have taken over the asylum, the world has gone mad.

[wisden17]

Completely agree, although one does wonder whether Bucknor may have even asked to have been removed from the next Test. He certainly didn't look to be enjoying himself in the last one, and we all have off days.

I still rate him as an umpire, although certainly made some poor decisions, although its when people start claiming he was biased (as I've seen alleged elsewhere) that you do wonder whether people are losing the plot!

That said, be interesting to see what happens if this appeal for Singh is not successful. The BCCI have stated basically that if he isn't found not-guilty they will cancel the tour. Fun and games ahead me-thinks!

[TrueDub]

I don't think anybody comes out of this smelling of roses:

* the Indians have completely over-reacted, and now claim that Harbajan said something in Hindi that might have sounded like monkey but wasn't. Their whole attitude (team & Board) has been of a petulant schoolboy.

* The ICC have spinelessly given in to the Indians on replacing Steve Bucknor

* The Australians have had their conduct and reputation put under the microscope, and have been found wanting in a couple of areas

* The umpires definitely had a bad test match. Several decisions were poor. All decisions were made in good faith, however, and everyone has bad matches. I'm sure they are their own hardest critics

Some good may actually come from this fiasco, however. The Aussies are being forced to examine themselves by standards other than those set in the dressing room, which may result in a team that continues winning but becomes more likeable while doing it.

[wisden17]

Have you seen that Pakistan on the back of all this (!) wan the Oval Test Match result to be changed to a draw or abandoned game!

Rewriting history is never a good step, that's all I can say!

[fatpunter]

Indeed. The lunatics certainly have taken over the asylum.

If the Indians and Pakistanis take a major huff, which is brewing it would seem, why not just let them play themselves and let the rest of the world, who can accept authority even when not in their favour, get on with it.

No, that would not work either as history shows that Pakistan and India are not the best of pals and don't like playing each other. Too much alike, it would seem. Two sets of spoiled brats.

[swerveman]

Three, if you include Australia.

[TrueDub]

wisden17 said:

Have you seen that Pakistan on the back of all this (!) wan the Oval Test Match result to be changed to a draw or abandoned game!

Rewriting history is never a good step, that's all I can say!

The timing is a cooincidence, apparently - this was discussed before, and is supported by the ECB.

content-uk.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/story/330349.html

[wisden17]

"Inzamam told BBC's Urdu service that Pakistan should take a lead from the Indian board and push to change the result of the Oval Test."

This bit is new, and the most worrying! If Pakistan and India thing they can simply control the game then there are serious problems.

To be honest the ICC needs a complete overhaul, and in particular a neutral President, whose country of origin is not an issue!

[missingleg]

The ICC needs to find a backbone. They're a joke and an embarrassment. The power should not lie in the national cricket associations and yet the ICC encourage this. Disgusting.

I have yet to read a compelling argument as to why Bucknor should have been dropped (other than the likelihood of his being under pressure, even though it's his job!) or why The Oval Test result should be changed.

If the Pakistani players had played, there'd have been a different result, but they refused to play. That is clear. Regardless of their reasons, they forfeited the match.

I often think how better things would be these days under MCC rule!