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Who are you kidding?

Good day gentlemen at the ACB. What do you see into Ricky Ponting's outburst on Day 4 of the second Test against Srinath, when he got hit by a Srinath special in the helmet?

It was obvious to all and sundry that Ponting used offensive and abusive language from his lip movements as seen on television. Yet the umpires (David Shepherd and Steve Davis) only spoke to him and never reported him.

Now, I do not want to question their integrity, but the question of bias does arise, and I wonder just when you guys will wake up and smell the coffee. The coffee in this case is that the world is not blind; we the spectators do see your bias as clear as daylight and do know that Australian cricketers are no angels on the field. Some of the things they do does bring the game into disrepute. Yet, the officials, for reasons best known to them, turn a blind eye to it and keep going along merrily.

If you are serious about cleaning up the game and setting a good example for the youngsters playing cricket, then you certainly are doing a bad job of it. I play a little bit of local grade cricket here in Canberra and I know what goes on in the center of the field; it sometimes is definitely not pretty. This is exactly where the Aussies learn and hone their sledging skills. Some of it is quite harmless but some of it is not needed for the game.

Especially questioning every second decision a umpire gives. I know some of the guys in my club are very guilty of that and do show dissent out there. This flows directly from what they see on television. like Flanger get given out and while walking shake there heads, spit, lash their bats in the air, and are obviously muttering under the helmet. I agree that every batsman is disappointed when he gets out, but shouldn't this disappointment be expressed in a more private manner.

Let me ask: did ever show any signs that he believed he copped a bad decision in both the innings in while was walking of or after the game? No he did not. Or did Ramesh say anything when he got hit in the helmet from Brett Lee on Day 4 of this second Test match? No he did not! Yet Ricky Ponting, for some reason, did feel the need to.

So, if Prasad's celebrations were overboard, then wasn't Ponting out of line when he retaliated after getting hit in the helmet by Srinath.

If you are the best in the world you do not need to speak and shout or holler to prove that. You just need your deeds in the middle to do the talking, and none other than Sachin Tendulkar is the best exponent of that.

If you, the ACB officials and the umpires, were really serious about cleaning up the game such incidents would never go unnoticed in this manner. But who are you kidding? It is obvious to all and sundry that you do not care of such matters as long as your team wins. What ever happened to the gentleman's game in which winning was the most important goal of the team but behaviour on the field as equally important.

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