Andrew Strauss Talking Out of His Ass
In the final overs of Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar's improbable match-saving partnership in the first Ashes Test, the 12th man and physio spent as much time out in the middle as the batsmen themselves. Ricky Ponting was understandably upset about this, although he should probably spend more time thinking about how this would never have happened if Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne were still around. When asked about the obvious stalling, Andrew Strauss did his best Nixon-at-the-time-of-Watergate impression:
I'm sure every profession has its "drink spilled on gloves" equivalent. In my line of work, and to be honest its an excuse I used once some years ago, it is, "What do you mean you didn't get my story? I sent it hours ago. There must be something wrong with the e-mail."
"There was a lot of confusion, to be fair," Strauss said. "We first of all sent the 12th man out to let Jimmy and Monty know there was time left, and not the overs. Then there was drink spilled on Jimmy's gloves, and he called up to the dressing room and we weren't sure if he needed 12th man or physio.
I'm sure every profession has its "drink spilled on gloves" equivalent. In my line of work, and to be honest its an excuse I used once some years ago, it is, "What do you mean you didn't get my story? I sent it hours ago. There must be something wrong with the e-mail."
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Cricket,
Minority Reports
9 comments:
I think its Ricky Ponting who was speaking out of his ass... He's the last person who should be questioning anyone's sporting spirit...
An example from this particular match:
88.6
Hauritz to Collingwood, no run, beautiful ball! Wonderful drift away then turns back into Collingwood who's rapped on the pads, but it hits him outside the line. The ball rebounds to Ponting at silly point who takes a blinder to his left, then appeals for the catch - charging the umpire, imploring him! Aleem Dar says no, and it's the correct decision
Not to mention the Brad Haddin claimed stumping.. or the bump balls claimed as catches...
Enter the time machine....... Steve Bucknor warns Australia for time wasting, England v Australia, 3rd Test, Old Trafford, August 14, 2005
Oh and, this image really sums up Ponting. Screaming and waving the ball at the umpire because the umpire failed to give Collingwood out. In the grand scheme of things, Ponting's behaviour was, as usual, hypocritical and ugly (remember him abusing Duncan Fletcher when he was run out by 12th man, Gary Pratt? Refresh your memory here).
More time machine........
And it was Warne's sheer chutzpah which lay behind the blatant time-wasting that helped save Australia the game on the last two days. Batting on Monday he was involved in the most intensive gardening since the demise of Percy Thrower, hoping bad light would bring an early close. No blame attaches to him for trying it on, though some sticks to the umpires for letting him get away with it.
2005, Old Trafford
Q: I'm not going to defend Ponting, or any Aussie other than Gilchrist's, behaviour in general but with that specific incident, it was really close and even the replays were inconclusive. It was only Hot Spot that showed it was not out.
Tan: Although time-wasting is really annoying, it is something everyone does. It's like one government wiretapping and bugging other governments: everyone does it and everyone complains when it is done to them. What I took issue with was the absurd lameness of Strauss' excuse.
Haven't been keeping up with the Ashes, so don't have the foggiest what you're on about, but I love the title of this post! It's fantastic!
Bubs, I get that but I just find Ponting's whingeing pretty hypocritical. But it's also highly amusing to see him whinge about the 12th man, he probably still has issues at being run out by the 12th man in 2005. Poor little guy.
Tan: Gary Pratt in 2005 was hilarious. He was a brilliant fielder. The English team even invited him to travel with them in their open-top bus celebrations. And The Times recently named him in their Top 50 most influential Ashes players. Ponting does tend to whinge too much.
I should also give credit to James Anderson for shooing away the physio at the end.
You have to read Duncan Fletcher's demolition of Ponting in the Guardian, some extracts:
"If any side in the world doesn't play within the spirit of the game it's Ponting's Australians..."
"...we're left with the ridiculous situation of being told off by an Australian captain for transgressing cricket's spirit – a notion he seems to only vaguely understand himself."
"Back in 2005 Ponting and his team were over-aggressive towards the umpires on a regular basis, and he was at it again here. Ponting has to be careful. Someone needs to sit down and ask him what he understands by the spirit of the game."
Prickly Ricky Ponting is last man who can point fingers over cricket's 'spirit'
Ricky Ponting has a message for Andrew Strauss about time wasting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YRSpKGtHGM&feature=player_embedded
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