http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uORaBiGmDx4

Fair enough Watson/Katich and Gambhir all give as good as they get in this clip, but have a look at the scoreboard. Wouldn’t a better idea be for the two Aussie boys to shut up and say just worry about where your going to land the next one.

Back to Ponting and this defence of players, it is very noble and part of the Australian pysche ‘sticking by your mates’ blah blah. But when one of these mates is a glorified player with an alcohol abuse problem then this defence has to be questioned. Does Ponting like Symo for who he is and does he have his wellbeing at stake? Or does he just want to win at all costs, which would require a fit and firing Symonds?

In reference to the Channel 10 reporter and the question, I was just using that as an example as to how arrogant or ‘unhumble’ (not a word I know but I cant think of anything else, its Friday avo) a man could be. The media manager at CA must be paid a fortune, yet he cant even train Ponting on answering a simple question like that. Steve Waugh would have given a far more cultured response, something along the lnes of , ‘Yeh I think we have a strong squad, a good mix of young guys and experienced guys, were hoping for a really competitive series’. Simple. If your good then you dont need to go around telling everyone how good you are, people will do it for you.

Siddle is pie. Hopefully that comes through in the Ashes. Mitch Johnson is a star and will end up being a better more complete bowler then Brett Lee ever was/will be.

I was implying that because you knew so much about the Aussie side that you could in fact be James Sutherland?

Steve Waugh is an interesting case though. He was apparently one of the fiercest sledgers on the field, yet he was also the first to uphold the traditions of the game off it.

And I think you’ve underrated Siddle. He is faster than Bichel and bowls less pies.

James Sutherland?

Now on to Harbhajan. He is a moron, in the same manner that Ponting is I feel. He plays the game hard, not very fair and with a lack of respect for the game and his opponents.. Difference is he is not the captain of a nation, and usually does not make outlandish comments in the media. He’s smart enough to steer away from that.

Take for example Ponting’s press conference at the announcement of the Ashes squad, a Channel 10 reporter asked him, should England be worried about this squad? Pontings flat response was ‘ I don’t see why not’. What the hell? Ponting couldnt spell humility if it smacked him in the face. His squad is definetly not threatning when compared to the squads that have toured England in recent years, Graham Manou and Andrew McDonald? Your having a laugh. Siddle has a heart of a lion, but he reminds me of a slightly better version of Andy Bichel (thats not a compliment)

All im asking for from Ponting is a slightest bit of humilty, some respect for the game and his opponents, and some better on field body language. He is the captain of one the best teams in the world, yet his behaviour lets him down time and time again. Harbhajan’s behaviour is more to do with the fact that he simply a moron. Ponting should realise his position, respect it and look to great captains of the past such as the Chappel’s (Ian), Taylor and Waugh (Steven) on how to play the game in the right spirit.

Consider this, how many friends will Ponting have after he finishes playing that are from other countries? I reckon you could count it on one hand. I hope thats logical enough for you James (Sutherland?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3Ms37yt3lg

You’ve now conceded that you wrongly generalised my views and I won’t argue with you on who’s angrier. Our fellow readers can work that one out for themselves. In this thread alone you’ve said, to Aussies generally or specific people: “Get a grip mate”, “Have a cry Punter”, “Here’s hoping you get towelled up by England” and, my favourite especially coming from an Indian to an Aussie, “self righteous and ‘bigger than the game’ approach”. Did someone say monkeygate? All I can say is you’ve taken your writing style from the Gordon Ramsay school of diplomacy.

I won’t take any of your criticism of Ponting seriously until I hear your views on Harbhajan.

I’m just shaking my head at the amount of vitriol than can come from one person, against a team and person that they’ve never met. “Completley arrogant, and has no regard for anyone but himself” is how you described Ponting, yet I assume you’ve never met him.

By the way if you say to someone “Call it a hit and giggle all you want”, it does sound like an accusation. And one would be justified in finding it odd to be accused of such when one hadn’t called it hit and giggle at all.

It looks like you’ve been waiting for this chance to give it to the Aussies, but I can tell you most Aussies, even (or especially) the real cricket fans, don’t care that much. If that puts us in the dark ages, so be it. It is of course logical for an Indian to love T20 cricket, when it’s the only form they’re world champs in and they have the biggest comp in the world.

Have a read in case you think my opinion is in the minority.

First of all dont go and presume that I am a Pom. Im actually Indian and I don’t recall any time in recent history where we have been flogged by your side. All the contests have been relativley close and hard fought. My dislike of the team and particuarly Ponting stems from a long time back, he is tactically usless, completley arrogant, and has no regard for anyone but himself. I gather that you know all these Australian cricketers individually, therefore calling them ‘delightful blokes’. Who are you Bruce McAveney in disguise?

This new breed of cricketers are much more tolerable then the older guard of Healy, Hayden. Warne, McGrath (who is genuienly a nice bloke off the field) and Symonds, but thats because they have nothing to be arrogant about! They havent won anything of note and I’m doubtful they will win this Ashes. I never said that you yourself call T20 a Hit and Giggle, but this is the kind of mentality many people have surronding it, it was used as a descriptive expression, no need to get all agro about it.

Go find those blokes who give out ‘free hugs’, it seems you need one you angry little ant. Do some research before you come out swinging.

I’m not going to get into a pointless argument with an angry man. Take the time to look at other threads and see what I’ve said about how the Aussies approached the T20 WC. Don’t suppose an attitude from me without taking the time to read up. Go and find where I called T20 cricket hit and giggle. Go and find where I put it down. It’s much easier to assume that every Aussie thinks the same way and hate them all, I guess.

I’ve experienced Pommies hating the Aussies in cricket, especially in an English pub once in Paris in 2009. They all admitted there were no grounds for it, and they especially hated Warnie. They conceded it was mainly from copping hidings for so long.

Katich, Clarke, Lee, Clark, Hughes, MHussey, Johnson, Hauritz, Hilfenhaus, Siddle – these are all delightful blokes and you’d struggle to say a harsh word about any of them. All teams have their idiots (and you’d be close to the first nominee for the title from the Roar’s readers’ team), but most in the Aussie team are quality individuals. I assume tirades like yours are water off a duck’s back to them, because you don’t know them. You can go to one of the tests and scream your lungs out at them if it makes you feel any better. Warn us in advance so we can watch you on TV.

What do you expect Ponting to say? “We’re in crisis mode”? “The Ashes are gone”? They take test cricket more seriously than T20 cricket and you sure won’t find me criticising them for that.

Call it a hit and giggle all you want, hang on to the fact that Test cricket is the traditionalist form of the game by all means, but don’t go whinging and whining when T20 and the IPL eventually take over ODI’s are abolished and Test cricket is put on the backburner.

The selectors made some poor choices I think, and this means they’re arrogant? No, it means they’re stupid, which they’ve also proven with test selections over the last 2 years.

Brian if you are suggesting MClarke should open in the T20s you obviously haven’t been watching much of his batting lately.

And as someone else said – whether we won or lost the T20, it would have made no difference come Ashes time.

We invented the bloody thing, and like most other sports we invented, we’re pretty crap at it.

Obviously the Australian players are more than capable of adapting their skills to suit the format, they just A) Don’t know how to and B) Don’t want to. The latter smacks of the arrogance that has surrounded the side for almost 15 years. I say let them, if they don’t want to keep pace and continue this self righteous and ‘bigger than the game’ approach then that’s fine with me. If they are not careful however, the game could go past them in all formats, starting with T20.

Yes T20 is the future and is very marketable to the sub continent crowds, however the game was invented in England and is extremely popular there as well as the West Indies. The team that was picked was wrong, in fact Australia’s best T20 players are all retired ones, Hayden, Gilchrist and Warne! Coming into the tournament Ponting was quoted as saying

“With the amount of big tournaments we have coming up it was about making sure we were in the best shape,” by The Independent.

He was also referencing to the fact that himself, Clarke and M Hussey didn’t play IPL to make sure they were ready for these ‘big tournaments’. Now all of a sudden as they are dumped out of it, its not a big deal. Have a cry Punter.

The point being that a tight contest attracts punters. Now, I’ll be interested to see if Ch9 still show the remaining stages of the T20WC now that Australia is out, becuase it would be pretty poor form if they don’t, but it would also be indicative of the fickle nature of Australian sport followers. Likewise, let’s see how much press coverage the tournament gets here for the next 10 days..

Sam…I am sure there are many members of the Australian cricketing fraternity who can adapt their skills to the T20 format….I just get the impression that many of them don’t really want to….its a bit of hit and giggle, designed to entertain the tv audience on the sub continent….did you notice the ground advertisers…mostly Indian firms (Hero Honda, Ultratech Cement etc). I have no problem with T20, but we have the IPL, why bother with a Mickey Mouse World Cup every 2 years. Players complain about how much cricket they have to play, then they get another tournament thrown at them. I for one wouldn’t even be bothered if the Australians had won.

T20 may be the future, but it’s not for me.

If he never plays again, he may be Australia’s Bradman of Twenty20s!

Kumar Sangakkara – Test Average 55, ODI 36, T20 27

Gautam Gambhir – Test Average: 54, ODI 38, T20 31

Kevin Pietersen – Test Average 50, ODI 46, T20 28

Contrast this to the Aussies

M Clarke, Test Average 47, ODi, 42, T20 17

M Hussey Test Average: 55, ODI 54, T20 25

Even D Hussey, reknowned as a T20 specalist only has an average of 29 and a ODI average of 24.

So if the rest of the world are succesfully able to take their ‘skills’ and modify and adapt them to the T20 version of the game, then why not Australia? Excuses, excuses.

What is going to most interest me is those players that can perform in all three forms of the game.

Ian Chappel said it a while ago…that if you’re a good player..it doesn’t matter what format you play, you’re skills will shine through.

You might get lucky in a Twenty20 match with loads of wickets, or a quick fire 50 with edges etc..but I guess the point remains..that career statistics will prove who does have genuine cricket skills.

Unfortunately I agree with you that it is here to stay and no-one apart from maybe England and Australia really care that 20-20 will probably be ‘cricket’ in 20 or so years time because it will have smothered the other forms of the game.

When you say ‘Obviously the skill set is different to the likes of test match cricket, but who cares?’

I do for one, I acknowledge that I’m in the minority but I’m still entitled to an opinion.

In India’s game against Bangladesh the other night when Dhoni and Gahmbir were at the crease they were barely going at 6 an over. Yuvraj came to the crease and blasted 41 off 18 and put them in match winning position. Here is a prime example of the batting team wrestling back the advantage from the bowling team. Obviously the skill set is different to the likes of test match cricket, but who cares? Skills are skills, whether that be blocking out the last day of a test match, firing a quick 50 in the last 10 overs of an ODI or athletic and sublime fielding in T20. They all encompass what the game is about.

Added to this, T20 is the best way for emerging nations like Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands to find their feet in International cricket. If T20 is the catalyst to bring about change, growth and development of world cricket, then who is going to argue?

20-20 is so short that one quick fire 50 or 3 wickets changes the momentum so drastically that it is almost impossible to change. Over 50 overs a team can be 2-20 and still end up with a good score, in a test there is even more opportunity to change the momentum and that’s where the skills I appreciate are more on display.

I never said that Australia deserved to win against the WI or SL in fact having watched the WI game and the highlights of the SL game it’s clear that they have not picked the right team or implemented the right tactics in 20-20.

Brian the Soderling/Nadal isn’t the best analogy, If you’d said that instead of 5 sets they were playing 5 tie breakers then I would agree that would be tennis’s equivalent to 20-20 cricket. I didn’t say they would win, I did suggest the ratio is much better in shorter games.

I do find it interesting that you actually agree with me in the next sentence ‘Obviously less time in any sport helps the less skilled team.’ which is my exact point.

20-20 is so short that one quick fire 50 or 3 wickets changes the momentum so drastically that it is almost impossible to change. Over 50 overs a team can be 2-20 and still end up with a good score, in a test there is even more opportunity to change the momentum and that’s where the skills I appreciate are more on display.

I never said that Australia deserved to win against the WI or SL in fact having watched the WI game and the highlights of the SL game it’s clear that they have not picked the right team or implemented the right tactics in 20-20.

Brian that isn’t the best analogy, I do find it interesting that you actually agree with me in the next sentence ‘Obviously less time in any sport helps the less skilled team.’ which is my exact point.

Great article.

I can only agree with your assessment and history has since proven you correct with the Aussie defeat by Sri Lanka.

I haven’t watched either the IPL or the current tournament, but my son and I watched a replay of Warnies team winning a thriller in the IPL. Having been cruising defending 40+ runs from 21 balls, then giving away two overs costing 13 each, then picking up a few wickets to slow the chase, it was nothing if not exciting. It struck me that it is much faster and more exciting than baseball.

I really like the idea of the Netherlands, Ireland and scotland making some headway.

Packing Lords or the Oval is great but not much of an achievement given they seat only about 20K. But, it is good that the Poms have embraced 20/20. Now we need them to take the same attitude to the ELV’s. The principle is the same!!!! Entertainment!!!!