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WE LIKE SPORTS
Ozymandias:
--- Quote from: Inlander on 19 Jan 2010, 15:51 ---having only scored 127 runs in the first innings
--- End quote ---
Yr sport is insane.
Inlander:
It's not like they actually have to run all the way round the field every time. They get six "runs" just for hitting it over the fence and they don't even have to take a stride!
Rudi Voller:
--- Quote from: Inlander on 19 Jan 2010, 15:51 --- it's hard to escape the feeling that under his captaincy the Australian cricket team has become ever less gracious in victory and in defeat
--- End quote ---
The Australian team come across a hell of a lot less childish and petulant than the England. England's constant persecution complex about umpiring decisions is frankly embarrassing, and Stuart Broad really needs to grow up at some point. Going to the bother of officially complaining about the umpire after South Africa had let the ball tampering thing slide was just about the opposite of gracious.
And I feel Ponting gets a fairly hard rep a lot of the time. I don't think the team is any less sportsmanlike than it was under Waugh. If anything it's friendlier than it used to be. Or it might just seem that way now that they are no longer give the same impression of invulnerability.
Michael Slater is surprisingly good in the commentary booth. I expected him to be biased the same way most of them are, but he's remarkably knowledgable. Him and Atherton are probably the best I feel. No idea if you get Atherton down under, but he's superb. I talk about cricket far too much.
Inlander:
Actually I almost never listen to the T.V. commentary; if Channel 9's not actively cheering on Australia then they're trying to sell you some cheap piece of "memorabilia" or touting their latest crappy show. I prefer to listen to the ABC radio commentary.
As for the Australian team, I don't really follow cricket apart from the domestic test season so I couldn't say how they compare to other teams, but this ridiculously petulant display by Shane Watson upon his dismissal of Chris Gayle a couple of months ago (apparently all because Gayle had the temerity to say he was looking forward to scoring a few runs) seems indicative of the team's attitude at the moment: sore losers, and sore winners. Under Steve Waugh's captaincy they weren't exactly likeable, but you at least got the impression they were fair. Under Ponting the team seems more willing to try anything to get an angle, even (last summer) claiming as catches balls that the batsmen had blatantly missed - something I can never remember happening under Waugh or Mark Taylor.
Rudi Voller:
I haven't seen much of the Australian team since the Ashes, where I thought they handled themselves quite well, though that clip of Watson is pretty laughable. I think the biggest difference from the days of Waugh and Taylor (though I was pretty young at the time and could be misremembering) is that the teamused to carry a genuine air of menace. The current team just seem a bit childish, like a young kid trying to act the part that isn't really in them. The fast bowlers especially seem a bit too keen to play the part of a panto villain, snarling and glaring everywhere. I'm hoping they'll grow out of it.
As to the dishonesty, I think that's pretty much across the board. Everybody now claims bump balls as catches and the like, or excessively appealing. My particular favourite is England's New Great Hope appealing for LBW when the ball hit nothing but bat. Pretty embarrassing, and indicative of the direction the game seems to be taking.
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