Thursday, January 8, 2009

Series wrap - tell your friends

I have really enjoyed this Test series against the Saffers.

Yeah we lost, but to worthy adversaries. There were no heart-breaking flukes; they deserved to win. It's been competitive, tense, exciting, lots of other adjectives that are eluding me right now.

If anyone says Test cricket is dull, hand them a copy of the third Test (or any of them really) and say 'you're wrong, bucko'.

Johnson almost carried Australia at times. Smith shined for South Africa. Ponting nearly redeemed himself. Siddle nearly proved himself. Duminy earnt big-time respect. Hayden reaped scorn.

Representatives from both sides have said at different times that the series was played in good spirit, and I think that certainly showed.

Unlike this time last year.

South Africa you are welcome here anytime.


Anonymous said...

You mean, as opposed to India, who play in such bad spirit? Oh the innocent Aussies, eh?

Anonymous said...

SAfs must learn to win in absence of Graeme Smith.....

Miss Field said...

Anon, you said it.

Sam... interesting times ahead! He'll be back like the bad penny he is before long though. :)

Oomby Dave said...

Haha the Indians were pricks when they were out here, sorry if your Indian but you side sucks bawls when it comes to the media... not cricket in any regard.

Anonymous said...

Oomby Dave

Talking of pricks, I think you should take a good long look at your own team! (Arrogant pricks that they are).

You are just a sore loser! You can't handle the fact that India beat your team. Well get used to it big baby. SA have have beaten you too, and very convincingly I might add. If SA had won the toss they would have won the last test too.

Welcome to our world. It might humble you a bit to lose for a change. Then again maybe not, I don't think it's sunk in yet. You lost, get over it!

In your own words "That's just not cricket in any regard"

French Sydneysider said...

I couldn't agree more with you Miss Field. Though I'm disappointed the Aussies lost it was an exciting series. Can't wait till the battle resumes in the Republic....

Anonymous said...

Well done SAFfers and all that.

Regarding the 'spirit', considering the war of words before the series, I wonder if there would have been more controversy if say the Sydney test was a decider (e.g re: McDonald's catch).

Oomby Dave said...

Anon, we lost to SA fair enough, and I would happily lose to a team thattook winning and losing well. But do you remember all the crap surrouning your team when things didn't fall you way? The BCCI wanting to pull out? And who could forget that obnoxious weed?

Indians are very good at winning on their home soil, talking to their own media, living the life of a superstar according to your customs and good on them. But when it comes to travelling, different media, you guys (I assume your indian:P) fall apart. If anything the Indian team needs to have a better publicist! Make your team look better and not a bunch of school boys who are used to getting it their own way :)

Oomby Dave said...

A good publicist might also help on the 'playgroud' when the kids start slapping each other ;)

David Barry said...

I wonder how much sledging went on. My guess would be that it was common.

Moses @ Beer and Sport said...

I'd imagine there was a lot of sledging, from both side, all in good fun of course.

Notice the way the two teams would mingle after each game and I read a few times about their visiting each other for beers etc. Good spirit, good cricket, no princesses.

Anonymous said...

Well, the obnoxious weed etc were merely being Australian in behaviour. They have done nothing much different from the likes of Slater(sledged and abused the umpire when the umpire gave a correct decision in favour of the batsnam), Ponting(constantly bullies umpires to give decisions in his favour and calls anyone who disagrees with him a satan a la George Bush), Lehmann(racial abuse) et al.

Aussie cricketers pushed a BCCI chief out of the podium. if Indians had done it in Australia, I can only imagine what sort of adjectives they will reap from you.

The thing is I have the balls to call Harbhajan Singh obnoxious because he was but I suppose you dont have the balls to call your misbehaving cricketers the same. Thats the difference, mate.

Anonymous said...

And Cameron White picking at the seams of a ball - you guys called Sachin Tendulkar and RAhul Dravid ball tamperers when anyone who has watched cricket closely would not date raise such a charge against such sticklers to rules as SRT and RSD. All of you will suspend disbeleief and give clean chit to C. White though.

Symonds actually stated that "being friendly with the opposition is not Cricket". What a loser! He was the one who instigated the Sydney affair and Ricky Ponting is a wanker who can dish it out but runs to mummy at the first instance of receiving it.
Aussies, oh, Aussies, hwo the rest of the world laughed at that - that is the textbook definiton of playground bully.

Anonymous said...

The world waited for a whitewash over the arrogant Australians. Pity it was not to be this time.

Australia just got lucky! I don't feel it was an honest win.

The last game was influenced firstly by the toss (lucky) and then by 2 very bad decisions getting Boucher and Kallis out. That Mc Donald catch was so obvious to all including Ponting who would rather cheat than admit the ball bounced. We all know he saw it.

In this series the Australians were outclassed and outplayed in all 3 tests including the last one (which was a fluke win).

Well Ponting can keep it. He is not a good captain at all. In the past he was lucky having the likes of McGragh and Warne to back him up. Easy being captain when you have talented players winning for you.

Now that Australia are in their regrouping stage with new players coming into the team Ponting can't handle the job. He is not a good leader. He regularly complains and takes it out on his teammates when things go wrong.

A good captain inspires confidence in his team, win or lose.

Australia needs a new captain.

steve said...

jeez, anon, the size of your chip must be as big as the Punjab. You're obviously indian - no other nationality whines, screams and rants all at once the way you lot do.

Moses @ Beer and Sport said...

Hey Steve,

I just ignore them when they can't even make the token effort of creating a google account to give us a name to reply to ;)

Anonymous said...

Look no further than your own nationality who are the kings of whingers and bad sportmanship. Biggest racists too.
Well you have a LOT to whinge about now since Australia lost the test series - it won't help though. You lost!

PS: For the record I am not Indian. EVERY nation dislikes the Australian team for reasons mentioned.

Moses @ Beer and Sport said...

calm down Anonymous, if that is your real name.

Here's a little youtube clip to put everything in perspective...

Oomby Dave said...

Moses i'm buying you a beer next time i'm in Sydney;)

Anon, go back to chairing the BCCI and leave cricket to the countries that treat it as a game and not a money making machine ;)

Tifosi guy said...

Just a biy mystified and amused at the same time by the responses of the so called ' true Aussies' on this site to the comments by Anonymous.

So let me get this straight - Australia plays and does everything in the ' spirit' of the game and India supposedly doesn't?

Right, some simple questions for you Aussies out there :

1. Go back to West Indies 1995, test match at Trinidad, one of the greatest Aussies - S Waugh claims what is clearly a bump catch of Lara. So this is A OK?

2. Back to Windies 2003, and the infamous Mcgrath- Sarwan bust up. It's all in the spirit right, since it was Mcgrath who started the bust up?

3. Ahem who were the blokes who got fined for sledging and abusing in South Africa 1994? Why hello welcome S Warne and M Hughes. Still A Ok?

4. Who called the Sri Lankans black ' *****'? Sure he got banned, for what 5 matches??

5. Warne welcome again, drugs and all 2003.

All prime examples of playing in the spirit right??

Let me not even get started on Sydney 2008, where Ponting and Clarke redefined a catch, as one where even if it bounces and is taken, it's OK!!!!!

Mates, get your heads out of the sand and don't play sanctimonius! It just plain sucks!

Just accept that the Aussie cricket team is not what it is used to be, and by god are there a few hard years ahead of you guys!!! Welcome to the ride folks!

Tifosi guy said...

Oomby dave

Sure the BCCI is full of cash, care to explain why CA and rest of the cricketing world rush up and butter and listen to every whims of the BCCI?

Oh and if you think BCCI is bad, explain why every supposed Aussie bloke wanted to join the IPL gravy train.

Mate, stop being an Ostrich!!

Oomby Dave said...

Tifosi guy, im not part of CA im an aussie fan and i can tell when a cashed up BCCI is influencing things they shouldnt. Like jumping up and down and "Threatening" to leave when things dont go their way? Now if they made ultimatums and the ICC were anything like the ECB then the BCCI (Big cashed-up crappy Inc) would be banished from cricket for a very long time...

hoggy said...

India are such spoilt shits

Anonymous said...

Ok everyone I apologise for my behaviour. You guys are all right and through this comment field I have realised the wrong path I have gone down. I hereby declare the Indians annoying and arrogant and want to start supporting the Aussie cricket team. GO aussie!

Tifosi guy said...

Oomby Dave

I'm not denying the role and power the BCCI has. It's not their fault, the rest of the world doesn't have the backbone to oppose them.

Your problems lies more with the CA. Take your rants to them. Else welcome to the gravy train!

Oh and the threatening bit, sure was not the most professional of things to do, but frankly the whole incident came about thanks to????

Oh hello Welcome Andrew ' I don't have friends' Symonds!!! who broke the supposed Mumbai pact. Can you give one explanation , how he got away with it after initiating the whole thing???? Who wielded the power there????

Hoggy - another Ostrich Aussie?? Welcome

Come to think of it, more often than not, the problem lies with the Aussies :)

Moses @ Beer and Sport said...

Funny, you guys just don't get it, perhaps a cultural thing. We're not defending anything against this so called spirit of cricket that our team do, that's just something pushed by CA administracrats to make the "product" more appealing to single mums on the pension.

To be fair, we had this argument last year and I was done with it then. I'm certainly not going to go into huge amounts of effort to defend myself to someone who posts anonymously.

Can't we just be glad that Smith mark II seems to be a pretty decent bloke and appreciate watching some cricket played where you get a genuine feeling that the opposing sides are in fact mates at stumps, a feeling I used to only get when we played the Poms, Kiwi's and Windies.

Tifosi guy said...


Funny enough you guys also don't seem to get it. We don't think it makes sense to abuse all day and then share a beer later. What warped up world you live in??? I suppose you do it in your normal working world as well?? I'm sorry I just don't get it.

You guys need to learn and accept that what's good for you guys need not be good for us and vice versa.

My rant was only on reading the sanctimonius Aussie comments. You guys are no better than the rest.

Moses @ Beer and Sport said...

well... I refer to two of my best mates as "ball-bag" and "fark-face", and my boss as "old cock"... so yes

Tifosi guy said...

Fair enough, it is a cultural thing. Which only supports my point. Anyways this would go on for ages without a settlement in sight, so you guys live in your world, we'll live in ours. Just make sure the lines don't cross.


Oomby Dave said...

Im hugely confused, this never happens when were talking about saffas or kiwis, but when the Indians are mentioned Miss Field gets 30 odd replies haha

Tifosi guy said...

Ah Oomby

Do you suffer from ' foot in the mouth' disease, or are you mentally challenged. Either way you just proved the point I made earlier - perhaps it didn't get through your head. So here goes and read carefully, might help!

Indians as a whole have the powers to be when it comes to cricket and cricketing issues. So if we wish, we can make something significant or not. In this case, it needed us Indians for this blog to get some hits! Ahem doesn't say much for the actual contents or the people on it normally, does it?

Did the above make any sense? Probably not because your head is buried deep in the sand!!

Miss Field said...

Cheers Tifosi, you really shouldn't flatter me so.

Moses - love your work.

Omby... ;)

Tifosi guy said...

For all your viewing pleasure, enough said :)

What do you know Miss Field, thanks to this your blog might have even more hits!!

Cheers! u sad pathetic bunch of whingers

Oomby Dave said...

Well I dont know about you guys but I aint letting Mr India here have the last say.

That video was good but not as good as Moses' one I do believe.

And thank you for pointing out the my foot has been wedged in my mouth this whole time, now I know why my jaw has been so sore recently and ive been only able to use one foot.

Tifosi, stop trolling and go watch some more cricket :)

Tifosi guy said...


What a blinkered one eye post. I simply rest my case - no point in trying to put sense in any of you guys.

Must give you this though, you did eventually realise that you did have your foot in your mouth. Now to only take your head off the sand as well.

Ah well, there is time. One small thing at a time.

Right, you ready for a T20 shellacking this evening? You better be - atleast it wouldn't spoil your evening too much!!

Oomby Dave said...

Tifosi, who in your infinate wisedom do you think will win?

Naresh said...

Funny that so many ozzies trying to sound holy here and not one occurrence of the phrase "hard but fair".

I think McGrath and Sarwan incident demostrates it very well that ozzies can dish it out but cannot take it.

Sanctimony personified.

Oomby Dave said...

When is the next Aus v India series...? :P


Tifosi, I am battling to log in to the Youtube clip suggested by you.

Is it possible to attach it here for easy access?

Thank you

Moses @ Beer and Sport said...

Hey SA Supporter, it's attached here..

Tifosi guy, I'm still recovering from that Twenty20 shellacking, might take weeks to get over that one...


Moses thank you for that but I have seen it. I thought Tifosi put a different videp clip on.

PS: I'm still shellshocked by that onslaught of Warner. Any chance they can give him some ritalin before the next game?

Moses @ Beer and Sport said...

Agreed, Warner did pretty well. Good news is the Gabba's a smaller ground and the one he eventually holed out on would be an easy 6 there

Oomby Dave said...

:O The last 6 comments haven't had some Indian telling us what to think! This is suprising...

Anonymous said...

hey oomby! please feel free to SHUT THE F**K UP!

There! you can start counting till the next indian post. IDIOT!

Miss Field said...

Anon, ta for proving my point.

Anonymous said...

What would that be Miss-Field?
the "i can shit any country in my post and be absolutely blind in my hypocrisy" point? you are welcome :) we have come to expect no less from the "hard but fair" ozzies.

Tifosi guy said...

Oomby and Moses

Unlike you guys, I happen to have a ' job ' which entails more than sitting in front of the PC or TV.

Oh Moses, how very Australian of you!! I linked to one clip and you conviniently linked to another. Lost your balls mate??

SA supporter, if you really want to watch the clip, go to youtube and type : Aussie Antics.or here is another attempt at linking it :

Ofcourse the owner of the blog can/cannot let it remain as a proper link.

Anyways the video has some clips which clearly shows why Punter needs to shove his catching pack right up his **se or if he prefers Clarkes.

Fair enough on the T20. After all the gloom, atleast something cheered you guys up!!

Moses @ Beer and Sport said...

I'm sure India are glad to have anonymous (if that is her real name) to stand up for their dignity online.

Otherwise people could say bad things about India, and left undefended these vicious lies could spread all over the Internets.

Next thing you know there'll be hundreds of people incorrectly believing that India acted like a bunch of pansies last year.

But thanks to anonymous' dilligent efforts in the war on monkeys we now know that they're still acting like a bunch of pansies. Bravo.

Moses @ Beer and Sport said...

Tifosi, Blogger does not give the blog owner functionality to edit posts, only to delete them.

As such, if your link is broken then you should look closer to home. Try using an anchor link as they are supported in comments.

As for me not fixing your link for you, I really can't see the point.

I personally don't like Ponting as captain, and amongst the reasons for this which I frequently cite on my blog are his stupid catching agreements. Just let the umpires do their jobs and worry about winning.

So, there's no hypocrisy when I agree to get rid of Punter as captain. I posted that youtube video to show that the Indians hardly have a clean bill of health in this regard either, so build a farking bridge and get over it.

Anonymous said...

"countries that treat it as a game and not a money making machine ;)"

Ah, glad to know CA does not want to make money out of cricket. Does explain the reason behind the media blackout, insane ticket prices, peddling useless memorabilia etc.

Btw, you will find very few Indians ever defending BCCI - most will agree that Indian cricket would have been richer (not in the literary sense) and stronger without the greedy political bickerers running (ruining, more like it) it.

I am not expecting the Aussie commentators to diss their own team all the time (miss-fields/Moses do it fairly on their blog anyway), but the perception here on the comment thread of what is right vs wrong in the spirit of the game is startlingly one-eyed:
Seems like Oz can do no wrong, and Indians are the only whiners existing in the game (hello ! anyone remember the pre-Pietersen Poms?).

Finally, I will reiterate my point about the OP: wonder if the 'spirit' between the teams would have been so good if Sydney was a decider game ? Considering the history between the two sides, I don't think so.

(posting of what should be the 50th comment under my real-fake name)

Anonymous said...

moses, just what are you blathering on about? you want my name? just ask. Its Ravi (I'm not a 'she' in case your super-racist-brain is not familiar with Indian names). I live in Bangalore. you want my address-phone number etc? just drop in another WHINGE and i'll give it to you.

Miss Field said...

hahahahaha. Ravi, please carry on.

Anonymous said...

Sorry for my rudeness Miss-Field, Oomby, Moses et al.

Indian fans think harbhajan is a total nut-job but we love his guts for standing up to the bullies and facing the entire garbage that the oz media had to throw at him.

Imagine an aussie having to come here and put up that kind of provocative-crap from all quarters. both on and off the field in a foreign country!!

I dont think CA would have done anything different from the BCCI. "cash or no-cash".

So wake up yourselves and change your "holier than thou" attitude before you go around judging others.


Oomby Dave said...

Tifosi, if you go to my links ( im actually a teacher, a real job, in a very difficult location, doing something not many people put their hands up to do. So there you go.

Ravi, fair enough. Its funny eh, im a quarter indian, half pom but born here and i titally support the Aussies blindly. Hurray!

Anonymous said...

Oomby, I loved the aussie teams led by taylor and waugh (except for some jumped up pricks like hayden, slater in them). Those were the teams that played "hard and fair". And you know gilly is my favorite cricketer of all time, i place him higher than sachin on my list.

What i loathe now about oz are the bunch of goons that are led by that 8 year old kid. And people like you who support that lot. I hope you get more guys like gilly in your team so that we can all start loving oz again.


Tifosi guy said...

What do you know!! Aussies can win two matches in a row :) Holy cow, now they will start bleating they are the best in the world!!

Btw, one query for all you blokes there - what's your take on Mark Nicholas commentating in Channel 9. I for one can't understand his sucking up to everything Australian. To boot, he's a Pom !!

Oomby good on you for working as a teacher!

Moses, my rant against you was simply because, ' South African Supporter' asked the link to the aussie antics, and you linked it to the Indian antics. Not too clever of you eh!!

Cheers folks, till the ODI's then.