Ozzie Media spin

[THX_1138]

Michael Clarke 32 ?? Wow ! Doesn't time fly. It seems like only 3 years ago he made his debut against India as a 23 y.o. :regular_smile:

our resident genius is guilyt of a faux pas for mixing clarke with clark. nonetheless, its the Aussies who are older.

[coffee_rules]

How Australian Press works... India's batsmen facing hair-raising tim jserve.write("/SITE=TAUS/AREA=SPORT.CRICKET/AAMSZ=110X40/"); ipt> Count the number of negative remarks highlighted below in red: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Lalor | December 20, 2007 INDIA vice-captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was asked yesterday if he thought that a decline in the bounce and speed of Australian wickets might aid the Indians during their tour. Crowds at the Indian cricket team training in the nets at the MCG. He laughed and said, however low and slow they got, they would still raise the hairs on a batsman's neck when compared to even the fastest Indian tracks. The swashbuckling batsman and Indian superstar is on his first tour of Australia and is keen, like any young male tourist, for some adventure. "We faced a lot of swing music when we went to England," he said recently. "Every country specialises in something and Australia is famous for bouncy tracks, like England is for swing and India for spin bowling. "So when you go to any country, the challenges that you face are different. You have to play well over a period of time and adapt quickly. "Australia, anywhere in the world, is the biggest challenge. "Whether it's Test match cricket, one-day cricket or Twenty20 [T20? India beat them twice..how can they be leaders...Mr Dhoni], they are the leaders right now and they play good, consistent cricket for a long period and that's why they're the best team in the world." Dhoni then strapped on a chest pad and went out with the rest of the Indian players to the MCG nets for the visitors' only hit-out before today's tour game against Victoria. Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh showed they were still suffering from the effects of a long flight the day before by heading out to the centre wicket. Ground staff sent them in the right direction. The net session was a sight to behold. The batsmen pogoed about like punks in a St Kilda pub circa 1978. When they weren't jumping, they were flailing or failing to make convincing contact. Every now and then there was the dull sound of leather connecting with flesh closely followed by a muffled groan. Flies are so bad in Melbourne this year it won't be long before Chanel is doing a repellent to keep local trendsetters comfortable and perfumed. Until then, Sourav Ganguly did his bit by swatting repeatedly outside off stump with the enormous piece of willow that passes for his cricket bat. Let's hope he was killing flies, because god knows he wasn't making much contact with many cricket balls. RP Singh, a local net bowler, and long-tall teenage quick Ishant Sharma had the former captain swishing and swatting but rarely connecting. Ganguly went into the net session with a new bat and went out with one, although he did get a couple of leading edges to Anil Kumble's leg-spinners. Tendulkar batted with more success in the next net, but on the far side poor old Yuvraj Singh copped a couple of nasty blows that saw him limp away in pain. Dhoni had said earlier that with such little time to prepare for the first Test every chance to have a bat was important. Then again, there might have been some merit in the argument that it was better to keep the batsmen's confidence and bodies intact for all the good yesterday's outing did most. Only the bowlers moved with any conviction. Still, India has a batting line-up with more firepower than an American hillbilly family and if it gets going should be able to defend one side of the mountain. Tendulkar, Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and the swaggering Virender Sehwag have all got among the runs on various tours down under.

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[SachDan]

Coffee, just about an hour ago I read that column and was tempted copy here bcoz too much negative comments to demoralise our team. Press in UK is 100 times better than wats in Aus...UK media is always after their players!

[Dhondy]

I thought it was quite a humorous piece really. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Not negative, just facetious. You are allowed that, surely?

[Dhondy]

Just on that note, Australian pitches are usually pretty fair. Doesn't matter who's visiting, the pitches are not doctored to suit the home team. Fair bounce, good carry, not much lateral movement. You know you'll get lotsa bounce at Perth and Gabba, turn at Sydney, an absolute batting pradise at Adelaide Oval. Because they play true, you know what to expect. Indians can't pretend to be surprised when they finally get out and play there.

[shehanwije]

The Aus press is made up of a lot of ex players, with lots of other hangers on - and very few quality, professional journos (under 20%). As the Aus team has been winning for a long time, the numbers of cricket media jobs has increased significantly over the past 10-15 years - providing employment for ex players like never seen before. These guys know that if the Aus team falters for a period of time, then these cricket media jobs will evpourate into thin air. Why? In Aus, cricket competes with other popular sports (AFL, Rugby league, Rugby Union, Basketball etc etc) for sponsors, advertisers and eyeballs on TV screens. The dollars spent on cricket will move to other viable, successfull sports and the media jobs in cricket will be shed. Take out the true cricket lovers Less than 10%) in Aus, and most of the other fickle "fans" will move from cricket to others sports if the Aus team stop winning for an extended period of time. This is why you get the Aus media (the crap 80% anyway) attacking ALL visiting teams - its in their personal interest to see the Asu team keep winning. Its a simple case of preserving ones lifestyle. This is why we get a really poor quality, biased level of coverage in Aus.

[Prudent]

Peter Lalor is the worst cricket writer in Australia.

[Prudent]

See this : http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22564775-5001505,00.html

[SachDan]

Peter Lalor is the worst cricket writer in Australia.

Second that opinion.

[varun]

Oh c'mon guys.. have a sense of humor will ya ... That's hardly negative :D