Ponting's sledgers should be ashamed

[DesiChap]

Ponting's sledgers should be ashamed By Gary Linnell January 09, 2008 QUICK, someone pass the deodorant - there's an awful stench hanging over Australia right now, and it smells like hypocrisy. Poor things. You are shocked and outraged. Some of you are ashamed and embarrassed to call yourselves Australian. That gum-chewing Ricky Ponting has tainted our reputation as good sports. Thoroughly indecent of him. We should hang the little bugger. According to a The Daily Telegraph online poll, 83 per cent of you believe Ponting is not a good ambassador for the game of cricket and 79 per cent believe the Australian team does not play in the true spirit of cricket. A further 53 per cent believe he was responsible for the disappearance of the Beaumont children, while 17 per cent think he "has some continuing involvement" in encouraging Ian Chappell to keep wearing that moustache. Some have even called for his sacking. Oh dear. What could possibly have incurred your wrath? It's that Spirit of Cricket thing, isn't it? What a wonderful notion. A game played in a rarefied atmosphere where fairness and good manners rule. Lush green fields where clean, flannelled men applaud the opposition for a good shot. A thoroughly decent world where politeness and fair play rule. Of course, those of you who cling to that ideal probably drove past the Bandido bikers' club house the other night, saw a fire raging out back and figured the boys were gathered around the campfire toasting marshmallows and singing Kum ba yah. How dare that uncouth Ponting and the rest of his hardened troupe of professionals disturb your reverie. Good God man, these chaps don't even have the decency to shave during a Test match. Little wonder they are terrorising those poor, good-natured Indian fellows from that fine sporting nation that wouldn't dare besmirch the game with the scent of money. Reality check, please. What has Ponting done that so many before him haven't? He offends your sensibilities because he plays ruthlessly? You are dismayed because he has a win-at-all-costs attitude? He is Satan in disguise because he will push the rules - and the umpires - to the limit? Welcome to modern sport. And to life, too. The Australian side has been branded arrogant and smug for the past 30 years - except for those years in the early 1980s when they were losing badly to everyone. Then we called them amateurish and out of their depth and demanded their heads on a plate - and got them. Now we are dominating without an opponent coming close to us in sight. Sixteen consecutive Test match victories. A phenomenal result. But now many claim it has come at too high a cost. Why? The critics can only reach for words like "big-headedness" and "cockiness". The hypocrisy is overwhelming. Cricket is the one athletic pursuit still experiencing growing pains since the explosion of professional sport in the second half of the 20th Century. It wants the best of both worlds - to uphold its self-created mythology as the noble sport played by decent gentlemen - and to greedily plunge head-first into the deep money pit of commercialism. So what is it that you critics of Ponting want? No one has said he has broken the rules, just nudged them a little. India may have been the victim of several incompetent umpiring decisions during the Sydney Test. Umpire Steve Bucknor has paid the price for that. But what illegalities were perpetrated? The Australia skipper has had his shortcomings. Perhaps he doesn't quite embody all those quaint notions of what you think we should have in a skipper. But surely his is a story worth celebrating, not denigrating. He has come from a poor housing commission area in Tasmania to lead one of the most dominating sporting sides in the world. He has overcome immaturity, a couple of unsavoury nightclub incidents and general scepticism to earn the respect of his peers. And there's also the small matter of him being the best batsman in the world right now. Because of the global demand for the game, cricketers need to be full-time professionals. Yes, they are paid well, but their careers are short, their positions constantly under threat from a hungry new generation and their opportunities to earn a living and set their families up for life just one flick of the wrist from being destroyed by injury or poor form. Those of you criticising Ponting, or wringing your hands with embarrassment over our Australian team and its drive for supremacy, need to stop clinging to the remnants of your childhoods. Go on, put away those Enid Blyton books you read during lunch breaks. No more fantasies. Ponting is not the stuff of nightmare. He's just another Australian staring back at you in the mirror. http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,23024503-23212,00.html