The International Cricket Committee has moved rather quickly following the end of Day 3 @ Sydney in the ongoing contest series between India and Australia.
In a statement, addressed to Cricket Australia, it said that Michael Clarke's unbeaten triple hundred should not count. At best it can count as a List A score or it must be adjusted to something in the range of 80-85.
This step was taken after questions were raised by Match referee Ranjan Madhugalle about India's tactics while bowling.
"I have been around for quite a while now and I know what a bowling attack looks like and I can sense when there is an intent to attack. What I saw at Sydney from India was....how should I say...the best I can say is that it resembled some sort of a protest movement..."
Like those "Occupy... protests that have sprung up over the world?" we asked...
"You can say that...expect that I am not sure what they were protesting...It had the feel of some sort of civil disobedience, non-violent, non-cooperation type movements...It was like they were protesting their own incompetence... Perhaps it was an involuntary response out of self-pity.." said Madhugalle...
While they investigate and certify that it was indeed "bowling" that India were doing, the ICC has said that none of the 100s by Australian batsmen will count.
In a separate event...Andrew Strauss was admitted to a hospital in London, England after he suffered a bout of acute depression and was reported to the local police by a neighbor who spotted him trying to commit suicide.
The TV in his living room was still on with Sehwag bowling.....
Andrew is said to be fine and is learning to deal with the guilt of humiliating such a pitiful Indian team earlier during last year's summer.
"It also throws up existential questions...perhaps we are not as good as we thought we were...." he said
1 comment:
BCCI decided to lobby to ban Clarke from playing anymore citing him as a bad influence on Indian cricket. They pointed to the facts that he doesn't chase personal records and doesn't play in the IPL as evidence of his disrespect for the game. Declaring when he was 72 runs short of the world record while knowing that 2.5 days to bowl India out is too much is being used as the most compelling evidence.
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