Why are the Aussies so unpopular?

The Australian cricketers and their cricket are on top of the world. They are the champions in all forms of the game and they have no peer.

But the question often asked is: why are they so unpopular?

It is customary for champions or champion teams to bask in glory and be the darlings of all sports lovers. But inexplicably, the kangaroos are not.

Many fans reckon that their unpopularity is because they are arrogant in victory. A bit of arrogance in a winning team is acceptable.

But where the baggy green caps go wrong is that they adopt dirty, or unsporting tactics when the going is tough or when they are on the verge of losing or losing.

Now take for instance the final of the World Cup 2007 against Sri Lanka at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on Saturday and played before a full house of spectators.

Skipper Ricky Ponting struck the first ugly and unsporting note when he repeatedly ran on the wicket. He was warned by umpire Aleem Dar.

Now it is a shame, especially for a captain of side to be warned. As a leader he is expected to set an example. But what he did was unacceptable and a bad example to his teammates.

Now every cricketer when he is knee high to a bat, or puts on his first cricketing boots, or handles his bat, is lectured on the finer points of the game, and it is chisseled into him that it is not the winning or the losing that matters, but how one played the game.

But apparently the Aussie captain has not been told the good things of the game or has been told and is not amenable to discipline as his former brawls when he has been drunk has proved.

By the management not taking action against the skipper, it had to rub on the players following. And it did. This time the culprit was Michael Clarke.

Clarke was always running like a wild animal on the pitch going for a run. Unable to watch this despicable act, umpire Dar robbed him of a run and ordered him to go back and bat again. What did Clarke do next. He hit the ball and to spite the umpire he ran down the adjoining wickets.

The crowd that noticed this ugly side of Clarke gave him a big boo when he did that.

By running down the wicket, the Aussies were attempting to damage it, so that when the Lankans bat those footmarks would help their bowlers to capitalise on an make it hell for the Lankan batsmen.

Now why did the Aussies have to resort to such dirty and unsporting tactics? True every team plays to win. But to try to cheat and win like the present Aussie cricketers are doing, is to in the long run damage not only their reputation, but also sully the good name of the country. And this they have already done. Sad. Shame, not done and unforgivable.

Former great Australian teams never did resort to pariah tactics to come first and be on the victory podium. A podium is meant for true champions not for undesirables.

Having said that I would now like to move to Adam Gilchrist and his now famous squash ball. Ask any cricketer, repeat any cricketer and he will tell you how uncomfortable it is to bat with a glove that has something stuffed in it.

Instead of going mad trying to take Gilchrist to task for resorting to that tactic, the simple question to ask is: Did Gilchrist hit the cricket ball with squash ball or with his bat?

As to how much unfair advantage that squash ball gave Gilchrist is for that squash ball to answer, not for the ignorant to split hairs on that.

Squash ball and all other balls come into play is because he savaged the Lankan bowlers hitting 13 fours, 8 sixes, the fastest century in World Cup cricket and the highest in World Cup cricket since its inception.

Had he been out cheaply, and he would have, had Dilhara Fernando held on to that catch when he was 31, it would have been tickety boo.

Critics who do not want to go off their nuts, must ask the question. Did not any of our bowlers have a delivery, or the team a ploy to dismiss him, before he launched his onslaught?

But what is sensible is that not one of the cricketers who played in that final and experienced that carnage is making any allegations against Gilchrist and his squash ball.

They have been singing his praises and rightly so.

I have watched Gilchrist murder our bowling like when he did in Perth when Lanka played in the triangular series there, but this knock was the mother of all knocks.

It would have been galling to the players and the die hard supporters to suffer this batting carnage. But to the connoisseur it was the very best of champagne.

It’s top class exciting and breathtaking batting like this that bring spectators rushing to venues and also brings the game alive. More strength to Gilchrist’s bottom hand.

(More tomorrow)