Dear Mr.Hackney, BUCKNOR has a LONG history of decisions against India,tendulkar and on top of that it has been coupled with a supercilious ,superior disgusting attitude to boot.This isn't a one off thing at all. I also strongly suggest you read Peter Roebucks article in the Sydney Morning Herald. Further ,in the harbhajan issue: harbhajan gets punished but the instigator,who undoubtedly also used "vulgar" language gets off free??justice served?

Racism should not be allowed, but it was 5 aussies v's 2 indian's. the Maestro Sachin was the most closest person on field. ponting didnt hear anything/gilchrist didnt, clarke didnt, umpires didnt its one man's words against another to avoid poor umpire decision critism this ban had been implied. If evidence was used no ban should have been placed..

I remember Arjun Ranatunga's words "Its all come from your culture which makes you bad boy of cricket world". We hate your on field behavior will not love not to playing with you.

Mr Hackney, did you hear the racist comment. In any court of law there has to be evidence, and this case what the Indians said was not heard and what the Aussies said was relied as the gospel truth. What sort of law was that ? Why did the umpire not ask Kumble when Symonds nicked one to Dhoni. Why double standards ? Aussies are always accustomed to badgering their opponents and now when they are getting it back they run to the umpires crying 'Mommy'. Now, Symonds has admitted it he who abused Harbhajan first, so should Symonds not be banned for starting the fight.

Mr.Hackney, I agree with you on overblowing this racial matter, but you give me the impression that it was only the symonds decision that the umpires got wrong. Its not only the symonds decision... there was Hussey not given out twice, Ponting not given out and you missed the second stumping of symonds which was not even refered to 3rd umpire. I understand the benefit of the doubt should always go to the batsman, but why didn't the benefit go to Dravid or Ganguly. There were more issues.. but they could have gone either way. I have been watching cricket for more than 25 years and have never seen a test match battered by so many bad decisions especially aginst one team.... so the umpiring mistakes shouldn't be swept under the carpet to give more prominence to other issues in this test match.

The important thing is that the rules should be the same for both the sides and they should be made explicit before the game starts. So if Virender Sehwag is suspended in South Africa for appealing for a taking a catch which wasn’t then should Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke be. Or are the rules different for different sides. If most sledging is OK but some terms are deemed racist therefore some forms of sledging are not acceptable while others are - then let the ICC publish the rule book of sledging - what sledging is OK and what is not with illustrated examples, a dictionary etc. (for instance it is apparently OK for Glenn McGrath to ask a West Indies batsman what a certain part of Brian Lara’s anatomy feels like because it was non racial macho thing to say – basically gutter level personal abuse if OK in the gentleman’s game but not anything to do with race). Or should action be taken against both forms of abuse. For the record let me state calling someone a monke

ooh...you suggest that singh made racist insult...do you have any evidence... Get your facts...

Craig Hackney's is typical defending the indefensible. The ban on Harbhajan is the proverbial last is a series of flagrantly one sided decisions. As the hindi saying goes, it is a case of Ulta Chor Kotwal Ko dante - or the thief accusing the police inspector. Aussies who think nothing of calling Indian curry munchers are accusing Harbhajan of being a racist for allegedly calling a player monkey. All this while they use terms like bastards, yellows, and the like freely. If you care to count, the clear cases of wrong decision (with no margin of error) are nine - eight against India and one against Australia. These are not counting dubious LBW decisions and other decisions where benefit of doubt can be given to the Umpires. As for Steve Bucknor, he has a history of anti Indian bias. This guy had once given Tendulkar out LBW for the ball hitting his helmet. And was given zero marks by Indian Ganguly for negating seven confident appeals during 2003-4 tour.

It's not just a mistake but had decided India's fate coz , ausies would tremendous pressure when symonds lost at that point, dead sure they would not score about 400 with only 3 wickets in hand. Second, in IInd innings, if dravid or Ganguly or even if they had given benifit of doubt to Dhoni should turn the game other way.

"Is it that they don’t think Harbhajan should be punished for racism?" Hold on! Mr. Hackney, what is the proof that Mr. Singh actually uttered racist comments? Only the words of Mr. Ponting and his fwllow team-mate. So we are now supposed to believe the greatness of Mr Ponting's self and his never-say-a-lie priciples (which certainly showed up in the decsion of Saurav Ganguly's dismissal). So please, hang on there is no evidence that Harbhajan actually said that. The racial abuse story could be as baseless as the conspiracy theories of Aussie-umpires nexus. "Australia got the benefit of more dubious decisions than India" Dubious decisions??? Well, asking the opponent captain for a referral when there is a third umpire sitting out there is far more than dubious. Well, I do not question the integrity of the umpires, but certainly their competence. And incompetence at this level of cricket should not be tolerated. Players don't play well, they get kicked out. So, should umpires.

since when did calling someone a monkey amount to "racial slur"?

Was this article written to generate a really good number of hits and numerous comments to break all readership records? I actually forgot this one: "The benefit of the doubt always - ALWAYS - goes to the batsman." ALWAYS (IN CAPS..scared man!) i guess means for both teams or do YOU (only you, not all Aussies, guess their average IQ level is much above 50)have something else in mind. Need EXAMPLES? (Yeah! I can also wirte in all caps) Continuing with the main issue, the sequence of sentences (it does not have the sense to qualify as an article) is doing a good job. That really is "a hard-edged, ruthless approach" to gain readership points (or whatever it is technically called)

Well u say that there wasnt ne conclusive vedio evidence to give Andrew Symonds out, I ask you...was there any evidence that Harbhajan used a racist word, vedio? audio? Even the umpires came out saying they heard nothing...Then why was such a decision taken. In saying that...i dont think what the BCCI and the Indian media are doing is right, hysterical even. Hope we the tour goes on and hope this time that the criminals and their descendants down under play fair, for a change. But i do concide they'r the best team in two of the three forms of the game.

"There is no doubt that the second Australia-India Test played at the SCG was not a high point for the game or relations between these two countries" When did it become an issue between the two COUNTRIES??? What a pathetic way to blow up an incident on the field and an absolutely baselss allegation become an issue between two countries? As for racism, a cooked up slur on an Indian can not be tolerated as India has always been vehemently against racism (Mr. Procter needs to be reminded of the 1974 Davis Cup finals). Show conclusive evidence, and Harbhajan will receive enough from Indians as well apart from whatever ICC dictates. Please, do not blow up this to a issue between two nations. It's cricket and a temporal surge of emotions of a few fans. Nations are bigger than that, at least India is :)

(1) Ricky Ponting � (THE TRULY GENUINE CRICKETER OF THE CRICKET ERA AND WHOSE INTEGRITY SHOULD NOT BE DOUBTED) should be considered as the FOURTH UMPIRE. As per the new rules, FOURTH UMPIRE decision is final and will over ride any decisions taken by any other umpires. ON-FIELD umpires can seek the assistance of RICKY PONTING even if he is not on the field. This rule is to be made, so that every team should understand the importance of the FOURTH UMPIRE. (2) While AUSTRALIAN TEAM is bowling, If the ball flies anywhere close to the AUSTRALIAN FIELDER(WITHIN 5 metre distance), the batsman is to be considered OUT irrelevant of whether the catch was taken cleanly or grassed. Any decision for further clarification should be seeked from the FOURTH UMPIRE. This is made to ensure that the cricket is played with SPORTIVE SPIRIT by all the teams. (3) While BATTING, AUSTRALIAN players will wait for the ON-FIELD UMPIRE decisions only (even if the catch goes to the FIFTH SLIP as the ball might not have touched the bat

Hmmm...and if the series is called off, i guess your mom and sis will pay off the sponsors...cash or in kind ;)

[quote]Hmmm...and if the series is called off, i guess your mom and sis will pay off the sponsors...cash or in kind ;)[/quote] oops! mistake...the comment was meant for Mr. Customs Officer

Mr.Customs officer, I don't think you need to resort to such comments like mothers getting raped/killed etc. I guess you are an Aussie supporter so you can stand up for it like what Mr. Hackney has done without losing your self respect

Thank you all for your comments. Responding to the main criticisms, it was Mike Procter -the match referee - who found Harbhajan guilty based on the evidence, he was appointed by the ICC not Australia. Harbhajan has lodged an appeal and it will be heard in due course - in the interim he is guilty based on the rules as they apply to the game. Secondly, the umpires were appointed by the ICC, not Australia and I have already written in a different article that the Indian side recieved the worst of the bad decisions. What I took issue with is claims of bad decisions where they did not exist - no more, no less. And for the people who believe that this is not becoming an issue between the two countries, do you see the players names anywhere amongst the comments - no, it is the people of the two nations who are exchanging thoughts and insults. Cheers.

YEAH CUSTOM OFFICER YOU CAN TAKE US ON A PLANE AND SEND US AWAY. BUT GUESS WHAT WE'LL BE TAKING YOUR JOBS OFFSHORE WITH US. AND CONTINUOUSLY HARASSING YOU WITH OUR CALL CENTRE CALLS. INTERESTING THAT THE ONLY DISGUSTING, FLITHY COMMENT WAS MADE BY AN AUSSIE SUPPORTER. SEEMS TO FIT IN PERFECTLY WITH THE AUSSIE TEAM.

entirely with your points here Craig. As an Englishman I'm an impartial observer, and it seems to me that there's been a whole raft of knee-jerk reactions from the Indian (and some non-Indian press) and the Indian team as a whole. Yes, the umpiring was of a poor standard throughout the match, and yes Australia didn't deserve to win. However, the blame lies with the umpires, not with Australia. As far as I'm concerned, if a fielder says he's cleanly taken a catch then the batsman should walk: that's what I would do. There was nothing in the replays to suggest that Clarke's catch wasn't a clean one. As for the BCCI demanding that Bucknor and Benson never stand in matches involving India again - no. They can't demand that, case dismissed. If the ICC considers the umpires to be sub-standard then fair enough, but to have a national board demanding that is ridiculous. As far as the racism charges go, we can't tell what was said. The ban on Harbhajan is a harsh one, and it feels like the ICC are making an example o

of him in order to try and nip the matter in the bud. Of course, as with everything the ICC do, it has backfired spectacularly. If the comment was uttered by Harbhajan it was idiotic in the extreme, given the abuse Symonds had suffered at the hands of some Indian fans earlier in 2007. While I don't think Symonds is an angel himself, he doesn't deserve that treatment. In an ideal world the matter should have been resolved by the players and the umpires on the field, but those two were probably worrying about previous mistakes...

EXCUSE ME ,MR.HACKNEY,BUT YOUR BIAS IS SHOWING.

Your comment : "The final point is the claims that somehow Australia played the game outside of the spirit. If anyone thinks that Australia faced this game any differently to any of the last 50 Test matches that they have played, they are quite mistaken. Australia always take a hard-edged, ruthless approach to every game that they play." You are right in saying that australians have always played like this - THEY HAVE BEEN ETERNAL CHEATS AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO IN THE FUTURE - can't help as it runs in their blood : bloody convicts sent to an island by the Brits.

"bloody convicts sent to an island by the Brits." You know sdey, you may have had a point in there somewhere. Unfortunately anything you had to say was rendered completely irrelevant by this pathetic racist comment at the end.

Wat u r saying is not fair Mr. Hackney. i had immense respect for u wen i saw ur last night article but tday i am embarrased to believe that u r the same person. U know wat u have done u have encouraged idiots on this forum to slang others mothers. i dont know how much u ppl care of ur mothers but in india we have gr8 respect for ours. as far as ur article is concerned u cant get more irresponsible than this. u r denying wat was clearly seen by tv cameras. u r denying wat the biggest ambassador of the game Sachin has to say while agreeing to ppl like clarke who lied couple of times on the field itself. u have umpteen no. of flaws in this piece. i can understand that its difficult to handle such an assault because of a bunch of 11 cheats but rather than defending them if u join mr. roebuck (his credentials being much bigger than urs and mine of course) it would be better. and yes as far as BCCI backing the team is concerned thats one brilliant thing they are doing because its high time the world understands t

Sorry Mr. Hackney, but there are racial undertones to your article itself. You should have published it in some australian blog site where people would definitely come out in support of your article.

An Australian for "Sportsmanship"...Ponting,Clarke Claiming Grassed catches...hahahaha...Let your team come to India...Kumble and Bhajji will be waiting for you..How can you forget Kolkatta...MATE!!!!hahahaha

If any one would ask - who are the most racist cricketers in the world(even before second test match in sydney), 95 percent of people say Australia(other 5 percent wil be Australians)

I think you should just see the match recording ( I dont think u can write such stupid things after seeing the match and what the aussies n umpires did..or may be u can write such utter non-sense coz u r an aussie)Shame on Australian cricket. YOu are disgusting dudes.

What sdey said is a fact (whether or not u like it) Everyone knows aussies are the most racist so its laughable that they call someone else a racist.(obviously ponting cant find a better way to negotiate bhajji on the field).If a few umpiring decisions go against you its understandable, but if all the decisions go against you ( and there were quite a few in this match alone) then obviously its with bad intentions.

That's what the pride of Australian cricket ought to be called now that Ponting has turned this match into a bar brawl and shagged, mutilated, and ground into dust the baggy green. Maybe India ought to have a bouncer on field in Perth. As for Matt Page, he is asinine. India demanded Bucknor be removed, so dismiss India's demand outright he says. What do you want Matt Page? For India to say "please"?

Hey Craig, listen SCG will be remembered for ever for wrong reasons. India could have easily drawn the test with the help of Dravid and Ganguly , if it hadn't been those stupid decisions from umpires. What a captain does the no# 1 team have. Ricky Ponting, who was asked by the umpire, Benson whether Ganguly was safe, rather doing the right thing, he made the false call and said he was out. I don't know to what does your article throw light on. I must say, grow up Craig, its been long you haven't woke up from your child sleep. SCG Test between India and Australia would be remembered more for its long list of umpiring howlers than cricketing action, and not to forget the lack of sportsmanship shown by Australians. In last we have just one thing to say "Only one team was playing with the spirit of the game"

Oz lack sportsmanship Hey Craig, listen SCG will be remembered for ever for wrong reasons. India could have easily drawn the test with the help of Dravid and Ganguly , if it hadn't been those stupid decisions from umpires. What a captain does the no# 1 team have. Ricky Ponting, who was asked by the umpire, Benson whether Ganguly was safe, rather doing the right thing, he made the false call and said he was out. I don't know to what does your article throw light on. I must say, grow up Craig, its been long you haven't woke up from your child sleep. SCG Test between India and Australia would be remembered more for its long list of umpiring howlers than cricketing action, and not to forget the lack of sportsmanship shown by Australians. In last we have just one thing to say "Only one team was playing with the spirit of the game"

it doesn't matter to me what nation makes a demand/request etc for an umpire to be removed. If every national board was allowed to do that we'd have no umpires left on the elite panel.

Your respect or embarrassment is of no concern to me, as you hold no place of importance in my life. I will say this, however, while I rarely agree with what you write, I do respect your right to hold a contrary opinion. If you are unable to do that in return, then I suggest you find a different pastime. I made no mention – anywhere – of anyone’s mother and I am not responsible for the comments of others. As for the irresponsibility of my article, I have already stated that Australia did not deserve to win this game, but I will not allow the unfair impugning of the entire cricket team and Australians in general because of the actions of one or two players, to pass without comment. There were enough incidents that actually occurred in the game without making up additional ones. I am no fan of Ricky Ponting, as you will see if you read my past articles, but there was nothing different about the way Australia approached this game. It seems odd, therefore, that there is this sudden clamouring for sacking now. Ro

Roebuck is entitled to his opinion and is indeed a brilliant and well informed writer, but that doesn’t make him right on every occasion. I notice that you make no comment on the Harbhajan issue. As I wrote in an earlier article, I would have preferred it was left on the field, but when it became public he had to be banned when found guilty. Referee Mike Procter was “satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt” and did not simply rely on the evidence of Australian players, but that is never mentioned by either yourself or any other author or person writing comments. But now the BCCI wants to blackmail the ICC into overturning the ban. Harbhajan has the right to an appeal, but to threaten to cancel the tour unless they get the decision they want is pathetic.

India has a great comeback in the first innings, ( I think most Australians were secretly hoping they would win – there is only so many times you want to see you side win) but Australia hit back in the 2nds innings, probably batted too long, so the game was set for a draw, I can’t remember exactly but 3 overs to go and 3 wickets, it was all India’s way, and they crumbled. Umpiring decisions are easy to bag in your armchair with hindsight of slow motion. If looks out to the umpire what else can he give but out! India crumbled again and I haven’t seen any body willing to accept that, and I doubt this hullabaloo would be happening if they stuck out the draw. As far as weather Harbhajan said “Monkey” or not – that should be detainable from video evidence, but if not there were 4 Australians who heard him say it, 4 against 1. One must agree that racial abuse is very different to sledging – which I disapprove of anyway, but if the situation was reversed a match ban would be expected wouldn’t it? All this aside

You clearly donot have complete grasp of what happened there. Don't try to give biased opinions and try to mislead. There were many other factors and decisions that happened take all of them into consideration.

Craig, You wrote: "There was no doubt that Andrew Symonds edged the ball and was given a reprieve by Steve Bucknor and ...he broke no laws by standing his ground, therefore he is not a cheat – end of story." Australia claims they play hard but fair. Tell me, what definition of fairness do you adhere to, in which a player knowingly edges a ball, yet still does not leave the field of play? If you are a football fan at all, you may remember when our whole nation was up in arms when an Italian defender, Grosso, dived over Lucas Neill at the World Cup, earning a last second penalty which knocked us out. Were you outraged then? If you were, and still deem Symonds actions to be cheat-free you're establishing a personal double standard. I generally enjot reading the cricket articles from both sides, but some of the writers are plumbing the lowest depths to justify their respective sides. I'm a neutral, in that I'm an Aussie born in Bangladesh, but this seriously has dented both teams. You could even say that Au

To Mark, opinions are, by their very nature, biased. I am presenting an alternative point of view, please feel free not to read them. To Sherief, I did not complain when the penalty was given - I was disappointed, but accepted the decision and I actually believe it was an okay call.

This writer obviously has some personal information regarding Harbhajan's alleged racial outburst. Would you please mind sharing it with us. And what about Brad Hogg? And you obviously were watching some other game when you say Symond's was the only "bad" decision. Hey what about Hussey, Ponting, Hayden, Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly?

I have no persoanl information, but Harbhajan was found guilty by the ICC's version of a court, that's good enough for me. Brad Hogg's case will be heard next week and if he's found guilty, then hang him out to dry. But "bas***d" is not racist - it may be very offensive, but not racist. And where did I say Symonds was the only bad decision?? Read the article and the others I have written on the subject and get back to me then. This article was in response to a number of other articles and comments on this site making false allegations, the most frequent being that Symonds was clearly out stumped. I watched every minute of the game and saw no such evidence. Thanks for your thoughts.

Bas***d is a bad word in india i might be wrong but apparently its insulting someones parents? Andrew Symonds did what any other batsmen in the world would have done stood his ground the umpires are there for a reason. Ray Sutherland you tool Jaffer was bowled first innings and caught in slips at chest height 2nd innings nothing wrong with that. I believe all this comes from the pressure to win these players are under.

[quote] Ray Sutherland you tool Jaffer was bowled first innings and caught in slips at chest height 2nd innings nothing wrong with that. I believe all this comes from the pressure to win these players are under.[/quote] To my eyes and any unbiased observer's eyes Wasim was castled off a big no ball. Second, how do we know that bastard would not be racially offensive to Indians. Indians certainly did not know that calling someone a monkey is a racial slur. See all of us wear the glasses of our own prejudices. Craig H's strongly worded article is over the top and without significant merit. Our cricketers love to dish out verbals with bravado in the sham of professionalism. But get mighty precious when it is dished out to them.

After all of furore in India over the monkey taunts, after a promise by Harbhajan not to use the term are you still saying they didn't know if was racist? And nothing I have read here or anywhere else has suggested the bas***d is racist. It's certainly offensive in Indian culture and Hogg should be sanctioned if he used it, but don't try to muddy the facts. As to my articel being over the top, you clearly didn't read it properly and have blown any credibility with this reply.

Mr. Hackney i hope u should have that much of common sense that in such volatile situation what u write does not create a stir. Especially for some Idiots on ur side and some on mine. Neither do u have importance in mine and vice versa, but this much can be thought while writing something. Moreover harbhajan Wasn't guilty and is accepted by aussie media by large so u again and again trying to defend something wrong is unjust. Anywaz by now i should understand that u also belong to the same country that won the match and were described by Mr. Roebuck as wild....

I have no idea what you were trying to say in most of that comment, by Harbhajan was found guilty by the match referee, not me, not the Australian media, not the umpires or the players. As for my article being inflammatory, I wrote in response to a number of articles (including yours) and comments. If you are seriously suggesting that my article has inflamed the situation but the others and comments did not, then you are quite wrong. You are quite entitled to disagree with my opinion, but do not dare suggest I am wrong for having one.

I just think it's funny. Cricket is a gentlemen's game, but I don't see any sign of that here. I believe that India did get the end of the bad umpiring stick - but I don't condone their reactions either! Why can't everyone just look forward to the next test for the Indian fight back, or the Ausie world record? As for the Singh's ban - without any evidance it's a hard one to call - becuase I don't want to call Ponting or Symonds liers...

[quote]After all of furore in India over the monkey taunts, after a promise by Harbhajan not to use the term are you still saying they didn't know if was racist?[/quote] So there is no audio and video evidence to support Mike Procter's decision. In fact he said that only one side was telling the truth (based on what Mr Procter). Here is Mr. Kumble who has a spotless record for 18 years being abused by Brad Hogg and you are out defending him!! Did you read that Hogg has been charged by ICC under the same code as Harbhajan. So is that fair for you? ICC also removed Bucknor from Perth. Is that fair for you? It would seem that according to your arguements anything ICC or their representative (Procter in this case) does is fair. So live by the sword and die by the sword Craig. I think ICC has given in to the commercial might of BCCI. At the same time Ponting and his team behavior is disgusting. What a bunch of cry babies? Go running to the headmaster if someone bites back!

Procter said he did not rely solely on the Australian's evidence. If all of the evidence points one way and one team is denying it, then they are, by definition, lying. I also wrote in both of my previous replies to you that Hogg had been charged and, if found guilty, should be sanctioned. At no stage did I defend him. Perhaps I should use smaller words. Bucknor should have been removed after his performance, so I have no problem with that. Harbhajan will get his appeal heard, as is his right, and I will accept the outcome of that appeal. And it was an ICC directive that captains report racial abuse immediately. As for your personal opinions, you are entitled to them, but I suspect that they weren't formed on this game alone, so nothing is going to change them anyway.

I intend to mass produce newest model "Craig Hackney". Anybody interested? I thought this was meant to be a Cricket Series, not Roman age Gladiator contest with people crying for blood. By the way, talking about umpire decisions, did anybody see Kumar Sangakara's surperb 192 played with dignity and grace (given out just 8 runs short of record making 200?). Probably not, he's not a great "Indian Player", is he?

Just call the tour off until they get there way.. True proffesionalism shown there.