upbeat

So Inzy has been banned for four games for bringing the game into ‘disrepute’ while being cleared of the ball-tampering charges. Fair enough I think, but he should wear the ban as a badge of honour. He stood up against the system, the institutionalized double standards and favoritism that have historically been such a part of cricket and which is still far too prevalent in the game and there’s a price to pay. There is nothing wrong with facing a bit of jail/probation time for breaking a few rules to highlight an injustice*.  It seems that the PCB is looking into bringing charges of disrepute against Hair; I think this should not be considered so much as being pursued with the eagerness with which Bush is going after Middle East oil. After all it was Hair’s poor decision making, heavy handedness, inability/unwillingness to communicate clearly (boy this list is long isn’t it?) that lead to the sorry state of affairs right now.

 

  Can’t admit he made a mistake

 

Despite Hair’s assertion that he is “bloody good” consider his record and that’s a bit laughable. Some people seem to think that just because he made stern, unpopular decisions and stood by them regardless that he is some kind of super umpire. That’s like saying Bush is a bloody good president because of his inflexibility in admitting he made a mistake invading Iraq. Somewhere along the line, changing one’s mind due to evidence became hypocrisy while standing by your word even if blatantly wrong and injurious became honourable. That’s a load of bullshit to me and Hair should be charged, he accused the Pakistani team without any evidence whatsoever of cheating, he took unilateral action and acted outside basic cricketing norms (if not the rules per se). If what he achieved with his actions is not bringing the game into disrepute then the only way I can see anyone being charged in the future of disrepute is if they disrobe in the middle of the pitch and do unmentionable thing with the stumps when faced with a bad decision. The acquitting of Inzy should be far from the end of this saga, Hair should be brought to justice, else the double standards will have prevailed once again.

 

 

 

Cricinfo also has an interesting article on Ranjan Madugalle, who seems to be the match referee for every match ever played and probably has enough frequent flier miles to fly to Pluto and back. I was quite interested by one statement in the article, 

“When Madugalle was made chief of match referees, Asian countries made the same mistake the ICC did. They assumed that because he was Asian, and understood the situation on the ground better than someone from Australia or England might, he would be sympathetic. The truth was the opposite. In his aim to not just be fair, but seen to be fair, Madugalle was harder on subcontinental players than others. In India he made many enemies during the tour of Australia in 1999-2000, when his decisions were harsh on the Indians, and relatively light on the Aussies.”

Hmmm….I honestly cannot remember that tour or what happened, if it is the case that the punishments were lighter on the Aussies then I think Ranjan made a serious error in judgement, pandering to the Aussies simply because he was new and South Asian (the South Asian countries made a mistake expecting leniency as well.)Of course that’s just my opinion and has to be balanced with the fact that I obviously wasn’t privy to how secure Ranjan was with his position. Who knows if he had taken a stand then his career might have met a sticky end. I still think he made a mistake, but you know can’t judge him without all the information. And from all accounts he’s pretty fair now, lets hope he presides over Hair’s hearing.

 

 

* There is a line to be drawn though, even if it is in the sand. Blowing innocent people up to highlight injustices is taking things a bit far in my view. That might seem like an unnecessary caveat but considering the blogosphere being what it is it’s an important one to make.