First of all it was the ex-coach suggesting the Australians should share their talents around the globe to ensure sporting contests...allow Aussies to qualify for other countries to even up the competition..."something has to be done!" What what what? And why why why? As though the national team were just another club side, and even if it was could you imagine a football club (any code) sharing its players around in order to have a "fairer" game? It's preposterous! A load of rubbish. Well, I dont need to repeat what Chapelli & Warnie have already expressed. Buchanan's musings are one thing, after all he retired with a great record as coach, but the approving chorus (including Tim Lane? I forget) amazed me... Seemed to me then that the world was tilting rather oddly, and it wasnt the malt or the port responsible. Why the unease with victory, with pride in victory? Why was it OK for the Windies to be truly invincible in their time but not the Aussies now? Who are the fans who'd exchange loss for victory? I dont get it...
And now we have the controversy of the 2nd Australia vs India test match which has got the lot : technology second-guessing & showing up umpires' decisions,the issue of sportsmanship regarding catches taken or spilt, walking or standing ground, the perennial sledging, the racial vilification allegations and, indeed, match referee Procter's judgement on the issue, Harbhajan Singh's suspension... and then all hell breaks loose with Peter Roebuck's opinion piece in The Age newspaper taking the biscuit, that is the cinder... Gawd elp me, gawd elp us all...
Time to go to work... Oh yes missus, I do work... I have a train to catch... I'd love to stay here tippling amongst my books, traipsing around memory lane... But I promise to resume later, maybe tonight when I'll have something to say about Roebuck, Roebuck & his New Australian boater sporting Kevin 07 stripes, so to speak, Roebuck as the sillier spruiker of a dizzy postcolonialism.... Oh yes, I'm just getting warmed up, and still not a malt or a port in sight...
Ever yours, The Armchair Cricket
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