By IANS
Sydney : Australian players are gearing to air their grievances in writing to Cricket Australia that they felt pressured into accepting a move to downgrade a charge of racism against Indian off spinner Harbhajan Singh.
According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, the pressure was on two fronts: The financial repercussions that would be incurred if the Indians withdrew from the one-day series and the players were told Cricket Australia could be sued for up to $60 million by ESPN, the company that bought the rights to televise the series into Asia, if India withdrew.
“Players also felt pressure in the form of legal advice from Cricket Australia, in which they were told that by downgrading the charge against Harbhajan from a 3.3 to a 2.8 – in effect, reducing a charge of racial vilification to one of verbal abuse – the Australians would have a better chance of successfully prosecuting the controversial Indian spinner”, writes Alex Brown in the newspaper.
Australian players have been irked by New Zealand judge John Hansen’s decision. According to the newspaper, the Australian Cricketers’ Association chief executive Paul Marsh feels that as a result of the charge downgrade and Hansen’s decision, Australian players were portrayed as the guilty party.
Meanwhile, even as a record 85,000 fans filled the Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch the popular Twenty20 form of cricket Friday night, Greg Baum writes in The Age “It wasn’t cricket”.
The ugliness of the Sydney Test continues to haunt this tour.
“Harbhajan Singh’s alleged passing of a racist remark during the Sydney Test match a month ago wasn’t cricket. The subsequent self-righteousness of Australia and the brinkmanship of India, which led to a remission for Harbhajan earlier this week, wasn’t cricket,” writes Baum.
Amidst high security all eyes were as much on the spectators in the stands as players on the pitch. Harbhajan and Andrew Symonds were both booed, but with restrain.
In the din of festivity, Baum writes, “Both teams, both countries, have conducted themselves ignobly. In all the pouting, posturing and pontificating, the real issue, racism, became an incidental.”
Columnist and author Peter Roebuck writing in the Sydney Morning Herald also feels that harmony will be restored between the two fierce rivals with plenty in common.
Roebuck writes: “In time, the SCG Test will be seen as a watershed, a bad-tempered match in which the Indians and many Australians finally said ‘enough’… Supporters have already taken the great leap. Now it is up to those directing cricket operations in both countries to raise their game. Good manners are essential. It is time for tongues to stop wagging and ears to start working.”