By IANS
Sydney : West Indies great Michael Holding has accused Australian cricketers of failing to set behavioural benchmarks as the world cricket’s No.1 team.
“I won’t pinpoint the exact teams, but Australia isn’t far from the top (for poor behaviour). I base that on their excessive appealing and the way they intimidate umpires. Australia is the No. 1 team and as such they should be setting the benchmark for the spirit in how the game is played,” said Holding.
He said Ricky Ponting presided over an Australian team that was one of the worst behaved in world cricket.
Holding said the conduct of the Australians was worse than that of India.
“I would say the reaction from the Australians when an appeal is turned down is a lot more aggressive than other teams, which intimidates the umpire,” he said. “I have seen many good umpires fall to pieces in Australia.”
Holding said Harbhajan should never have been reported for allegedly calling Symonds a “big monkey”.
“I do not understand how this (monkey) is a racist term. The scientists say we all came from monkeys, so how can this be deemed racist?” he said.
“This is absolute rubbish.”
Ponting has been pilloried by critics for his handling of Harbhajan Singh’s alleged racial slur against Andrew Symonds, with India skipper Anil Kumble revealing Australia’s skipper had refused his request for private peace talks.
Holding’s observations were agreed by former Australian off-spinner Greg Matthews, who also criticised Ponting for his role in the racism controversy, and said: “This would never have happened under Mark Taylor.”
Matthews insists the explosive saga would have been swiftly averted had Ponting — and Cricket Australia powerbrokers — displayed the statesmanlike leadership of former Test captain Taylor.
“One single phone call, one act of humility from our leader (Ponting) or from Cricket Australia’s bosses would have resolved everything. How did it get to this stage?” Matthews said.
“It’s so sad. It’s a poor reflection on everyone involved.
“I am truly amazed that someone in a position of power at Cricket Australia just didn’t say to Ricky, ‘Have a talk to Anil and sort this out for the good of the game’. Why didn’t that happen?
“This would never have happened under Mark Taylor.
“Mark is a man of unbelievable integrity. He had a great ability to talk to people, not at them. Even though he had some fiery characters in his team, he did a phenomenal job through his humility and standing as a human being.
“Ricky gets enormous accolades through his performances on the field. But on this issue, he has to wear some responsibility,” said Matthews.