By IANS,
London : The English media Tuesday lambasted Australian skipper Ricky Ponting for his lengthy outburst against umpires Aleem Dar and Tony Hill calling him “Rick as parrot” and his behaviour “a childish show of dissent”.
Ponting argued with Dar for a good eight minutes over English batsman Kevin Pietersen’s dismissal, which was turned down after the referral, on the second day of the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) Monday.
“Ricky really is a sorry sight”, The Sun’s headline ran while The Daily Star wrote that he was in a “fine mess”.
The Express called Ponting the “worst-behaved player to wear the Australian baggy green cap in the last 20 years”.
The Daily Mail said his confrontation was “unedifying, unbecoming of an Australian captain and a clear example of a senior figure bringing Test cricket into disrepute”.
Another article called Ponting “urn absolute disgrace” and featured an image of Ponting dressed in black-and-white prisoner’s garb, the caption reading “bawl and chain”.
The Daily Telegraph called the 36-year-old skipper desperate who is “in desperate need of a cause to keep himself and his team going until a bitter end that cannot now be far away for both”.