It's obviously a hard life being an Aussie cricket fan - when the only thing you seemingly have to worry about is whether you're going to extend a winning streak to a record seventeen tests. Of course it helps if Steve Bucknor has a mid-afternoon doze and misses a blatant caught behind...
Anyway, they manage to cope with the stress pretty well - here's the quote of the year, so far, from Tony at AGB: -
'The dilemma of how to deal with a streak is best described by that noted cricket pundit, Danny the Psycho, in Withnail & I: "If you're hanging on to a rising balloon, you're presented with a difficult decision: let go before it's too late, or hold on and keep getting higher. Posing the question, how long can you keep a grip on the rope?" '
Read the whole piece here.
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3 comments:
In 2003-04, had Mother Teresa been alive, she would’ve felt the pain inflicted by Steve Bucknor to Indian team in the last SCG match, with series locked at 1-1. Many members of the current Indian team have disclosed in many informal interviews, how those wounds are still fresh in their minds. Former Indian Captain went on to say that some of the decisions were pretty straight forward & they reached a stage in the match when they lost confidence in Steve Bucknor completely.
Same thing happened yesterday. If you look in detail Phil Jaque’s dismissal yesterday, you would see that Bucknor raised his finger only after Jaques walked off; otherwise I can bet Bucknor had no mood to give him out as well. Symond’s nick was even audible from the stands. Its completely baffling to know how Bucknor could miss it.
It has to be one of the 3 reasons. Either he couldn’t hear it due to Old age Or he doesn’t like Indians. I hope it’s the 1st option but I’m internally convinced that it’s the 2nd one i.e. he doesn’t like Indians or Indian Team.
I have many reasons or facts to prove that. I’ve lived & worked in Jamaica (where Bucknor lives). I met so many people in Jamaica who literally “hate” Indians. The main reason is that there are so many Indians who had come to Jamaica legally/illegally & took control of most of their businesses & left all the petty Jobs for Jamaicans. So internally they had this grudge against all Indians. I have many stories to prove that. So, the more I see Bucknor behaving with Indians, the more my Jamaican memories get refreshed. If someone remembers the last series (SCG test), after an aggressive appeal, the way Bucknor charged towards Parthiv Patel & the way he talked to him with pointed finger, anyone who has experience working in Foreign country would tell you, it was racial hatred. Its pretty strong word but unfortunately its true.
Some might say Cricket is a gentelman’s game & we should respect all umpiring decisions no matter how harsh they are. I don’t believe in that. After all, there are player’s career & lives attached to these decisions. I’ve played for 10 years & can relate to it. I hope Indian team makes a stern complaint against Bucknor, take a stand & take him out of Elite umpire’s list. His experience can be used to train other umpires but let’s not let him spoil the game like this. Cricketing world will be lot better without him.
Mark, pity I couldn't fit in a note to the effect that Danny is a "fvcking genius", but you can't have everything, and you know me... restraint in everything.
Great film.
And you might like to relink that link to go straight to the post, rather than the comments.
http://aftergrogblog.blogs.com/agb/2008/01/second-test-str.html
Monty, you magnificent cv"t!
Randeep - thanks for the comments. Interesting stuff, and it was truly a shocking decision.
Tony - relinked, thanks.
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