No breaks for you

There is something about Saurav Ganguly that provokes pretty open displays of hostility from people who should know better. This morning, Atherton and Botham have been carrying on about Ganguly not running for a single in the last over suggesting Ganguly was reluctant to face the bowling, that he would rather sacrifice Karthik's wicket, that he valued his wicket more, and so on so forth. Now, a quick look at the facts might be instructive. The ball had gone down legside, and the fielder had fumbled it a bit beyond him. Yes, possibly a legbye if runs were desperately needed. But this is the last over of the fourth day of a test match, it was Ganguly's call (its not as if Karthik had played a shot and called for a single, which had then been turned down), and he did take a single a couple of balls later (which was greeted with "well, he can't turn that down"). Ah, well. Ganguly is out, so at least we won't have to hear Ganguly-directed sledging from the commentary box. But who knows, you don't have to have the player out there to have a go at him.