The Appeal of the Subcontinent
So, just the other day, Homer was wondering whether its only subcontinental players that get hauled up for excessive appealing. I thought so too (I've been reading about "wristy, dusky, excitable, subcontinentals" for a very long time). But today I stand corrected, for two Englishmen have been hauled up for excessive appealing by the match referee Alan Hurst over in Port of Spain. All is well. The Strong Arm of the Law might be punitive, but it is always fair.
But wait! The two Englishmen are named Madhusudan Singh Panesar and Amjad Khan! Curses. See? Its in the genes, the stars, the pitch, the water, the blood, the skies. Poor lads. Their parents moved so far away from home, put up with the trials and tribulation of migration, of an unsympathetic local populace, brought their kids up right, sent them to good schools, made sure they didn't have the wrong accents, and even got them into the English team, complete with the Four Lions sweater. But they still got hauled up for excessive appealing.
Sorry lads; you can run, but you can't hide.
But wait! The two Englishmen are named Madhusudan Singh Panesar and Amjad Khan! Curses. See? Its in the genes, the stars, the pitch, the water, the blood, the skies. Poor lads. Their parents moved so far away from home, put up with the trials and tribulation of migration, of an unsympathetic local populace, brought their kids up right, sent them to good schools, made sure they didn't have the wrong accents, and even got them into the English team, complete with the Four Lions sweater. But they still got hauled up for excessive appealing.
Sorry lads; you can run, but you can't hide.
posted by Samir Chopra at 9:24 AM
8 Comments:
Like one of them old MTV India (or was it Channel V) commercials used to say: "Roots: they follow you everywhere"!
....AND Stuart Broad was let off for his comments on the match officials. Hmmm...
Ah! You beat me to the punch there. I was going to write about this "discrepancy" too.
Amjad Khan and Panesar totally deserved their fines based upon the umpires rules these days. Amjad clearly ran around "celebrating" the wicket that wasn't, while Panesar got carried away on numerous occasions with his "prancing" appeals.
However, if they deserved a fine, then Chris Broad definitely did, too. I find it amusing that the Match Referee only referenced Broad's comments at the end of the day's play and NOT his on-field verbal jabs at Daryl Harper. A gist of his angst was captured on CricInfo:
116.5 Broad to Nash, 1 wide, good ball, round the wicket and climbing over the bowler's head. And he's been called wide! That's ridiculous, to be frank
Broad quite rightly throws his head back in frustration. You can't be penalised for putting effort in!
116.5 Broad to Nash, FOUR, outside off, and that's punished. Broad is livid as the ball fizzes through point
116.6 Broad to Nash, no run, another bouncer, and Broad has a pointed word with Harper as he takes his cap. Frustration is steaming out of his ears right now.
Remember also that his anger was pointed enough for Strauss to have to intervene and prod him away from the umpire.
Standards..standards.
Having your father as a Match Referee must have had something to do with it, no? Or was it something else? *sigh*
Leela: Yeah, you just drag them around with you! :)
Megha: I'd missed this, and am only now catching up with things.
JQ: Panesar has been asking for it for a while, frankly. I didn't see the Khan incident. Mind you McGrath did it all the time, and never, ever, got close to being reported. As for Stuart Broad, what did he say about the match officials?
As far as the match officials were concerned, Broad simply said that there were a few poor decisions by them, but nothing really that needed tempering.
http://content.cricinfo.com/wiveng2009/content/story/394349.html
I thought it was his reaction to Harper that was disrespectful and merited at least a talking to. The fact that irked me was that Broad was under the cosh only for his interview at the end of the day's play and NOT his on-field behavior, which was the more disrespectful one.
Presumably Brett Lee got pulled up for excessive appealing because of all the time he spends in India...
Jonathan: See? There you go. Its in the water. Even the bottled stuff.
JQ: Thanks for the link. Its interesting, just talking to the umpire after an appeal has been turned down can get you hit with a dissent charge at times.
Post a Comment
<< Home