Fire Ponting? You've got to be joking Wednesday Jan 9 12:00 AEDT By Andrew Hunter Executive Producer, ninemsn news
Note to John Bertrand, Herb Elliott, Robert de Castella, Peter Roebuck, and a sizeable minority of Australians: cricket in Australia is not necessarily played by gentlemen.
Nor should it be.
The best Australian cricketers come from the suburban fringes and the bush, toiling for wickets on dusty concrete pitches and sledging if it will provide an edge.
We love to like our sporting heroes and some are more likeable than others: Bertrand, Elliot and Deek retain a place in the hearts of all who witnessed their deeds and class.
But one thing is more important than being likeable, and that is winning.
Ricky Ponting's job is not to spread the virtue of Australianness — as each of us perceives it — to the rest of the world: his mission is to win cricket games, and now the Australians have won 16 Tests on the trot.
Ponting is not a statesman but he has handled this entire post-Sydney Test mess with an even temper.
We witnessed jubilation and a smidgin of I-told-you-so in reaction to criticism of his early declaration, but where was this arrogance he and the team have been charged with?
His men pulled an incredible victory from the jaws of a draw to equal the record for consecutive Test wins ... are they not permitted to whoop it up for a few minutes before shaking the hands of their opponents?
In an interview on Monday, Ponting was nothing but calm and respectful in the wake of stinging criticism from commentators and fellow players.
He graciously refused the opportunity to criticise his fellow captain Anil Kumble, who had earlier accused the Australians of not playing the game in the right spirit.
To say the Australians have not shown respect to their opponents is the gravest charge of all, but what about the disdain the Indians have shown for the Australian players and cricket-loving public?
From where we were sitting on Sunday, Kumble's post-match grumble was nothing more than sour grapes. Harbhajan Singh used the racist "monkey" taunt against Andrew Symonds. Then the Indians threatened to cancel the entire tour — apparently at Sachin Tendulkar's insistence. Most respectful, eh?
The euphoric nature of the Australian celebrations and the combativeness Ricky Ponting's men displayed on the field against the Indians is the real mark of respect for the opposition.
He might be abrasive, blunt and pugnacious but Ponting is showing leadership: that quality seems to have got off the tourists' bus somewhere along the Hume Highway.
And to the matter of the hitherto great commentator Peter Roebuck throwing his fat on the fire of hysteria.
We have always known and appreciated that his views were issued from left field, but the lack of logic and gobs of backed-up bile that spewed forth from yesterday's column have mortally wounded his credibility.
If Ricky Ponting should be sacked as Australian captain, Roebuck must be banned from Australian commentary boxes. (For his sensible take on the issue, we suggest fellow English cricketer Derek Pringle take his place or, for humour value, Fairfax colleague Aaron Timms.)
Roebuck seems to require the game be played by gentlemen, but as an adopted Australian — and a countryman of Douglas Jardine — he should also realise that a ruthless streak is demanded by our cricket-loving public.
Yet the ultimate curiosity here is why Australians have got into such a tizz over the "personality" of the team. Bertrand, Elliott and many other Australians want their cricket team to be nicer on the field.
Perhaps this demonstrates the growing importance of the national cricket team as the ultimate projection of Australianness to the world.
So maybe we're becoming more like the Kiwis with their beloved All Blacks ... or perhaps we're more Indian than we thought.
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