GET BENT!

Guess who? "AUSTRALIANS must stop treating Muthiah Muralidaran as a pariah." No? Well, here's a hint - "Thank you, sir," grimace, "may I have another." That's right, the Cane Man. (As if you didn't know.) Beats me how a so-called respected cricket writer can bollix together an article so wrong on so many levels.

Comments

[Adsy]

It's a wonder he didn't bring out the Gareth Keenan quote from The Office:

"He's thrown a kettle over a pub... what have you done??"

[Tony.T]

Wish he had. It would have made more sense.

[Russ]

This is the funniest bit:
"Both [Slater and Nicholas] have watched Murali bowl at close quarters with a brace on his arm. Moreover, Murali flew to England to undertake the test."

Of course he wasn't throwing when his arm was in a brace. That's hardly an argument for saying he doesn't when it isn't.

Although the old "can't straighten his arm" crap he also used comes a close second.

[nick]

Perhaps Mr Roebuck's extreme left wing bias could be applied to Murali as counter traction to that BENT RIGHT ARM!

What a joke.

[nick]

Both [Slater and Nicholas] have watched [their future subcontinental commentating contracts] at close quarters...and continue to do so, no doubt.

[carneagles]

What the hell does Jayasuriya's religion have to do with anything?

[Pedro the Ignorant]

Spanky has nailed his colours to the mast over Muralitheran and will continue to spruik any amount of drivel to save face (his face, not Bendy's)

Easy answer to Spanky and Bendy's whingeing about "not being shown repect"

If Bendy would BOWL the fucking ball, everyone will shut up.

[nick]

http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/u19-worldcup/content/current/story/236313.html

Very interesting article. I especially liked this bit....

However, Portus says that spotting 15 degrees of straightening is almost impossible to pick up without technology - in other words there would have been no questions raised about the action before this new ruling.

"The thing is with the 15 degrees, is that it's actually a very small margin. With the naked eye you probably wouldn't be able to detect someone with a straightening of that amount, in other words the action would look fine. If an action appears dodgy to the naked eye it is generally going to be well passed that 15-degree margin, I've seen bowlers hit 30."

He also admitted that the development of the doosra is making the job harder, as it is very difficult to build up information. "The problem at the moment is we lack the match analysis of the delivery. When we do analysis in the field there is a much greater error factor, whereas in a control environment that is greatly reduce. But when bowlers perform in laboratories they know why they are there.

"We try to reproduce match conditions but it is very difficult. You can't recreate the situation of a final day in a Test when you are trying to win a match for your country. We are actually trying to develop technology at the moment, with the ICC, to allow us to come up with accurate 3D numbers from game situations, but it is a few years away yet."

i.e. after Sir Chuckalot retires.

[nick]

Well passed - freudian slip with regards to Murali???

[Mr Z]

After my wife's observation of Moooorali's likeness to the Cookie Monster, I came up with the following:

C is for chucking, that's good enough for me
C is for chucking, passed by the ICC
C is for chucking, my eyes are goo-goll-y
Oh chucking, chucking, chucking starts with C.

Yes, it's been a long afternoon. How they scored 274 is beyond me.

[Anthony from Chippendale]

I'm proud of the way Australian crowds treat Murali.

Somewhere in the world the people have to take a stand against chucking. And I'm glad it's Australia.

If the ICC had any backbone they would have handled the issue properly to start with and banned him until he could bowl properly.

Murali needs to get over it. It's not as though he's the first bowler to get some treatment from Australian crowds. Richard Hadlee copped far worse and he could actually bowl!!

[Clem Snide]

Hadlee was accused not of being a chucker but of being a wanker, another example of the perceptiveness of Australian cricket crowds. Since that memorable incident at the Gabba where Hadlee was reluctant to bowl until the crowd stopped calling him a wanker, the chant "X is a wanker [clap-clap clap-clap clap]" has become as much a ritual of Aussie cricket crowds as Mexican waves and beachball punching. Which raises the question - was Hadlee the first to receive the chant in a big way, and if not when did it start?

Oh, and both Murali and Spanky are lost causes. Spanky the loony leftie has well-trained denial reflexes. Murali has spent so much of his cricketing career surrounded by people like Roebuck that he has started to believe that their pitiful excuses for him reflect reality.

[Clem Snide]

"I shouldn't be playing here. All my deliveries are legal and nobody can question that. People should think about that before they say anything. All the attention only comes my way and is never on anyone else. I am clear, so why not check everyone now? Why not check the fast bowlers?"

See what I mean? The inhuman snobbery, the monumental sense of entitlement, the feeble attempt to redirect the gaze from his wrongdoing to a scapegoat - where do you suppose he learned all that? Maybe he will soon be caning young men's buttocks too.

[Living in Canberra]

There definitely seems to be a "get off Murali's back" campaign going on. First Nicholas and co on the TV, then Roebuck's spew-worthy piece. Doesn't matter, still doesn't mean that what he does is bowling, regardless of how many contortions the ICC and its spruikers go through to claim everything he does is fine.

[Scott Wickstein]

I was at the Adelaide Oval yesterday. Murali copped a fair old dose of heckling, once again.

Of course, the tolerance given to Murali has meant that he's got his imitators, such as the South African Johan Botha, who Roebuck carefully fails to mention has also copped the 'no ball' heckle.

Australian crowds know a dodgy action when they see one. Roebuck's craven defence of the indefensible will go down as one of the lowlights of his writing career.

The 'journalists' at cricinfo have decided to launch a 'bash aussies' campaign as well. Some people need to stick to writing what they are good at.

[Gareth]

On another note ... Tony Greig - who has made a career of the art of calling black white when television replays conclusively prove that white is, in fact, white - outdid himself today on that claimed catch by the Sri Lunkuns.

The ball clearly bounced before entering the fielder's hands, yet Greigy maintained Ponting should have been sent packing. Richie's silence was telling, and now Tubby is telling us that it's inconclusive and it's really only the players on the ground who can tell. Ridiculous!!

[Living in Canberra]

Further to my comment earlier, I see now Steve Waugh has joined the defend Murali bandwagon.

Didn't matter today, the chucked off breaks went for 99 off his 10 innings on the mound.

Lastly, hasn't Kerry Packer been dead long enough yet for Channel 9 to piss Tony Greig off. Every second thing he says is correcting a previous error he's made in something he just said.

[Tony.T]

I'd love to say I revelled in the "cornage", but when I tuned in the Aussies were three for forty odd, and I ... ahem ... switched over to an old Melbourne footy match (Dees v Cows in Adelaide - Dees won) and fell asleep.

Murali 0 for 99 off ten. Get nervous in the nineties, did he? Wuss. Looks like he chucked in the towel. But seriously folks, Murali getting tonked is good for cricket. I only hope it was because the crowd put him off.

My Channel Nine spies tell me that Eddie is no great fan of TG - fingers crossed. Not just Tone, either. There'll be some nervous nellies in the Nine cricket team.

[CB]

That fucking yarpie idgit was squealing about 'He should ask him, he should walk' about Ponting's non-caught alleged dismissal. Grieg tried to drag Heals into the argument, and I was fervently hoping that Ian's new found backbone would have him reply 'He's not out Tony. Fucking get over it'.
Unfortunatelky, heals went with the 'only the player really knows' guff. It bounced. Fuck me, if it ricocheted any higher, you could have slam dunked it as a basket.

[Tony.T]

A recent search would appear to confirm things hereabouts - Google never lies!

[Tony.T]

Mark Nicholas "Murali is good for the game. I hope he comes back to Australia."

Rubbish!

[Anthony from Chippendale]

With figures like today's he can come back here any time!

[Scott Wickstein]

Spanky deserted his ABC radio post early last night and Lawson and O'Keefe were taking the mickey as they covered up for him. It was kind of hilarious actually.

[Tony.T]

Did they start ranting about chucking? Did they talk about Jaya's Buddhism? Did they roll out lashings of "leather flingers" and "willow wielders"? Did they spank each other?

[Scott Wickstein]

Just taking the piss out of Spanky being stuck in the car park listening in.

He was notable by his rarity of his comment in the third final, too. I wonder if he's not being eased out.

[sophie]

who was mark nicholas two years age......and i recall b.lee accused of .....chucking?,

[Tony.T]

Blee was indeed accused of chucking, Sophie, and quite rightly. His action was ragged, at best. But that's 'was'. I've not seen him do anything wrong for ages. And the Nine super slo-mo have shown ample footage of him bowling correctly. Unlike other bowlers with dubious actions.