Fingers crossed Sideshow Roy being sent home from Darwin won't set the same sort of tone as in 2005:
Hussey tries to stop history repeating
Another disciplinary lapse by Andrew Symonds has Australia needing to defend well with the ball to ensure they do not suffer another shock defeat to cricketing minnow Bangladesh.
The world champions decided to send the Queensland allrounder home for failing to attend a team meeting on Friday because he was fishing, and their innings in the first one-dayer lacked spark without him.
And I don't mean just that loss to the Bangers; on any one day, anyone can lose any one-dayer if the mood suits. I mean losing to the Bangers at Sophia Gardens, generally struggling in the NWS series as a whole, then losing the Ashes. Be interesting how this series sets us up for India.
Our Man Geeves goes alright.
Posted by: Tony T | Saturday, August 30, 2008 at 04:00 PM
Although, without wanting to give Geeves undue credit, it's quite possible that the Bangers are sh1thouse.
Posted by: Tony T | Saturday, August 30, 2008 at 04:07 PM
Good to see Huss has pulled his head in. Bad to see Sideshow has reverted to form. On his day, he's the best spinner in the team.
Posted by: nick | Saturday, August 30, 2008 at 11:14 PM
I can see why Symonds got mixed up -- so much talk about minnows, he probably thought fishing was on the agenda.
Nick, Symonds is the best throwing spinner in the Aussie team on his day.
Bangla Desh bowled pretty well in the bits I saw, but I got a sandwich and missed their batting display.
The South African Rugby Union team was obviously trying to beat Bangla Desh's batting score against Australia, but fell just short.
Posted by: Professor Rosseforp | Sunday, August 31, 2008 at 09:33 AM
if Symonds had any reputation then it was completely shredded following the investigation of the SCG incident.
Cricket would be better if both he and Singh were no longer playing cricket
Posted by: The Don has risen | Sunday, August 31, 2008 at 04:09 PM
Speaking of Roy's spinning.
Met a guy at the footy today. Naturally we talked footy, but when we strayed onto cricket he said this: "I refuse to watch Sri Lanka; no points for guessing why."
Posted by: Tony T | Sunday, August 31, 2008 at 07:26 PM
I heard Michael Slater on radio this morning saying Symonds has been given quite a number of warnings ,particularly in the Windies, most of which involved drinking too much.
Just sack him.
He obviously can't take a hint and has lost the respect of his fellow players not mention how much opposing cricketers now find him a pain.
He has been given plenty of chances and apparently has ignored this.
New blood is needed
Posted by: The Don has returned | Monday, September 01, 2008 at 08:43 AM
I can't believe this. I agree with Vaughny! If Paper Cut is fit and firing, Roy needs a holiday. Some would call him a violent objectionable drunk and some would just call him a tosser (or even a thrower). Hopes is another possible replacement, with far less in the way of personality issues.
Posted by: nick | Monday, September 01, 2008 at 10:34 AM
Hopes is another possible replacement, with far less in the way of personality issues.
i.e. no personality
Posted by: Adsy | Monday, September 01, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Speaking personally, I can do with no personality.
Yes, that could be misconstrued, but you get my meaning.
Posted by: Tony T | Monday, September 01, 2008 at 12:23 PM
this is the man who insisted he couldn't go to Pakistan because of the 'terrorist' but who apparently didn't know how many people died in a terrorist attack just down the road of his IPL city.
either he is a dill of the highest order or a hypocrite
Posted by: The Don has risen | Monday, September 01, 2008 at 04:00 PM
Liked this from Leapster in The Age...
"This is where the cricketing authorities have got it wrong about Andrew Symonds.
Before the Australians' one-day match with Bangladesh in Darwin, Symonds ditched a team meeting to go fishing and they kicked him out of the side. Don't these people realise that the minute this story came out, he became a hero to millions? Who WOULDN'T want to ditch a meeting and go fishing? Or ski-boarding down Mount Everest for that matter.
Actually, a spirited knitting bee in a laundromat during a heatwave sounds like a decent alternative. Symonds should properly be hailed as an audacious original thinker, who just did what everyone else (on the planet, not just the cricket team) desperately wanted to do, but didn't have the proverbial sinkers. Not only should they make him captain, they should probably set up an entire religion around him."
A MEETING about a game against the Bangers, or fishing in the NT...
I know where I am going!
... the rest is here http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/meetings-are-just-the-piths/2008/09/01/1220121134991.html
Posted by: Get A Job, Son! | Tuesday, September 02, 2008 at 09:51 AM
I think the main issue (which Leaping Larry L alludes to) is not Roy's missing a meeting, but his propensity for getting 'double-pithed'.
But, as they said in Pulp Fiction, 'personality goes a long way', and I think his 'mates' have had enough.
Posted by: nick | Tuesday, September 02, 2008 at 12:12 PM
"Personality" is a lot like "character": a little bit goes a long way, a lot bit goes a little way.
Posted by: Tony T | Tuesday, September 02, 2008 at 12:33 PM
BTW Dad.
Missing the meeting, while grist-for-the-pisstake, is probably a symptom of what the medical profession calls magnuscaputitis, or what the rest of us call big'eaddedness.
Vis-a-vis:
Associates say Symonds has not dealt well with his sudden rise to prominence in the Test arena, which made him the team's poster boy in all three formats of the game. His $1.47 million Indian Premier League contract with Hyderabad also brought with it huge demands for his time.
Posted by: Tony T | Tuesday, September 02, 2008 at 01:02 PM