The Official Winter Cricket Thread!!!!

[Parm]

It was shameful. A group of Indian supporters made loud and clear monkey noises towards Symonds. Absolutely disgraceful.

[Shaggy]

Allegedly

Allegedly? Not seen the footage then?

[Shaggy]

AUSTRALIAN allrounder Andrew Symonds was subjected to racist monkey taunts as Australia easily beat India in a Future Cup one-day international last night.

Queenslander Symonds was subjected to high pitched monkey noises by thousands of spectators while fielding on the boundary.

Ground authorities were forced to flash the ICC's revised anti-racism code on the replay screen.

"We asked Andrew if he had been subjected to racist taunts and he confirmed he had been," a Cricket Australia spokesman said.

"However it is not up to Cricket Australia to take action. We will move on.

"The local authorities can take action if they so desire."

An ICC spokesman said the body treated racial abuse very seriously.

The International Cricket Council has made cracking down on racial abuse from crowds a top priority with Australian fans having come in for criticism during the 2005-06 summer for taunts towards South African players.

The Pakistan Cricket Board banned fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar yesterday for 13 international matches and fined him $A63,000 for hitting a teammate with a bat. Akhtar struck fellow fast bowler Mohammad Asif last month.

[Shaggy]

AUSTALIAN vice captain Adam Gilchrist says there is no place for crowd racial abuse but stamping it out is another matter.

Gilchrist said it was a difficult problem to address following the monkey noises directed at teammate Andrew Symonds in the one-day match against India in Vadodara yesterday.

Symonds, the only black member of the national side, received the unsavoury taunts when fielding near the boundary line during the latter stages of India's innings. The sheer numbers of spectators at cricket games makes policing such incidents far from simple.

All-rounder Symonds was subjected to high-pitched monkey noises by thousands of spectators while fielding on the boundary. Ground authorities were forced to flash the ICC's revised anti-racism code on the replay screen.

Match referee Chris Broad is likely to flag the incident in his match report and that would open it up to possible investigation by the International Cricket Council.

The ICC is desperate to ensure that cricket doesn't develop the same problems that have plagued soccer in Europe where racist abuse from fans has become an issue.

The Australian team has not lodged a formal complaint and Gilchrist said Symonds, who is currently off limits to the media, was keen not to inflame the situation.

"It is hard, whether it is the Indian administrators or it is Australia when the issue is up and running, anywhere in the world it is very hard to know how to deal with it,'' he said. "I mean everyone can sit here and say there is no place for it and it is not right.

"But there is a lot of things going on in the world that are not right, a lot of pleas sort of go unheard. I think from what I can gather that Symo has taken it in a very mature manner, he has not tried to make a song and dance about it.

"He just wants to see through that and move on and just play cricket.''

Gilchrist said he was unsure whether the abuse had been triggered by Symonds' fiery confrontations with Indian paceman Shantha Sreesanth in Cochin last week and the pair's subsequent exchanges in the press.

"Perhaps, it has been a pretty heated series but I am not sure whether that is directly related,'' he said.

The series has been marked by ill feeling between the sides with players from both teams regularly trading barbs in the series that pits the newly-crowned Twenty20 world champions against the reigning World Cup holders.

The Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) doesn't plan on investigating the crowd problems because no complaint has been lodged over the incident.

"I have not had any complaint in writing from the Australian team and no complaint has been handed to the match referee, so we are not investigating anything,'' said Jadin Vakil, the chairman of the press committee at the BCA.

The ICC introduced a tough new anti-racism code last November after the South African team complained of racial abuse from Australian fans during the 2005/06 season. The code allowed for measures including spectators being banned for life from stadiums.

The Australian and Indian sides were due to fly to Nagpur today ahead of Sunday's match with the tourists holding an unbeatable 3-1 series lead with two matches to play.

With the euphoria of its Twenty20 World Cup win gone, India faces a heavy defeat on home soil with two games to follow in Nagpur and Mumbai and further carnage in Australia starting in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.

Having "slipped up" in Chandigarh, Australian skipper Ricky Ponting said his side had viewed the Vadodara clash as a "finals-type" game. It showed as undefeated Ponting (39) wiped off the target in an unbeaten 95-run stand with back in-form Adam Gilchrist who crashed 79 from 77 balls.

Tendulkar - the first marvel to make 15,000 one-day runs and second to play 400 one-day games after Sanath Jayasuriya - remains the one India batsman with the technique to combat top-tier pace bowling on Indian or Australian soil.

Australia, said Ponting, has the pace key to slam dunk India's batsmen.

"Most of the batsmen, except for Sachin, we got out the way we wanted to get them out. I think we have got some really good plans for them," Ponting said.

"That's what one-day cricket is all about, finding ways of putting the opposition under pressure."

Ponting said Johnson was now "in line" for a Test call up against Sri Lanka in the first Test at the Gabba.

"Performances like from Mitchell have been coming for a while," said Ponting of Johnson, who beat Damien Fleming's (1996-World Cup) 5/36 for the best figures by an Australian in India.

Matthew Hayden (29) hurt his hip in the third over facing surprise opening bowler Harbhajan Singh but still managed a 54-run stand with Gilchrist. He lasted with the help of runner James Hopes until playing on to left-arm seamer RP Singh (1/15). Ponting said the 150-game veteran "would be fine" for Saturday's game in Nagpur.

The average score at the Reliance Cricket Stadium is 287 but India were bowled out for 148 in 39.4 overs with Brett Lee (2/42) and sticky-fingered Gilchrist also starring.

"To get my first one-day five-for in these (hot) conditions is very special," said Johnson.

Custodian Gilchrist matched his one-day record of six catches in an innings against South Africa at Cape Town in 2000. Gilchrist's 396th catch to remove last batsman out Zaheer Khan (28) off Nathan Bracken (1/29) means he's just two shy of 450 dismissals.

Johnson eclipsed his best figures of 4/11 against the Indians in Kuala Lumpur in September last year with a magnificent display of left-arm pace precision.

India never recovered from Australia's king hit which reduced it to 5/43.

[Jayesh87]

Allegedly? Not seen the footage then?

no, the game was finished by the time i got up

just seems odd.

[Shaggy]

Why does it?

[Tee]

I am really shocked by this 'alleged' racist taunting. Indians (and all people of the sub-continent) have a culture of hospitality and respect towards foreign guests, no matter what their origin.

It seems that a minority are clearly moving away from these values.

[Jayesh87]

Why does it?

I am really shocked by this 'alleged' racist taunting. Indians (and all people of the sub-continent) have a culture of hospitality and respect towards foreign guests, no matter what their origin.

It seems that a minority are clearly moving away from these values.

[Shaggy]

I see. I thought you were implying Indians aren’t capable of racism.

I wasn’t shocked – just appalled.

[Parm]

I see. I thought you were implying Indians aren’t capable of racism.

I wasn’t shocked – just appalled.

Sadly Indians are very capable of being racist.

[DeeGame]

Sadly Indians are very capable of being racist.

Shut it turbinator

[Pacman]

I am really shocked by this 'alleged' racist taunting. Indians (and all people of the sub-continent) have a culture of hospitality and respect towards foreign guests, no matter what their origin.

It seems that a minority are clearly moving away from these values.

I'm not Indian but when I read those articles I was shocked it doesn't sound the sought of thing they would do.

I haven't seen the incident but if it's true then it's shocking.

[Parm]

Shut it turbinator

[Jayesh87]

I'm not Indian but when I read those articles I was shocked it doesn't sound the sought of thing they would do.

I haven't seen the incident but if it's true then it's shocking.

Its really is shockin considering if it would have happened to an Indian player there would have been protests in the streets, dodgy indian signs etc. Kinda like the Shilpa Shetty incident. Hopefully those behind it will get dealt with.

[Parm]

Its really is shockin considering if it would have happened to an Indian player there would have been protests in the streets, dodgy indian signs etc. Kinda like the Shilpa Shetty incident. Hopefully those behind it will get dealt with.