Pontings Jeers to Cheers
Gideon Haigh, an English born, Australian journalist writing for the UK Times online has wrote an interesting article on why Tasmanian Ricky Ponting does not deserve the jeers he is currently receiving from the English crowd during the current Ashes test series.
Here are a few snippets taken from the article and hopefully not out of context:
Ponting’s problem is that the steady dwindling of his baggy green generation has left him the only Australian recognisable to English audiences; thus he bears the brunt of their peeves and prejudices about Antipodean attitude and aggression.
Antipodean: Other side of the earth!
On Jeers from the Cricket authoritative crowd of Lords -
Lord’s, meanwhile, which preens itself as the locus classicusof the spirit of cricket, actually boos the best Australia Test batsman since Bradman.
Probably the most poignant –
The irony is that if a single player in the world could be regarded as a cricket traditionalist, even a bit of a reactionary, it is Ponting. He is a Test cricketer to the marrow, obsessed enough with the Ashes to have forgone the riches of the Indian Premier League before this series, so dedicated to its symbolism that he attends Test press conferences in his whites and wearing his baggy green – unlike England players, who are studies in sponsor-friendly casual wear.
I will finish on this one -
Perceptions of Ponting and his Australians, however, are out of date. The captain felt harshly judged after last year’s Sydney Test against India, but has worked hard to make amends; media perceptions often moving in arrears of reality, he is perhaps due more credit than he has received. The Australia players’ recent disciplinary record is hard to fault.
Something for the Ponting bashers!
Ricky Ponting
