The Second VB Series Final:

Has predictably ended in victory for the all conquering Aussie cricket team, yet despite the wild celebrations, it will be remembered by most lovers of sport as a particularly dark day for Australian sportsmanship with (not for the first time) Star pin-up wonder-boy Brett Lee being responsible for producing some more of the most unsavoury sights in sport witnessed in recent times....the ugliest since his last round of similar unsporting behaviour against the South African tail ender Makhaya Ntini not so long ago.

That time Brett Lee had deliberately targeted a batsman who cricket followers know has little or next to no ability with the bat, yet Lee followed him down the leg side with deliberately aimed bouncers attempting to cause Ntini physical injury with bouncer after bouncer. It was a sickening sight for any sports fan and those who witnessed it will never forget the ugliness of the moment.

Today, in front of his swooning adoring home crowd he reverted to form showing the world the exact meaning of the word "ugly". In today’s second VB Final match Pakistani all rounder Abdul Razzak, considerably less rapid in pace than Brett Lee managed to bowl Lee a "beamer", around chest height that the batsman managed to get a bat to, if only just. Razzak immediately apologized for his transgression and the millions watching the match of TV witnessed him actually approaching Lee, patting him on the back while making his apology, but Lee rather than graciously accept, bristled muttering a few obscenities under his breath right under the nose of observing umpire Rudi Koetzen who didn't waste a moment in banishing Razzak from the bowling attack as he had every right to. Razzak had earlier sent down a similarly directed slower ball that had been smacked by Shane Watson and would have been a six had it not landed in the hands of Shahid Afridi lurking on the mid wicket boundary.

Later in the match when Razzak was at the crease trying to rescue a Pakistan innings left in tatters by their typically suicidal batting faced up to a snorting Brett Lee who sent down a beamer as fast as he could hurl deliberately aimed at the batsman’s head which was obviously a calculated and totally deliberate reaction to what had gone on before. But while Razzak had immediately reacted with an apology when he had erred, there was not the slightest even hint of an attempt at an apology by the Australian bowler, clearly acknowledging that his actions were entirely deliberate. His captain Ricky Ponting, remembered in his earlier days as a bit of a scrapper, also made not the slightest attempt at admonishing his boorish fast bowler thus showing that he passively accepted the action as being within his definition of the way sport should be played. One can also recall an incident several years ago in Sharjah when a pumped up Ricky Ponting had been dismissed by a 15 year old Harbhajan Singh and then administered a “body check” to the bowler on his way back to the pavilion. Wonder if Ponting would have reacted the same way had the bowler been of a colour similar to his own. Fate is indeed strange though as Singh returned to torment Ponting on his subsequent tours of India. However yesterdays inaction from the captain was unsurprising coming from a man with a history of erratic behaviour the less said about which the better. One had forgiven Ricky Ponting's earlier follies as part of "growing up" yet his inaction today showed the world that some things never change.

Though Australia added yet another trophy to their burgeoning collection, the match will be remembered by millions who viewed the antics of one of their cricketers as providing an ugly slur on what is considered sporting behaviour. They may have won the cup but they lost millions of supporters of sport along the way. Brett Lee is indeed a fine and exciting match winning cricketer and might well be the poster boy of a sports obsessed nation, but to many he represents everything that is ugly about sport and today he displayed exactly why.

Now the match itself - the first Final had been blighted by some of the most atrocious umpiring seen since the era of the neutral umpire began. Though an off day for umpires is accepted as being a part of the game, somehow when all the decisions weigh against one side alone, it suggests a certain bias. To put it bluntly, Pakistan were cheated by the abject umpiring in the first Final in order to keep the Aussie air of invincibility from being deflated in any way. Had the same quality of umpiring come from an Indian, Pakistani or Sri Lankan umpire, all hell would have been let loose and the umpire would have been hounded off the international circuit within hours. Yet when Steve Davis transgressed time and again, nobody appears to have batted an eyelid...but again, some things never change.

Today the match was won by Australia in the very first over when Adam Gilchrist was palpably struck in front of the stumps only for Rudi Koetzen to pander to the old boys club and ruin what should have been a wonderful sporting contest. Television replays clearly showed the umpire up and even the normally diplomatic TV commentators couldn't find any legitimate excuse for what turned out to be a match-turning blunder by an umpire who is known in South Asia as being a bit of a relic of the "Springbok" mentality. That Pakistan eventually lost the match by a handful of runs and that Gilchrist went on to score a telling 40 - well one need say no more as to what effect his judgement had on this particular match. The old boys club had struck decisively and the colonial lackeys were left licking their wounds yet again. Koetzens "error" effectively killed the match as a contest in the very first over of the day.

Gilchrist, reprieved from failing in front of baying, adoring fans could not be allowed to fail and so it was to be. He went on to blast a quick fire 40 and got the home team off to flier that they hardly deserved. The Pakistan bowlers, demoralized to the depths by the shoddy umpiring made a determined effort to claw their way back into contention but in the end their own lack of ability to cope with pressure situations was another key factor in the inability to snatch victory despite the odds.

The primary villain this time around was Shoaib Malik who played an inexcusable injudicious shot for a man of his experience literally gifting the home team the Cup on a platter. Though he and Yousuf Youhanna were well on the way to setting Pakistan back on track, just when it appeared that they could make it at a canter, first he decided to attempt a suicidal run and didn't even attempt (as is his right) to come between the stumps and the bowler who was attempting to throw them (the stumps) down, but appeared to make room so that Jason Gillespie had an excellent view! As if that aberration wasn't enough, in the next over, with seven runs already in the bag which were more than the amount that were required at any stage, Malik received possibly the worst ball of the day and proceeded to plonk it straight down the throat of a fielder who didn't have to move two inches to complete the easiest of catches. It is times like this that conspiracy theorists wonder if certain cricketers are still involved in match fixing and it’s not too difficult to see exactly why. This was a shocking and match losing performance by the normally sensible Malik and it was sad to see a lad who most of Pakistan cricket supporters view as a potential leader of the team make such a horrendous hash of things so needlessly.

Another villain, though of a lesser degree was Taufeeq Umar who admittedly was only playing his first game of the tour but having looked totally comfortable against the Australian new ball bowlers he was suddenly possessed by the same crazy rush of blood that his predecessor Salman Butt had just been dropped from the side for. Though not a renowned hooker, Umar went for an expansive hook shot and ended up presenting the grateful Aussies with his wicket in what was another disastrous choice of shot. Inzamam was due a failure and there can be no complaints about the umpiring when the ball thudded into his pad dead in front of the stumps, yet Adam Gilchrist had been reprieved, why not Inzi? Perhaps had the match been played in front of Inzamam's adoring public in Multan things may have been different? Pure conjecture.

Gradually the rest of the Pakistani batsmen threatened then perished falling tantalisingly short and tellingly the side ended up losing by less than the margin of runs that were gifted to Gilchrist courtesy of Rudi Koetzen who clearly though that he ought not to ruin the day for the ticket paying Aussie crowd by sending their hero packing in the very first over of the day. Sadly his decision ruined what would have been a classic encounter and in the end the match will be remembered more for his dreadful (and deliberate?) error of judgement as well as the hideously unsporting behaviour and antics of Brett Lee - a supremely gifted cricketer but a vile black stain on Australian sportsmanship.