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.

THE FIRST VB FINAL played at the MCG on Feb 4th, 2005

That the first final of the VB series got underway at all considering the drenching the MCG received over the last 72 hours was due to the grounds superlative structure and the untiring efforts of a thoroughly professional ground staff who worked miracles to provide what turned out to be perfect playing conditions. Sadly it seems as though a large section of the potential ticket buying public weren’t convinced as the ground bore an unusually bare look for what promised to be a stirring encounter between the all conquering Aussie juggernaut and the slowly but surely rejuvenating Pakistani outfit.

The Australians have had a breeze of a summer down under thrashing to a pulp any team that they have locked horns with: first New Zealand were thrashed to a pulp and subsequently the Pakistani team have been pulverised in similar fashion with the West Indies also tasting a few stinging defeats in the one day VB series even though rain did deny them on one occasion. Pakistan having lost their has-been ex fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar have been improving ever since his departure from the playing field.

Slowly but encouragingly the team has begun to display a spirit that it seemed quite incapable of until very recently. Captain Inzamam ul Haq, stung badly by the criticism dished out by Imran Khan has come out of his sulk with a new found determination to prove that he does indeed command the respect of his young brigade and to a large extent has let his bat do the talking with admirable results. He has been batting with a resolute authority that seems to have rubbed off on his wards and they have responded with enthusiasm and a willingness that seemed to have been shattered by the thrashing received during the Test series.

The less experienced members of the team have responded very encouragingly of late and no one has embodied this new spirit than the likes of Rana Naveed ul Hassan and Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi and a miraculously transformed Popeye Abdul Razzak. Yousuf Youhana has leant an important hand once in a while and Inzamam has been rock solid. Still, despite Inzamam’s new resolve it still remains a tragedy that his commitment to the cause still remains in question because for reasons best known to himself and his soothsayers back in Raiwind, he utterly refuses to take on the responsibility of leading from the front – in other words, his utterly refusal to take on the number 3 position in the batting order which would not only silence his critics but also give the batting a huge boost by stabilizing the batting as he does near the top of the order rather than always be propping up a collapsing pack. Only he knows why he absolutely refuses to take on the responsibility of the one down position even though his team is crying out for him to do so. It is as though he has sworn never to bat one down and this stubbornness to keep arriving at the crease when half the innings is over is beyond mystifying and frankly the questions of his commitment to his cause will keep nagging him as long as he continues to thrust lesser players into the position that should by all accounts be his.

Yousuf Youhana has better reasons not to bat at one down as his technique is nowhere near as solid as his captains and as today’s match showed he is rather vulnerable when faced with a rock hard new ball and the searing pace of a Brett Lee. None the less, the team has shown the admirable ability to pick itself up from rock bottom and to truly begin to challenge the awesome Aussies and even give them a shock or two along the way.

Today’s first final was more evidence that this team is growing in confidence and stature with every passing match and had it not been for some grotesque umpiring by Steve Davis, they might well have gone one up with two matches to play, but it wasn’t to be and though they strived hard they were unable to withstand a withering opening assault by Brett Lee and the wily Glenn McGrath who literally ripped the heart out of the batting in the very few opening overs dismissing Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal and Yousuf Youhana in quick succession followed by Hafeez who is totally out of his depth coming in the position that his captain ought to.

It would be churlish to blame the umpiring as being the sole reason for the defeat but it would also be ridiculously over diplomatic to pretend that it didn’t have a major impact on the outcome, as each ghastly error had a deeply morale sapping effect. First of all the third umpire refused to give the darling of the Aussie crowds Adam Gilchrist out when the entire ground could see clearly that he was short of his crease when Kamran Akmal disturbed the bails…..Gilchrist seemed almost embarrassed at the reprimand. A few minutes later the Aussie captain Ricky Ponting was to benefit when he was struck on his pads bang in front with TV replays confirming that the middle stump was being struck, but umpire Davis stunned neutrals with his judgement and was to do so time and again during the course of the match. Andrew Symonds who came out of a horror bad patch was also indebted to Davis who salvaged his innings when he was palpably caught in front of his stumps half way through his match winning innings with TV technology showing the umpire up rather badly, but that wasn’t to be the end of it by half.

Davis later proceeded to make a total ass of his judgement by awarding a wide to a delivery that the batsman actually gloved along with a rather audible sound. Once again technology showed that the umpire had made yet another glaring error and single-handedly slashed the visitor’s chances of making a match of it on this occasion. Not satisfied with the havoc he had caused, it didn’t take him a fraction of a second to send Pakistan’s Salman Butt on his way despite their being a large suspicion of an inside edge, but this one was acceptable as it was no where near as obvious as the previous stinkers had been.

The Australians are a quite brilliant outfit but their sheer brilliance was rather undermined by the help they received from their home umpire today and his inability to judge in a fair manner left a rather poor taste in the mouth. Surely the Aussies are too proud of their own capabilities to have them undermined in this manner by a man who was bent on sending the sparse crowd home happy and to ensure that the adoring publics perception of their invincibles was left unblemished, They are a superior team in every department which makes it rather embarrassing that they had Davis helping them along to the best of his ability. This was the most shocking umpiring seen on a centre stage (barring the ghastly errors of the Indian Jayaprakash) since neutral umpires came into existence but to be fair, even the normally efficient Billy Bowden, despite his eccentricities was also found wanting on the day on more than one occasion.

Maybe it was just one of those days and the dice seemed to roll against the Pakistani’s each and every time – whatever the reasons, it had a telling impact on the morale of the visitors who having raised themselves from the depths of despair and were desperately keen to at least compete on equal terms. Today they were denied, not only by a brilliantly honed champion Australian team but also by some highly dubious umpiring along the way. It will take some miracle for the visiting team to conjure the confidence to make the second final a contest and if the same two umpires officiate in the same form they were in today, it might just be a totally futile exercise.

None the less, it was a sterling effort by the Australian team who are worthy World Cup holders and Test cricket World Champions – a team so extraordinarily brilliant that they can work miracles without the kindly intervention of erring umpires. It was an exceptional cricket match by all accounts but sadly will be remembered for the hideous incompetence of the umpires Davis, Bowden and the third umpire whose reluctance to send Gilchrist back as run out was quite astonishing. Australia marched away with yet another victory, thoroughly deserved, but Pakistan left the field defeated but with the total sympathy of the neutral spectator.

On this evidence, surely home umpires must be dumped for One Day Internationals, especially if they happen to be Finals.