Cheating champions

Some things never change. Some lessons are never learnt. Some Australians never stop cheating.

Another dubious catch. Another pitiable umpiring decision. Another immoral Aussie win.

Yes, it was an eventful day at the WACA in Perth. Firstly, Adam Gilchrist’s farewell at his home ground couldn’t have been scripted better. The guy deserves to be honored as the greatest wicketkeeper-batsman to have ever played the game. He will be missed of course. A final spectacle was what his home crowd sought and that is exactly what he gave them. What we witnessed was an extravaganza of runs from Gilly that accounted for half of the Aussies’ total against the Sri Lankans. And in reality, was the reason for their win.

The Lankans in reply exploded onto the scene, but you wonder whether that was the need of the hour. When you have 6 players on your team whose batting averages don’t even touch the 20-run mark, then you shouldn’t seek a run-rate of 6-plus when chasing 236. Even if you have three of the world’s best lining up for you.

They were eventually tamed, despite Kumar Sangakarra’s valiant effort. But could things have been different had Andrew Symonds shown some long-lost cricketing spirit? Unfortunately, we’ll never know.

To sign off, here’s an excerpt from The Australian describing Symonds’ catch:-
“
Andrew Symonds lit up the WACA with the most wonderful diving catch to get rid of Chamara Silva for a duck.
The world's best fieldsman threw himself horizontally to his left at ground level to snaffle a scorching cover drive in his left hand just centimetres from the ground.
“
So, how much does a centimeter measure?