HUBRIS had set in with the Australian players. Since the 2005 Ashes they had not lost nor drawn a Test match, they had won the World Cup for the third consecutive time and were lionised across corporate Australia in as sycophantic and financially rew
arding manner as Hollywood stars.
Then came the record equalling victory in Sydney, their 16th on the trot. They expected garlands of praise to be heaped upon them. Instead they endured disgust and approbation.
They did not understand why. Peter Roebuck, a most respected cricket writer of the Sydney Morning Herald and commentator on ABC radio, called for Ricky Ponting to be sacked as captain. His team were 'wild dogs' and the general feeling across the land was their pursuit of victory by fair means or foul was damaging the country.
The players were astonished, but then they could not distinguish between cheating and sportsmanship. Roebuck had been a captain of mine at Somerset, a straight talker and some years ago, having emigrated to Australia, had educated me on the mindset of the people.
Australians love their country, not necessarily the immediate players was the gist of it.
The reaction of the public after Sydney proved it. Their team were winners but few cared. What did rile them was their boorish manner, abuse of the spirit of the game and desperation that led many to cheat.
So they moved to Perth where only West Indies had defeated them in the past 16 years. The brouhaha had ebbed as Ponting had finally acknowledged, albeit not convincingly, his players may have been at fault, a point forcibly and appallingly brought home personally after his parents received an abusive phone call.
Somewhere, the fact that it is only a game had been lost. Not by one man though. Anil Kumble, the dignified Indian captain, had sparked much of the controversy after the Sydney Test by echoing a sentiment from the Bodyline series of 1932/33 that only one side had been playing in the spirit of the game. If it was a calculated line then it pierced to the very heart of Australian sport. And as many of the local great and good agreed with him, he was offered an opportunity to hammer Australia. He refused and insisted the whole affair be dealt with honestly and then moved on from.
His reward was not more soundbites but a convincing win, only India's fifth ever in Australia and a chance to level the series in Adelaide next week.
The architects were the seamers. Australia had expected their pace quartet to dominate but only Stuart Clark and Brett Lee had bowled well. That is not enough. India in contrast had the recalled Irfan Pathan swinging the ball late and accurately, PR Singh constantly challenging the batsman's judgment on what to leave and the quite splendid 19-year-old Ishant Sharma, a 6ft 4in seamer who worked Ponting over so thoroughly yesterday morning he could have dismissed him three times. When he did for him with a beauty that seamed away and was well caught by Rahul Dravid at slip it was the end of Australian hopes.
The rest was a matter of time as the run chase, if successful, would have been the second largest ever. To accomplish that would have demanded a century opening partnership and another huge combination by two other top players. The openers failed and once Ponting had gone it meant the best part of 350 had to come from Mike Hussey, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds and Adam Gilchrist.
Only Clarke offered resistance with a spirited 83 and Clark and Mitchell Johnson at the end with a swashbuckling partnership that offered a glimpse of hope to the most diehard Australian fan.
When the end came India celebrated joyously, vindication of the past fortnight writ large on their faces and a giant Indian flag was brought on to the pitch by a member of their staff.
Do not doubt the magnitude of this victory. India has been in uproar ever since the Sydney Test. Ponting's commercial worth on the sub-continent has disappeared. The feeling towards Australia has soured and will continue to do so until those in the inner circle of Australian cricket admit they were wrong. Even on TV the commentators seem ignorant, or deliberately avoid the depth of feeling. Ex-players have drawn the wagons in a circle and mutter that a couple of marginal decisions that went India's way here have evened the ledger. Rubbish, and they should know better. It was manner, style and arrogance that caused the problem, not a decision or two although they proved helpful.
There is much still to do to fully repair relations between the two countries and the first is for the Australian players to be more aware of the complexity of other nations. India is a vast country, increasingly an economic powerhouse and no longer easily bullied. They believe in honour and politeness and as most of their players have proved during this tour, a quiet dignity. Now Harbhajan Singh does sometimes go about like a 'pork chop' to use the Australian vernacular for someone carrying on like a buffoon, but he is targeted and abused with expletives by the Australian players. They have to accept they were instigators in Sydney, and damned ungracious ones at that.
Now all must move on. The behaviour in this Test was fine, the cricket even better, especially by the visitors. The hope is it continues in Adelaide, and then who knows, when Australia tour India in the future it might be acceptable for Ponting to captain.
The full article contains 951 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
