Honest Opinions

Well, I thnk I'll nail my colours to the mast. Because there just can't ever be enough threadfs on all the fun and games going on at the moment.

Feel free to join in.

[*]Was Harbajan racist?

In my opinion probably not intentionally, he was probably being a smartarse and I reckon the 'Monkey' thing slipped out. Of course, as soon as that happened, his goose was cooked. If he was smart (maybe it's a spin bowlers thing...?) he would have apologised loudly and publicly, and taken whatever punishment on the chin. But in my opinion, he's not smart.

[*]Was the umpiring bad in the Sydney Test?

In my opinion, yes. Bordering on diabolical at times.

[*]Was it the first time that umpiring has sunk to this level?

In my opinion, no. I'm pretty sure that at some stage, just about every country has been on the receiving end of some shoddy umpiring of that standard.

[*]Were the umpiring mistakes deliberately aimed at India?

In my opinion, no. In just about every sport, teams that have been successful for a period of time tend to get the benefit of crap decisions time and time again. Manchester United in the Premier League as just one example.

[*]Is Trev the biggest fool on this forum?

Well, I'm not so sure now, there are a couple of rivals at present, but for sustained sandpape-lined undieness, he still can't be beaten.

[*]Do I like prasad14 and Buckeroo?

Not at all.

Any other questions you'd like answered? I'll get to them sometime tomorrow. I'm off to have a few drinks.

Sage, sage, sage, and especially sage about the drinks.

Zat wrote:

Any other questions you'd like answered? I'll get to them sometime tomorrow. I'm off to have a few drinks.

I thought you ahd already had a few

Zat wrote:Well, I thnk I'll nail my colours to the mast. Because there just can't ever be enough threadfs on all the fun and games going on at the moment.

Feel free to join in.

[*]Was Harbajan racist?

In my opinion probably not intentionally, he was probably being a smartarse and I reckon the 'Monkey' thing slipped out. Of course, as soon as that happened, his goose was cooked. If he was smart (maybe it's a spin bowlers thing...?) he would have apologised loudly and publicly, and taken whatever punishment on the chin. But in my opinion, he's not smart.

[*]Was the umpiring bad in the Sydney Test?

In my opinion, yes. Bordering on diabolical at times.

[*]Was it the first time that umpiring has sunk to this level?

In my opinion, no. I'm pretty sure that at some stage, just about every country has been on the receiving end of some shoddy umpiring of that standard.

[*]Were the umpiring mistakes deliberately aimed at India?

In my opinion, no. In just about every sport, teams that have been successful for a period of time tend to get the benefit of crap decisions time and time again. Manchester United in the Premier League as just one example.

[*]Is Trev the biggest fool on this forum?

Well, I'm not so sure now, there are a couple of rivals at present, but for sustained sandpape-lined undieness, he still can't be beaten.

[*]Do I like prasad14 and Buckeroo?

Not at all.

Any other questions you'd like answered? I'll get to them sometime tomorrow. I'm off to have a few drinks.

Gotta agree with all of the above.

lardbucket wrote:Sage, sage, sage, and especially sage about the drinks.

I thought that said honest onions.

taipan wrote:

Zat wrote:

Any other questions you'd like answered? I'll get to them sometime tomorrow. I'm off to have a few drinks.

I thought you ahd already had a few

Funnily enough Dem, I've been posting sober tonight. Seeya.

[*]Do I like prasad14 and Buckeroo?

Not at all.

you may have earned my grudging respect.

*Did the umpiring errors sway the game the way of the Aussies?*

bliksem wrote:*Did the umpiring errors sway the game the way of the Aussies?*

Yes. I don't think even noelene would deny that. But don't umpires decisions often sway a game one way or the other?

Shitloads of primadonnaism on both sides...

When they sway them towards India, that's OK.

If they sway them towards Australia, that's a sign of institutional corruption. Sheesh, tac, haven't you been paying attention?

lardbucket wrote:When they sway them towards India, that's OK.

If they sway them towards Australia, that's a sign of institutional corruption. Sheesh, tac, haven't you been paying attention?

I'm not sure my IQ is low enough to understand most of these threads . . .

Then I wish filosofee was here to translate them for you.

Zat wrote:
Any other questions you'd like answered?

Is the knee bone connected to the 'sook bone'?

Zat wrote:

taipan wrote:

Zat wrote:

Any other questions you'd like answered? I'll get to them sometime tomorrow. I'm off to have a few drinks.

I thought you ahd already had a few

Funnily enough Dem, I've been posting sober tonight. Seeya.

Do I look like bloody Dem?

I'm going to assume by 'decisions' you mean 'errors' and aren't going to go all tailender on me.

Some umpiring errors are such that teams can recover from them. Others are of the magnitude and frequency that they cannot. The extra runs the umpires allowed Aus to score and the runs they denied India as a result of their errors were crucial in this game. It's alright to say that India didn't create enough chances, but when they dismiss one batsman 3 times in one innings and he still isn't given out, what more can they do? And it's one thing if that batsman only made 25, but in this game he made 162.

probably you do bra-boy ?

Good opening post Zoggy. I was gonna do one myself something similar but you had already summed up my thoughts nicely. Massive over-reaction to stuff that's been happening for yonks, but for Jumbo to pull out the "Bodyline-esque" line was a remarkable development.

My Mum asked me tonight whether I thought Jumbo would've reacted the same way if he had've steered India to a draw. I said "definitely not but he may still have had a shot at the umpires". I think he will live to regret using the line. And did you hear the ever-so-objective Indian journos applauding when he used the line.

bliksem wrote:I'm going to assume by 'decisions' you mean 'errors' and aren't going to go all tailender on me.

Some umpiring errors are such that teams can recover from them. Others are of the magnitude and frequency that they cannot. The extra runs the umpires allowed Aus to score and the runs they denied India as a result of their errors were crucial in this game. It's alright to say that India didn't create enough chances, but when they dismiss one batsman 3 times in one innings and he still isn't given out, what more can they do? And it's one thing if that batsman only made 25, but in this game he made 162.

But I think there's a good call for India's 3 top scorers in the 1st dig all being LBW early in their innings as well . . . a good 200+ runs.

tac wrote:

bliksem wrote:*Did the umpiring errors sway the game the way of the Aussies?*

Yes. I don't think even noelene would deny that. But don't umpires decisions often sway a game one way or the other?

I think maybe,although who knows what Lee could have done.He was sawn off too,just as he was going along nicely.
On the balance of probabilities,it would have been a draw,without the bad umpiring.
The idea is to overcome all obstacles in a test,and that includes bad umpiring.
Tendulkar was given a life,and the Aussies could not get him again,can't blame the ump for that.
I am not a great fan of technology,so I don't believe the umpiring was that bad.The real howlers were Symonds miss and Ponting's decision,maybe Dravid,but front on the ball could have brushed the shoulder of the bat on the way through.I believe that cameras zooming in distort the vision.

In real time I really thought Dravid had hit/gloved the ball. The replays showed that this was wrong. An appeals system would have sorted this decision out.

Zat wrote:

taipan wrote:

Zat wrote:

Any other questions you'd like answered? I'll get to them sometime tomorrow. I'm off to have a few drinks.

I thought you ahd already had a few

Funnily enough Dem, I've been posting sober tonight. Seeya.

Funnily enough....it wasn't me who said it!

There will always be complaints,no matter what system is used.It is a bit unfair to use technology that is iffy at best,such as snicko,and camera angles,and let the umps have sway on lbws.I can see that leading to biased calls too.

Aye lardy. A two-challenges-per innings rule might not be the worst rule to be introduced. Trouble is hawk-eye and snicko aren't necessarily reliable. I think hot-spot is the most definitive for edges but they don't seem to have it available for every ball.

We 'subis' don't trust gundaa-goras to come out with so called 'honest' opinions.