Clarke (the ECB wally) pontificates ...

Show Ponting respect, urges Clarke. from the DT 5th August

Ponting was booed by sections of the crowd at Edgbaston in the third Test, which has prompted Clarke to write a message in the Headingley match programme.

In it he calls on supporters to respect Ponting and all the players, while continuing their vocal support for the England team.
Clarke writes that Ponting, the third-highest run scorer in Test history, has “earned the respect and courtesy” of the crowd and that the game[i] “may never see his like again”. He asks supporters to respect both teams, who have provided “exciting batting and Herculean bowling efforts”.

However, Ponting received a standing ovation at Edgbaston when he became Australia’s highest Test run scorer, and much of the chanting has been good-humoured. But Headingley has been the scene of crowd disturbances before and the board is keen there should be no repeat.

I somehow doubt that elements of the Headingley crowd are going to take a blind bit of notice of the freak's pontifications.
And rightly so, IMO.

How does one switch to respecting a person or indeed offer him any courtesy, great batsman as he is, who has openly accused the England captain of cheating?
Who blatantly harrangues umpires.
Then who, on top of his soapbox, accuses the opposition thus - [i]only one team out there was playing the game in the spirit it was meant to be played.

yeah ... go Ricky ... now you've got Giles Clarke rooting for you ... the last time he did that, his hero ended up in a US prison!

Like I said - welcome to Headingley!

No need to boo him to the wicket, they already respect him as a player but think he's a hypocrite. So the showing of Ponting dropping catches and him getting derided for it by the crowd is fair game.

The booing to the wicket IMO reflected his stupid assertions about the "spirit of the game" and his targeting of Strauss as a cheat - but was more than counter balanced by the standing ovation he got when passing Border's milestone.

The only kick back on this issue is if the booing spurs him on to scoring big ... then we're farked !!

I wonder what they thought of him busting the dressingroom door after he was bowled by Swann the other day.

Meh, if you don't like a bloke, you boo him to the wicket, it's hardly new.

And it has to be said Ponting's cored all his runs in one of the greatest eras of test cricket run-gluttony there has ever been.

Would have liked to see how he would have got on against the bowlers, situations and pitches AB faced. He's nowt special.

The booing to the wicket was regrettable, but to a certain extent, Ponting brings it on himself with all the pious bollocks about the spirit of the game.

It should be noted, however, that he was full of praise for the Barmies in his paper article today.

He's right - they should be booing Giles Clarke.

And throwing stuff at him.

Merlin wrote:Show Ponting respect, urges Clarke.

Clarke writes that Ponting, the third-highest run scorer in Test history, has “earned the respect and courtesy”of the crowd and that the game “may never see his like again”.

one can only hope

Zat wrote:Meh, if you don't like a bloke, you boo him to the wicket, it's hardly new.

So it was the Australian's in the crowd then?

Aww diddums.........


http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/cricket/boisterous-army-driving-ponting8217s-men-barmy/2009/08/05/1249350593207.html

It's just all part of ashes cricket, isn't it?

Another one of those articles where the headline doesn't match the story

One thing is now for certain though- It's going to be a lot more boisterous at Headingley.

The barmies will be too busy ripping the piss out of Gilesy to notice when Punter comes in to bat.

Yep, they are just like children. Telling them not do something is a sure way to get them to do it.

A cunning Giles Clarke plan?

Henry wrote:A cunning Giles Clarke plan?

He's too dim to do cunning.

Zat wrote:Meh, if you don't like a bloke, you boo him to the wicket, it's hardly new.

Aye. Mountains out of molehills stuff.
Clarke is stirring up publicity hype for the match. And it gets the juices flowing, so I guess it's had the desired effect.

The crowds at Lord's and Birmingham were great. All good-spirited fun.

Aye, as I have said before, the booing of Ponting to the wicket IMO had nother to do with his comments about Strauss or anything other than:

1. He is Australian
2. He is their captain
3. He is a World Class batter for the opposition

15 minutes later he passed 20000 First Class runs and got a full ground standing ovation.

AFWIW, Giles Clarke is a c0ck of the highest proportions.

holcs wrote:AFWIW, Giles Clarke is a c0ck of the highest proportions.

Glad you said 'is' or we'd have been asking questions about you...

"A wally" is a good way to describe Giles Clarke. Mumbling, bumbling upper class Englishman, with no clue.

Henry wrote:"A wally" is a good way to describe Giles Clarke. Mumbling, bumbling upper class Englishman, with no clue.

You can't talk to Merls that way!

Snigger.