Justin Langer: it’s a game, not war

that was meant to read
So now, the bowlers are supposed to do it just so that he can chase them away and claim that they are mentally strong blah blah blah…

sorry for the typo

I don’t think England should or can win an arms race with Austalia. Having said that good sportsmanship is in short supply. Play hard but remember this game should be respected. Australia seem to be able to dish it out but when the little dog in the fight bites back they seem bewildered.

For starters I don’t think Australia were that bewildered, 2 sessions does not make a Test Match. Secondly if we had lost Langer would not be mentioning it. By doing it now he’s having a dig – ie “You all got so excited and aggro but what good did it do you”. Thirdly he loves the aggro, don’t forget his comment to Bell. Fourthly so does the rest of the team, that’s how we won, England tried to be more aggressive batting as well and paid the price. England would be better off playing the whole game like they bowled to Clarke in the 2nd innings. Frustrate the Australians and force them to play slower than they like.
Lastly the Australians didn’t expect Harmison to apologise, and McDermott never would have, but they expected Vaughn to. Instead he stood their grinning like a Cheshire Cat. The Australian captain would have always checked to see if the batsman was OK, that includes AB. The one who couldn’t hack it was Vaughn did you see his expression change from the first 2 sessions to the rest of the match?

Personally, I don’t care what they do. There’s no rules stating they have to check if the batsmans alright, the bowlers aren’t doing anything wrong when the bowl a bouncer, so why should they apoligise or check or whatever (if you want to, thats fine, but each person should make that decision for themselves without being ridiculed for whatever they want to do. I remember back in under 15’s i bowled a bouncer and hit the guy on the arm (i was only 14) and was quick to say sorry. My coach (umpire at the time) was even then quicker to tell me not to apologise! A couple of overs later i bowled a beamer (accidently) and then never said a word. The coach then informed me that’s when you apologise. And that’s how i think it should be. If they get hurt by a leagle bowl, so be it, its apart of the game. Langer should keep his mouth shut if you ask me.

Worma,
Not normal in India for fielders to curse, what about Harbajhan – by all accounts even when he’s bowling it is a constant stream of invective – apparently they’re the only English words he knows otherwise the Australians (or whoever) wouldn’t be too upset by being called Boka-Choda, or MudderChod or KankeMange would they. Anyway the whole we’re really tough attitude backfired on the English anyway. As I said before it was more to have a dig at the English than any serious concern Langer has – remember he comes from WA he’s used to being bowled bouncers.
PS – As for Sourav Ganguly he is very effective at getting under the Australian’s skins but I think that is more because he’s actually a complete jerk than any conscious decision to try and be annoying

Dave, I said its not normal for fielders in Ind to curse (esp in international matches). Doesn’t mean they don’t do it. In fact my earlier point here was that Aus players are seemingly preaching that these tactics are ok for fielders, and my interpretation was that yes from Aus perspective it is quite ok, because they do it naturally, and dont mean it seriously. But it should be same for captains and slip-fielders and bowlers. Not selective.

Some interesting aspects for you to note : Indian fielders curse quite a lot now, but it ‘became popular’ from the 2001 Aus series (before that it was one-off, not a standard tactic). Even Harbhajan took off from then on. And all of them do it regularily now (whether they like it or not, they’ve accepted it as part of toughness that is requried for being globally competitive). A guy like Rahul Dravid would *never* use that sort of language in his everyday life (note :just an example).

And yes, like Ashwin I did not recognise some of those curses Anyway I know he has ‘developed’ the tendency to get under the skin of aussies, thanks to s waugh and the great disintegration plans.

Saurav Ganguly….well you really dont want to start that discussion here, do you ?

Ashwin and Worma,
The insults were Bengali, I know Harbajan is a Pathan or Punjabi, but Bengali is the only Asian language I am familiar with, so please forgive me. Sourav Ganguly would have understood them. Regarding whom – I didn’t say he wasn’t cunning or courageous, just that he’s a jerk, which I think helps with the execution of his tactics, which involve being a complete jerk. Eg I think Rahul Dravid is intelligent and courageous enough to use the same tactics but would not be believable doing so – the other teams would laugh at him because we’d know he was just acting. Whereas with Sourav you can see it’s the real deal.