Oval.
knicq posted in Cricket, Knicqisms on August 21st, 2006
It sums up the world we live in today – this incident at Oval. Racism, White/Western supremists, autocratic officials, high-handed and unfair treatment of a third world party, a protest and ‘rebellion’ from the oppressed, the absolute incompetence and toothlessness of a peace-keeping international body, pathetic apologists for the oppressed masquerading as their representatives, the deliberately kept ignorant masses so they hold the protestors in villianous light, and a sense-less verdict/action essentially teaching the protestors a good lesson for having voiced their protest. The casualty could be as grave as a sovereign country like Lebanon, or as apparently simple as an almost-in-the-pocket Test Match in a lost Test series.
Take these ingredients and you could as easily concoct Israel’s invasion and destruction of Lebanon, as you could brew something along the lines of Darrel-pig-headed-white-supremist-asian-hating-Hair’s latest ICC/Malcom Speed-backed-and-encouraged ‘crusade’ against the invading Asian cricketing phenomenon.
There are some positives in the Oval incident, however, which I would list as below:
The incident might have cost us a test match and the no.2 spot in the ICC Test rankings, but at least it has not left hundreds of innocent children burried under the rubble of their houses, nor has it cost billions of dollars worth of destruction in a country.
Sharyar Khan’s grovelling was pathetic, to say the least, and exceedingly embarassing. It made for a strong case against letting these bureaucrats take up positions at the helm of sporting matters. We might have lost most of our pride in the comity of nations, thanks to Generals, Retired Generals, and Politicians, whose pathetic and embarassing bending backwards to please the erstwhile colonial masters and all their look-alikes is often our national integrity’s undoing, but we have our pride and our esteem in the sporting world, especially in the cricketing world, and we need to guard it fiercely. Perhaps one day, we will be able to translate that salvaged pride into other areas of our international dealings.
For once the PCB has stood behind the players, and they ought to be commended.
For once the President of the country has also spoken along lines that do not bruise our self respect. This may well have to do with the fact though that Bush does not follow Cricket.
Most of all, I am happy that the Pakistan team has learned to stand up and be counted. I am sick and tired of all these countries refusing to play in our country, of these sporting teams refusing to play in venues we decide when they come to our country, of our team silently taking whatever the umpires (read Darrel Hair) dish out, and of our people being pushed around.
Once again, I salute “Bade Bhai”. He is not yet the fire-brand force to reckon with that the great Khan was, but he has proven that after the illuminous Kardar era, and the world-cup-winning Imran Khan era, Pakistan cricket is living the “bade-bhai era” – the Inzamam era.
Here is what I had to say the last time around when Darrel Hair had unleashed his unabashed racism. He is not good for my sense of humor.
Whatever the implications of yesterday’s fiasco be, I am proud of the fact that the Pakistan team took a stand, and refused to let the Darrel Hairs walk over them. I hope the Shaharyar Khans of the ‘diplomatic contingent’ do not undo the good work done here, and I wish all the best to our boys – our Pakistani boys who made us proud yesterday.
August 21st, 2006 at 3:27 pm
Can’t agree more. I sent an email at cricinfo today on very similar lines. I would in fact support the cricket team to boycott any and every tournament featuring ‘Darrel-pig-headed-white-supremist-asian-hating-Hair’ as you call him. He needs to give a public statement and apologize for declaring a proud nation cheater without ANY evidence. This is time to teach ICC a lesson – and as Geoff Boycott stated in 1992, our (fit) bowlers can still bowl out England with an orange!
August 21st, 2006 at 3:46 pm
Here is my email to Cricinfo, which may or may not be published.
“The seed for the fiasco in Oval was sown in 2005, when the ICC had decided to ignore the Pakistan camp’s reservations about Darrel Hair and his umpiring. The very fact that Darrel was not only imposed on the Pakistan team in the very next game, but also in subsequent series was little less than snubbing to a protesting team, and more than a nod of approval to the unpire in question. The Pakistan team should actually have walked off immediately after the incident. Once they had stayed in the dressing room, they should have stayed in. They showed consideration for the game in coming out, which is more than can be said for Darrel Hair.
The penalty assumes Pakistan team’s guilt, and without a shred of evidence it is an act of defamation, and a slur.
The ICC ought to be ashamed for having bowed down to an umpire in forfieting the game, when the two teams were still willing to carry on. It is not the Pakistan team that held anyone at ransom, our team was insulted and was well within its rights in refusing to carrying on with a game. Actually, carrying on with the game would much have amounted to admission of guilt. It is this one ego-maniac umpire who has held the game at ransom, and he has done so with impunity for years – about time, the ICC got rid of the menace called Darrel Hair, and laid down a code of conduct and mechanism of accountability for the umpires”.
Thanks for the comment Madi. It is high time Darrel Hair was got rid of, and I hope the PCB guys continue to rally behind Inzi and the boys. We will play with honor, or not at all.
August 22nd, 2006 at 11:43 am
Well, well, well…whaddaya know?
Shaharyar Khan actually came out guns blazing, as did PCB.
ICC, the toothless and incompetent organization that it is, maintained an untainted record though…. of siding with their officious lot rather than the game and the people who play/watch the game. They have the audacity of suggesting bans on Inzamam for brining the game into disrepute, when they should be banning D-pig-headed-asian-hating-Hair for life, and helping Pakistan bring in case for defamation.
I hold them in contempt. Darrel Hair and ICC have both brought the game into disrepute.
August 22nd, 2006 at 4:14 pm
i met shehryar khan once. he was wasted. completely.
August 26th, 2006 at 9:36 pm
While I could never follow the intricate technicalities of this game, I happened to chance upon a news coverage of this fathead doing something really stupid. That kinda’ gave me a better understanding of the post I am responding to…
This comes after the Oval incident, which is cited as one of the plausible reasons for ICC to have done what it just did in response to when Fathead, ours truly, did the following:
1) Submit a resignation to the ICC and ask to be PAID a lump sum of a few hundred thousand for it.
2) Give them the dos and donts of the transaction.
3) Withdraw the resignation and insist that the ordeal be kept confidential
…and stupidly enough, leave the trail on email which, ‘toothless ICC’ has now brought to the explosive attention of the rest of the world, perhaps to get rid of him and save whatever is left of its sorry face.
I’m wondering, do they change at some point in their lives… or are they all just born with the instinct of misusing power and abusing co-existence?
Cricket as I see it now, it just another excuse for them to yank out and assert their racist inhibitions in our lives…
In my opinion, some people are purely wasting their time trying to extract anything close to obedience from people who they believe are inferior. Besides, it is never the one abusing the power but the one resisting it who makes the story, a lesson. Way to go Team Pakistan.