Bangladesh need not worry.
Ricky Ponting is a proponent of fairplay. He has spoken of honesty and taking the word of a fielder on a difficult-to-decide catch.
In yesterday's last VB final, he appeared to take a stupendous catch, one handed, diving backwards. After having collected the ball he fell to the ground, with the ball in his hand touching the ground. According to the law on catches, a fielder taking a catch has to hold on to the ball (and prevent it from touching the ground) until he is fully in control . In yesterdays catch, if he held the ball in his hand without it touching the ground until his position on the ground became stable it would have been a fair catch. He either did not notice that the ball in his hand touched the ground or did not want to admit same.
Also,in the same match, a Sri Lankan batsman was out to another catch taken off a delivery which was made when the required number of fielders were not inside the ring (during a powerplay). Therefore, that ball was a 'no ball' and the batsman should not have been given out. Here too it could have been a mistake on the part of the Aussie captain and the umpires though there is a strong possibility of cheating on the part of the Aussies.
Irrespective of the above incidents, the Australians were clearly the better team on the day and they deserved to win the match and the trophy.
But the point is Ponting is not such a great guy. Even Bob Simpson has told that he is not fit to be captain.
So do not take what he says seriously.
Cricket has to be played by more countries if the game is to prosper and develop. Otherwise the world will lose interest in this game. So the entry of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh to Test Cricket is to be welcomed. Like all other test playing countries did, they will have some difficulties at the beginning but they will settle down. Being a Sri Lankan, I know how it was for us. Zimbabwe was shaping up nicely until their political problems ruined it for them. Hope they would recover. Bangladesh is clearly on their way up. Your junior cricket is a revelation.
So forget Ponting and his pointing !
Edited on, February 15, 2006, 5:32 AM GMT, by abherath.
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