Gilchrist enters fray: If we're such bad sports why do we offer to accept fielder's word?

BY WILL SWANTON

12/10/2008 1:00:01 AM

ADAM GILCHRIST has a quick, factal retort to anyone who questions the sportsmanship of Australian captain Ricky Ponting, or that of his teammates.

In 15 Test series, only one rival captain has taken up Ponting's offer that batsmen accept a fielder's word on disputed catches.

That was Anil Kumble - but the agreement lasted just two games. Then came Bollyline, the second Test in Sydney in January, when India and Australia got up each others' noses.

So when Indian batsman Virender Sehwag, on the eve of the first Test in Bangalore, labelled the Australians cheats who had wrongfully claimed catches at the SCG, he was obviously unaware Gilchrist had spoken a week earlier.

"The captain of the Australian cricket team, before every series he plays, says to the opposing captain, here's the chance to bring back a bit of trust and integrity to the game by doing away with the technology on close disputed catches," Gilchrist said.

"Let's get rid of it. He says, 'Let's take the fielder's word. If the fielder says it's out, my batsmen will accept that as being good enough. We'll go'.

"Only one captain in all the series that Ricky has captained has taken him up on that offer."

Ponting made the same offer before this series but Kumble knocked him back in a meeting with ICC match referee Chris Broad.

Gilchrist also admitted the Australians were not cricketing angels. "Sportsmanship is an individual choice and can't be generalised to represent a team, let alone a whole nation," he said.

"The current Australian cricket team has been accused of unsporting behaviour in recent times. It's been going on for a while. And, yes, there have been situations where individuals have acted in a way that has allowed that sort of criticism. They are a long way from perfect."

The lead-up to Bangalore, where Michael Clarke made a series-determining century on debut four years ago, seemed to be going nice and smoothly until Sehwag piped up.

"We suffered the most in the catches pact during the last series," Sehwag said. "There is no point in having such an arrangement when the Australians are claiming one-bounce catches. We'd have won the Sydney Test if they hadn't claimed catches off half-volleys in that game."

Needless to say, Ponting was offended by Sehwag's claims.

The 122-run win in Sydney meant Australia kept the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

"That's fairly insulting, yeah, especially in the first innings when I didn't claim catches that I wasn't 100 per cent sure on," Ponting said.

Meanwhile, Gilchrist told an ABC-organised debate on sportsmanship that sledging - the verbal onslaughts best described by Ponting's predecessor Steve Waugh as mental disintegration - should be acceptable.

"Is sledging unsporting?" Gilchrist said. "I think not. Yes, Australians play hard. In fact, many nations actually respect the toughness with which we come out and pose challenges to these teams, physically and mentally.

"It's far too generalised a statement to say a country is unsporting. Every team has good and bad sports. Australia is no different."

Gilchrist said former Australian captain Greg Chappell's instruction to younger brother Trevor to bowl underarm against New Zealand at the MCG in 1981 was a mistake by someone who should have known better.

Gilchrist also referred to his own philosophy of 'walking' - with tongue firmly in cheek.

"There used to be a bloke who gave himself out by walking when he'd hit the ball," he said.

"The popularity of that within his teammates may be shown by the fact that since his retirement, they no longer reply to any emails, phone calls or text messages."