Saturday, November 8, 2008

SYMONDS RE-IGNITES MONKEY-GATE ROW, RULES HARBHAJAN & JUDGE HANSEN OUT

It seems to be a season of writing books, launching autobiographies and making your cricket diaries public.
And, it seems that the Australian cricketers, past and present, want to take a lead a lead in this field as well.
After Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting, it is now the turn of Andrew Symonds to reflect upon the monkey-gate saga last summer.
Writing in his latest book, Roy On The Rise: A Year Of Living Dangerously - which hits the book shelves on Sunday - Symonds opens up the old wounds, detailing the sequence of events which led to his spat with Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh, first in Mumbai and then in Sydney earlier this year.
Roy, who was sacked from the Australian team for preferring a fishing session over a team meeting, made his displeasure clear on judge John Hansen's decision for letting Harbhajan go almost scotfree after the controversial Sydney Test which will always be remembered for all the wrong reasons...
One thing is for sure though - the book, co-authored by Stephen Gray, is expected to get wide publicity in India.
Here's what Symonds had to say according to book's excerpts which appeared in Australia's Herald Sun newspaper...
(To read full excerpts of Symonds' latest book, log on to heraldsun.com.au)
On the 7th ODI between India and Australia on October 17, 2007 in Mumbai:
"Whether it was Aussies suck or Aussies are a---holes, it was clear who the villains were in this stadium (Wankhede)."
"The monkey chants were around too. Although some people in authority were aware that it was getting out of hand, others continued to hide behind the line that it was all a cultural misunderstanding and that the chants were merely celebrating the monkey god.
"... Our team couldn't hide this disbelief at this - 'What particular God is called a---hole in this country?' "The frustration levels in the camp were rising and I was conscious of contributing to the pressure on the team. It was another turbulent match. I was out for a first-ball duck. I trudged off, getting darker at the world by the second as monkey chants boomed out around Wankhede Stadium."
"Things took a sharp turn for the worse during the Indian innings. Harbhajan and I locked horns briefly in the 35th over and that's when he chucked the 'monkey' word at me. I didn't have to be Einstein to work out what he was referring to."
On the Sydney Test and its aftermath:
"The appeal hearing in Adelaide wasn't the most enjoyable day of my life, not for any of the participants, I expect.
"We could all think of something else we would rather be doing, and my body language probably radiated that pretty clearly.
"As for the final outcome - Harbhajan's ban was overturned - I reckon most right-minded people would argue that Judge Hansen didn't get the result right, although he could only make the decision based on the information he had been provided.
"The ICC let him down badly by failing to provide him with Harbhajan's full disciplinary record, and their laxness meant it was an unsatisfactory end - in my eyes anyway.
(To read full excerpts of Symonds' latest book, log on to heraldsun.com.au)

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