indianexpress.com :: 60 pc respondents want Ponting sacked

60 pc respondents want Ponting sacked

Agencies

Posted online: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 at 0000 hrs IST

Melbourne, January 8:
Almost 60 per cent of respondents in an online poll have favoured sacking Australian skipper Ricky Ponting for his role in the racial abuse controversy during the second Test against India in Sydney which has hampered the cricketing ties between the two countries.

Out of 54,435 votes that were counted online on Sydney Morning Herald website, only 27 per cent responded with a 'no' to the question 'If it was right to sack Ponting for his role in the ‘Monkey Affair’.

The poll was in response to a column by Peter Roebuck, demanded Ponting's sacking.

It said, "if Cricket Australia cared a fig for the tattered reputation of our national team in our national sport, it will not for a moment longer tolerate the sort of arrogant and abrasive conduct seen from the captain and his senior players in the past few days. It was the ugliest performance by an Australian side for 20 years. The only surprising part of it is that the Indians have not already packed and gone home."

The Australian team had alleged that Harbhajan Singh called Andrew Symonds a 'monkey' which resulted in a three-Test ban slapped by ICC Match Referee Mile Procter.

"All the Australians elders want to do is to hunt him from the game. Australian fieldsmen fire insults from the corners of their mouths, an intemperate Sikh warrior overreacts, and his rudeness is seized upon," Roebuck added.

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60 pc respondents want Ponting sacked Agencies Posted online: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 at 0000 hrs IST Melbourne, January 8: Almost 60 per cent of respondents in an online poll have favoured sacking Australian skipper Ricky Ponting for his role in the racial abuse controversy during the second Test against India in Sydney which has hampered the cricketing ties between the two countries. Out of 54,435 votes that were counted online on Sydney Morning Herald website, only 27 per cent responded with a 'no' to the question 'If it was right to sack Ponting for his role in the ‘Monkey Affair’. The poll was in response to a column by Peter Roebuck, demanded Ponting's sacking. It said, "if Cricket Australia cared a fig for the tattered reputation of our national team in our national sport, it will not for a moment longer tolerate the sort of arrogant and abrasive conduct seen from the captain and his senior players in the past few days. It was the ugliest performance by an Australian side for 20 years. The only surprising part of it is that the Indians have not already packed and gone home." The Australian team had alleged that Harbhajan Singh called Andrew Symonds a 'monkey' which resulted in a three-Test ban slapped by ICC Match Referee Mile Procter. "All the Australians elders want to do is to hunt him from the game. Australian fieldsmen fire insults from the corners of their mouths, an intemperate Sikh warrior overreacts, and his rudeness is seized upon," Roebuck added.