Aussie sporting legends slam their cricket team

Fairfax Media

GOOD SPORTS: Australian sporting legends John Bertrand (top), Ron Barassi, Rob de Castella and Herb Elliott are angry at the behaviour of the Australian cricket team and plan to complain to Cricket Australia.

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A group of sporting legends plan to complain to Cricket Australia that the behaviour of Ricky Ponting's cricket team is damaging Australia's international reputation.

Sport Australia Hall of Fame members John Bertrand, Herb Elliott and Rob de Castella are among those angry at the behaviour of the Australian cricket team in the wake of the controversial second Test in Sydney last week.

The cricket team was accused of bad sportsmanship in their narrow win over India.

Bertrand, chairman of the hall of fame, said the group would seek an urgent meeting with Cricket Australia because Australia's Test team was damaging international relations with its "win at all costs" attitude.

"Sport is only sport. It's not war," Bertrand told News Limited newspapers.

"Both Rob and Herb feel very strongly about this issue.

"We will be seeking a meeting with Cricket Australia to seek to get the Australian team to readjust their behaviour so that they do show respect for their opponents."

Former Australian player Geoff Lawson believes the current Test team is disrespecting the baggy green with their arrogant behaviour on the cricket pitch.

Lawson says the Australians did not play within the spirit of the game in their 122-run second Test win over India at the SCG last week.

"There's certainly been a lot of feeling from ex-players who think the baggy green has been disrespected," Lawson told Sydney radio 2KY.

"Some of these (current) players need to be spoken to.

AFL hero Ron Barassi agreed with the hall of famers.

"It concerns me that the Australians are regularly being referred to as being arrogant and because it is mentioned so often, you begin to wonder," he said.

The criticism comes with India set to resume their tour of Australia after earlier this week suspending it in the wake of spinner Harbhajan Singh's three-Test ban for calling Andrew Symonds a "monkey", a charge they vehemently deny.

The Indian cricket board has lodged an appeal against Harbhajan's suspension and if it isn't heard by the start of the Perth Test on January 16, the controversial spinner will be free to play.

But the threat to pull out of the tour remained, with a one-day tri-series to follow the four tests, if the International Cricket Council (ICC) rejected the appeal against Harbhajan's ban, the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) said.

Indian officials also got their way over demands to dump veteran umpire Steve Bucknor, who will be replaced by New Zealand's Billy Bowden following a series of contentious decisions in the Sydney Test the Indians argue cost them the game.

The ICC said the replacement of umpire Steve Bucknor has stopped an international incident from becoming an international crisis.

"We could have gone in banging the table and playing `who blinks first', we could have turned what is already an international incident into an international crisis," ICC chief Malcolm Speed told the Nine Network.

"What we have elected to do, and we've given some serious thought about this, is to take one of the issues out of play.

But test great Glenn McGrath says it is "ridiculous" the ICC caved in to the BCCI's request to dump Steve Bucknor from next week's third Test in Perth.

Australian spinner Brad Hogg is also likely to front a hearing next Monday after being charged with making an offensive remark to India captain Anil Kumble and vice-captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni during the second Test.

"I think it is sad and disappointing that it gets to the stage where you have a bad game and they are calling for your head," McGrath said after playing a farewell Twenty20 match for NSW on Tuesday night in Sydney.

The ICC has also set a preliminary date of January 14 for Hogg's hearing with match referee Mike Procter - two days before the start of the third Test in Perth.

The spinner was reported by Indian team manager Chetan Chauhan for allegedly calling one of their players a "bastard" on the final day of the controversial Sydney Test.

Hogg has been charged with a Level 3 offence, which carries a ban of between two and four Tests, or four and eight one-day internationals.

After two days of drama, the Indian squad are finally set to leave Sydney today for Canberra to play in a warm-up game starting tomorrow.

-AAP