by Malcolm Toogood

Created on: January 14, 2008   Last Updated: July 28, 2011

What on earth is going-on in Sydney? Racial abuse on the field in a Test Match in Australia, whatever next!

Of course Mr Singh meant no harm when he called Mr Symonds a monkey, if indeed he did call him a monkey, for which there is absolutely no proof, but just, hypothetically, assuming that he may have said something that could be interpreted as being of a simian nature, entirely mistakenly, by anyone listening to what he said, which of course they should not have been doing as he was deep in personal reflection at the time, then he was just being a cheeky-chappie, like all Indian cricketers are, all of the time, isn't it?

Of course the Indian Tour management were then perfectly within their rights to threaten to take their bat, ball and wickets and go home if Mr Singh was not exonerated unequivocally of any personal slur he had received at the hands of the ICC, or indeed any other person on the face of the planet.

Furthermore, it is perfectly logical that India should request that an umpire with so much international experience as Steve Bucknor should be replaced, after having the temerity to give some of their batsmen out. After all, everyone who knows them is aware that an Indian batsman is never out, that is something that they just don't do. It is therefore not the umpire's job to make that decision; it is for the batsman, and the batsman alone, to recognise that he should not put an umpire in a position whereby he has to make such a decision on the batsman's behalf. In such circumstance, the batsman will always leave the field and allow one of his compatriots to take his place, thereby never having to suffer the personal slur of having a dismissal put against his name in the records of the game. If he does not leave the field, he is clearly not out, and the umpire can accept that with impunity.

In the circumstances, what else could the ICC do, faced with such honourable intentions as those that thrive on the sub-continent, but to cave-in entirely and fall at their feet to beg forgiveness for even thinking of being the potential source of the destabilisation of their Country's Government. Indeed, they now looked forward to visiting India in the not-too-distant future, and would be delighted to be invited to watch one of their charming effigy-burning ceremonies, that of course could never, in a million years, be interpreted as over-reaction or intimidation of any kind.

But let's look at this logically for a moment. As an ex-player myself, if I was going

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