Ricky Ponting Fined for Sydney Ton- ICC Suspects Foul Play; Orders Probe

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has fined former Australian captain Ricky Ponting eighty percent of his match fee for scoring a century in the ongoing test match at Sydney. Sharad Pawar, the president of the ICC, said that the $400 fine was justified for letting down the immense expectations that cricket fans had harbored before the start of the series.

"Ricky has obviously disappointed all of us", said Pawar in words that were as clear as they were minced, in a unique sort of a way. "He has been under the radar for the past few innings now. People do not pay money to watch this. Ricky is a role model to people like Steve Smith. He should not set wrong examples.We are ordering an inquiry into the matter. Foul play cannot be ruled out. While foul play is generally used to describe the way Aussies play their cricket, there are chances that we have been missing the bigger picture all along."

"The first hint of suspicion arose when Ponting started hitting the ball far more frequently than he ever has for the last few seasons. At once stage, he even middled three balls in a row. We have video evidence for this."

"Under the circumstances, we all know that Ponting could not have made all those runs without any help. We have reason to suspect the involvement of a bigger nexus. The exclusion of Harbhajan Singh from the Indian attack, for example, has been puzzling and got us thinking about a bigger scam. Pretty much everyone who watches cricket knows that Ponting can read Mandarin better than he can ever read Harbhajan's offspinners, even the ones that don't turn."

"If we do find them guilty, we will not hesitate to put the on trial. You saw how ICC kicked Amir, Asif and Salman('s) Butt. We have zero tolerance." said Pawar in angst.

Searching for answers: Ricky Ponting

 

When contacted, Ricky Ponting conceded that he had made a mistake.

"It was obviously something I did not do on purpose", explained Ponting. "It was a run here, a run there and suddenly, without realizing, I was a hundred plus. No matter how much I tried, the ball kept finding my bat. This is obviously something I have been working on. I am batting well in the nets. Most of the balls hit the middle of my pad. It is just a matter of time before that translates into performances out in the middle."

Michael Clarke, who is the captain of the current side, said he had full faith in Ponting, and was confident that he would bounce back from this debacle soon.

 "I've known Ricky since I was a stupid young lad, who knew nothing about cricket", said Clarke, referring to the 2009-2010 season. "Ricky would never do something like that on purpose. He knows what he can and cannot do. One of the evenings when we had gulped down a couple of bottles in the bar, Ricky told me how much Australian cricket meant to him and how he would do everything to protect the reputation that greats like David Boon, Greg Chappell and  Steve Waugh had given our team. You could take one look at his career and see how mush he strove to protect the spirit of Australian cricket. Over the years, he has relentlessly toiled to claim grounded catches, argue with umpires about right decisions, foul mouth the opposition, spit on his hands before shaking hands with the Poms and do everything else that Steve Waugh would have been proud of."

"Ricky knows what he can do and what he can't. For instance, I was next to him when Andrew Strauss won the toss in a 2009 Ashes test and told Ricky he can bat. Ricky told him, 'No, mate, I can't. I really can't.' Now it takes extreme confidence to say something like this. Of course, England went on to bat first and make a huge score and won the test comfortably. But that is irrelevant."

"I know Ricky shall come back strong from this. He is a dirty old fighter. I am sure he will bounce back with single digit scores and hopefully even get a couple of ducks before the end of the series. It is funny how cricket fans are so short sighted, he has played consistently over the last two years with an average of nearly 27 and not one century to his name. It has to be some sort of a record. Even in the recent South Africa series, he got off to a good start with three single digit scores before his form waned towards the end of the series where he made a seventy odd. Where were his critics then? He gets one century now and look at how people are calling for his head. Ridiculous."

Clarke went on to say that he did not disagree with the imposed fine, but would appeal against it as a matter of principle. "That is just the way we play our cricket, and we as a team, are proud of it. We always appeal, it doesn't matter to us if it is out or not, or whether that ball bounced a couple of times before we caught it. This is no exception, and who knows, things might just go our way again. However, I am confident Ricky won't repeat this in the near future."

Symonds: An enigma in himself

The incident sparked widespread interest among the cricketing fraternity, equally so among the greats and the not so greats.

Andrew Symonds, a former Australian cricketer closely associated with Sydney and who had been nominated thrice for the "spirit" of cricket award, tweeted " A ton at the SCG? No monkey business!! I feel really sorry for Ricky. We used to have so much fun punching each other in the face.  Hoo Hoo Haa Haa! I am going out for a drink at the Bananas Pub."

"Ricky is an inspiration for wannabes like me", said an excited Steve Smith, glad to be asked his opinion on anything at all. "Not everyone who plays for the Australian team has talent, but that doesn't mean they should not nurse any hope. We look at him and think, if he can stay in the team, so can we." Steve Smith top scored with 26 runs for Tasmanian Bullies XI in addition to his impressive returns of 1-76 in 10 overs against NSW Pussycats in a  match on Tuesday, and was hopeful of a test spot soon. "If I keep playing like this and get a few more twenties, and Ricky fails a few more times, who knows what could happen?"

Michael Hussey, another veteran who made a century in the test match, was quick to jump to Ponting's defense. "Give that guy a break. He certainly doesn't deserve this hundred after what he has done for Australian and world cricket. He should have been dropped at least a year back. I don't know why selectors are treating him so badly. With his age and the kind of form he has been in, he should be hunting ducks in the wild rather than getting them on the field like he is. He certainly doesn't deserve it."

Steve Waugh, never the man to shy away from the limelight, was typically distraught as he was pretentiously critical. "Ricky has hit a bad spot, no doubt. If you see this innings properly, it does appear that he tried his best to get out, as there were a couple of chances that went down. Maybe he should have tried harder. At the end of the day, he doesn't want to make a difference. I looked at some of the stats and it appeared that the ball hit the center of his bat about 43 percent of the time, which is much higher than the 20.9 percent that he has managed over the last couple of successful years he's had. It is obviously something he has to work on. His bat is not used to hitting so many balls in the center. Even his footwork seemed present in that innings. Generally, he shows the best footwork on his way back to the pavilion."

Ian Chappell, one of Ponting's greatest fans and one of the most neutral commentators ever in every Australian's opinion, said, "Looking at the way he made those runs, I am thinking of making a comeback to test cricket myself."

The spectators also expressed their disappointment. Michael Beer, holding a bottle of whiskey, was at the SCG. "The moment Ricky walked in, we were waiting for his wicket. There was huge anticipation about how he would get out. Unfortunately, it never happened.I don't know what came over him. It hasn't happened for a long time that we've had to wait for a Ponting wicket. We are immensely disappointed and want our money back."

"Hope this doesn't happen again, else that will be the end of test cricket." he added.

The ICC, while ordering a probe to look into the circumstances under which Ponting scored a century, sounded out an alarm for the SCG curator as well.

"Pitches that allow every Mike, Ricky and Hussey to score tons are simply not acceptable. For all you know, even Brad Haddin might have scored a 30 plus on this wicket. These substandard wickets will be examined by our representatives and appropriate action will be taken.", said Ruwana Kulaweerapatabandigahare, an ICC official who didn't want to be named for obvious reasons.

There was also a warning for the Indian bowling attack.

"This is their second breach. In the world cup quarter finals too they had allowed Ponting to score a century. One more breach will lead to severe disciplinary measures being taken against them. This is bad sportsmanship. They are disappointing cricket fans the world over. We will be keeping an eye on them for the rest of the series."

"At this rate, even tail-enders like Stuart Broad will score centuries against them." Wait, but hasn't he, already?

"We have spoken to the Indian team management and said they will avoid a repeat of this in the rest of the series."

The third test starts on January 13th at Perth, Western Australia. Everyone will be hoping that the Sydney ton was an oddity and will not be repeated in the near future.