Say you're an Indian cricket player it would seem.

After the second test against Australia in Sydney, one of their players, Harbhajan Singh, was brought against the Board for, allegedly, calling Andrew Symonds 'a ####'. Now, I'm not going to get into the guts of this since most people on here don't really care about cricket so I'll just put up the findings in order of how they happened;

- Incident occurs during Sydney test (Singh and Tendulkar verses Ponting, Symonds and Clarke basically...3 say he said it, 2 denying it).
- Complaint made by Australian captain (Ponting) and Singh has to go to a hearing.
- Board find Singh is guilty and ban him for three tests.
- Indian team threaten boycott of tour.
- Board do a backflip and give Singh a suspended sentence and a new hearing to be carried out at a later date (January 29).
- Indian Cricket Board threaten to go home, even going so far as to have a plane on the runway.
- Indian TV broadcasters, ESPN, threaten to take the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) to court and sue them for A$60 million...which would take over ten years for the ACB to recover.
- Singh's case is downgraded from a racial slur to offensive language.
- Singh is now found guilty but since it had been downgraded he just gets fined instead (half his match fee...so about $3000).

Believe me, if that sounds a little hard to follow, you should try to follow it from my end. Ok, yes the Australians sledge, yes they have been accused of "being able to give it, but not take it", yes they can be arrogant at times...but for one team to have that much control over the sport to threaten to sue? No, the Australians certainly don't have that kind of power despite being comfortably the best team for the past decade.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) should have stepped in to put a stop to this before it escalated into the circus it is now. But they didn't, and we now have the situation where the global governing body is not in control of the game...that honour goes to the Indian Cricket Board. A dangerous precedent has now been set as players seem to be free to find out exactly where the boundary between sledging and offensive language is.

I don't care if Singh called him a #### or not (though considering that the word is bleeped out on this site does indicate to me that, in the wrong context, it can be offensive and/or racist so the argument from people on the radio about that can be chucked out right there), but the way the Indians acted went completely overboard and smacks of arrogance not even some players in the NBA or NFL could match.

Australia tour India later this year and at the first sign of abuse at a match, I'd have them on a plane the next day and sue the Indian Cricket Board for bringing the game into disrepute...after all, India have laid out the blueprint for any team to follow now so they have to expect the repercussions *shrugs*

I tell you, it's just not cricket *shakes head*

Ahh yes, December. First month of Summer and the last month of the year…and what a brilliant way to end it.

Davis Cup final kicks off in Portland this morning…right about now actually now that I check the Sky guide…with the NZ Golf Open having their final two rounds. There’s something a bit different about that this weekend…it’s being held, for the first time, on a private course…bet that wouldn’t happen with a National Golf Open anymore. Also, David Beckham and the LA Galaxy are playing a friendly match against the Wellington Phoenix in Wellington tonight…which I can’t watch since we’re having our end-of-year work function…so I’ll tape it instead. Then we move into the best part of December; cricket.

First up will be the Chappell-Hadlee series between Australia and NZ starting on the 14th. The Aussies lost all three games last year…granted they didn’t send their best team but a 3-0 win’s a 3-0 win all the same so they’ll be fired up to not let that happen again. After that will be the Boxing Day test match which will be the second test series for the Aussies.

November saw the official start of the cricket season and brought Sri Lanka to our shores for a two match series from the Gabba in Brisbane and Bellrieve Oval in Hobart. Unfortunately for the ‘lankans, their star player, Kumar Sangakara, was recovering from an injury and didn’t play in Brisbane…and they were never in the show as Australia waltzed to their thirteenth consecutive test match win.

Let’s just take stock here…the New England Patriots have had a storming start to the NFL season and sit at a similar record so really is 13 straight a big deal?

Yes…very much so.

See, a test match lasts for a maximum of five days, and there’s no ‘backup’ day if it rains. The only way you can make up time in cricket is by starting earlier and finishing later…the old fashioned way in other words.

And given the fact that matches these days tend to be more about the batsmen and less about the bowlers, you tend to wind up with draws. Australia recognised this last decade and started to play like they do in the one-day version of the game. Whereas most teams would be happy to have 200 runs at the close of day one, the Aussies raised the bar to 300; the idea was to score quickly which would give them more time to bowl at other team. The downside, obviously, is that it’s a little more high risk and has potential to backfire spectacularly.

Well, it would if the Aussies didn’t have such names as Hayden, Ponting, Hussey, Clarke, Symonds and Gilchrist…their entire batting order really. Once you get one out, another guy averaging around 50 runs per innings comes in and sets about smashing you all over the park…not a nice thought for the fielding team.

Anyway, back to Sri Lanka.

Test two was a much better affair, with Sangakara back and managing to throw a major scare into the Australian camp until he got a rather dodgy decision which cut him eight short of a double ton. That was pretty much the death knell for Sri Lanka as, up until that point, they had been looking half a shot at pulling off a huge final innings run chase (over 500 runs) but in the end they fell 100 odd short leaving Australia to claim their 14th straight win, just two behind the all-time record set by the West Indians a couple of decades ago.

So to Melbourne on Boxing Day…when India comes to town. The Indians have a really good look about them, but the majority of their star players are in the twilight of their careers; Dravid, Tendaulker, Kumble…this might be the last time these guys play in Australia so I’m expecting them to draw a big crowd.

The Boxing Day test in Melbourne is a special moment in Australian sport…always has been. Last year saw Shane Warne grab his 700th wicket against England as the Aussies regained the Ashes from the old foe. I know that many of you have no idea about cricket or think it’s boring to watch and that’s fine with me, I’m not here to convince you. But this isn’t just an American sports site…if it were, they’d have to get rid of golf, tennis, football (the proper one where they use a round ball and actually kick it) and a few other sports they have on here.

All you have to know is this; there are only really two moments during the year that Australia stands still…and this is one of them.