The Finale
Forget 4 days and 70 overs of seat-edge and occasionally eye-wateringly brilliant Test cricket. Lets start with the finish. 2 overs to go for India to draw this Test at Sydney and move on to the next 2 with a real chance of wresting the Border-Gavaskar trophy from the Australians. India still had 3 wickets in hand and their supporters were wearing tired but proud smiles and could even be forgiven for thinking that it was all over as far as the Australian push for victory in this match.
Golden Touch
Michael Clarke, the golden haired boy and apparently the man with the golden arm too, tweaked his deceptively cunning deliveries in his hands as he waited to get his field correct. Ponting the Punter had taken his last punt for the match. And it was not without reason as far as gambles go. Clarke had once made India dance to his tunes with six wickets - even though it was in India. Rather than take the sheen away, it actually enhances credit that the six wicket haul came against the best players of spin on a track not exactly bad for batting.
So, with a field waiting to gobble up chances and quite capable of creating chances from nothing, Clarke sidled in to bowl at Harbhajan. The wily left hander very intelligently drew Harbhajan to a ball that was outside the off stump and spinning further away. The trick was also to keep the ball full so that it interests Harbhajan in driving - not that the turbaned off spinner did not have any other weighty matters on his mind (simian thoughts, anybody?). Harbhajan was not able to deny himself on that instance. His half check of the originally intended shot came far too late to undo the damage. The ball had kissed its woody paramour and gone to nestle lovingly in the new slip fielder, Hussey's hands. And once more, the ball had cheated the bat, leaving the bat and its wielder bemused and not a little frothing at the mouth. Amidst whoops and wails, Harbhajan walked away - not knowing that there was a possibility that he may not get another chance to step onto the greens again in this series. Watching this all, Kumble remained calm and unperturbed at the other end. And why should he not be? R.P and Ishant had denied the Australians for a sizeable time in the first innings with Tendulkar for company. It was a measure of the confidence he had in R.P. Singh that Kumble did not walk over for the perfunctory pat on the shoulder and encouraging nothings to ensure that the incoming batsman does not do anything stupid. Clarke wheeled in for his next ball - this time giving it more pace and making it go on to the stumps in an attempt to get the batsman to play at it. But well, R.P. had plonked his foot right into the line of the ball giving no chance for the willow to get in front of canvas and meet the ball. A roar of a shout was immediately acceded to by Benson. It was not a bad shout. Even though R.P. had stretched forward significantly the ball did seem to be going on straight and on the way to disturbing timber. Kumble did not twitch. He is a brave man, the Indian captain. The gangling beanpole, Ishant Sharma came in. He was not shivering in his boots - seemingly. This time though, Kumble did have a word with Ishant. Maybe he begged him to keep out three deliveries so that the Indian captain could get a shot at negotiating the last over of the day. Ishant nodded sagely and went back to his crease. He had been denied what would have been a very good wicket of Symonds early on in the first innings by the first member of the BuckSonGate combination - Steve Bucknor. More on that later.
Tail Fail
Ishant managed to keep out two good balls from Clarke while virtually the entire Australian team seemed to crowd around the 22 yards of brown amidst all the green. The third one though, Clarke decided to try the Harbhajan tactic. He threw it wide and full. The secret was to keep it full. Ishant Sharma drove at the ball - once more for the cherry to kiss its willowy paramour good bye and nestle in the waiting hands of the new but rejoicing-at-the-opportunity Hussey. The Australians let out a whoop as one and proceeded to hug and smother each other in an attempt to savour the moment of victory. Clarke had done the star turn for them. Today was his turn. Habits are hard to get rid of and of course winning was one habit they never wanted to be rid of. Punter's gamble had paid off and the horse that he had bet on turned out to be a golden thoroughbred. Clarke did not do much with the bat in this match - managing a solitary run in two outings with the bat. His dismissal in the second innings also highlighted how Australians think that there is a chance that messrs BuckSon (shortly to be introduced) may miss even a full blooded edge to slip being caught at hip height and rule in the batsman's favour. It was not to be however. Kumble and Dravid were about to burst a blood vessel or two when that first among equals, Bucknor, deemed it right to raise his finger heavenward - still retaining his poker face. Clarke trooped off, probably amazed that he had been given out. From that position onwards, Clarke got his next chance to embrace the star turn only in one of the final overs of the day. And he did that in style. Much credit to him. When we talk about the spin attack from the Australians on the fifth day at Sydney, not mentioning Symonds' effort would be remiss. He tormented the Indian batsman with his round armed off spinners on which he got drift and bite and bounce and spin. He had many a top order batsman in trouble and it is no coincidence that he took 3 of the wickets to fall. And Clarke again demonstrated the virtues of bowling spin with a slightly round and low arm action so that drift accompanies spin and gives the ball a realistic chance to defeat the batsman in flight as well as with turn. The Indians on the other hand had a different spin attack. Harbhajan, the only halfway traditional spinner that we have, only bowled two overs - which also happened to be the first two overs of the day - as he should have. With drift and spin on each delivery. But once they were negotiated by the less than confident Symonds (he might have forgotten to drink his quadruple strength luck potion looking at his fidgety behaviour), Harbhajan reverted to his high armed firing into the middle and off stump theory. Anil Kumble, captain, doughty batsman and trier incomparable jumped, skidded and wheeled away at his trade over after over. But there was not much that he could coax from that wicket. Also Hussey managed to face Kumble for most of the time and made things easy for Symonds and the other batsmen at the other end later on.
Celebration
So, there we have it - 2nd Test victory for Australia in this Border Gavaskar series, giving them an unassailable lead and a 16th consecutive victory for Australia in Test matches equaling the Steve Waugh led team's record. A proud moment that for the Australians and it is no wonder that they forgot to shake hands with Kumble who remained undefeated at 45 and also had the good sense to comfort Ishant with an arm around the budding bowler's shoulder. The Aussies had other things to do - celebrate, jump up and down and hug each other and of course also plan on who among the Indians would be their cat and what would be their bell. Turned out later on that Harbhajan was the one who would be jingling - of course the Indian off spinner does not like the jingle - especially when he was told that the bell could only be taken off once the Test series is over, but that is something he should have thought about before having the nerve to talk to the dread locked Symonds.
The BuckSonGate Show
Dreaded Spirit
Now, lets get ourselves introduced to the daring duo, a pair on whom control of every decision in this Test rests, a pair to whom nobody on the field can say 'no'. Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson. Together, in this Test they formed a mind boggling combination which we are going to call BuckSon hereafter. This mind boggling combination did well enough together to glorify this match famously as BuckSonGate (Bucknor-Benson, that is, after some judicious manipulation of letters and subsequent concatenation). BuckSonGate contributed handsomely to India's defeat in this 2nd Test and the Aussies used all the help they got in their favour. After all, they always play their game hard and fair as demonstrated by their captain diving, grounding and even smothering the ball along the turf and then getting up to appeal as animatedly as a starving monkey having found a full and ripe banana (now that was not a racist comment, mind you!). That Dhoni did not edge the ball in that instance did not matter. Well, then, at least the small detail that the ball probably had a few strands of grass and a sizeable portion of dirt from being dragged along the ground, might have mattered, you would think. But not so, not for Ponting. He who had proved his integrity beyond doubt by refusing to claim the bump ball that even the sleeping 3rd umpire would have caught. If the captain's credentials for being elected top sportsman of the year were strong, then so were the vice captain Gilchrist's. On two instances, the Australian vice captain standing behind the stumps had to be either asleep or blind to not have seen that there was no point appealing. That is, he must have realized that there was no point appealing for a wicket if other umpires were officiating. But with the BuckSon combination firmly in their sights, he went on and gave vent to a full throated holler on both occasions. After all, who can fault him for trying to usurp Ponting's place as the person most in vibe with that elusive and never-to-be-seen-wonder that the ICC rightly call "the 'spirit' of the game". After all if it is related to the spirits, it can hardly be expected to be seen in action every other match, right? The Aussies dont really believe in spirits while the Indians seem to be superstitious as always and insist that they saw this spirit walking with them throughout the match. We will rely on Mr. Speed to launch his all-encompassing net and catch this elusive spirit and put it where it belongs - in the annals of history. Going by past form, it could even be denied as being fictitious and a figment of the imagination of the overworked subcontinental minds. Too much money and power never did anybody any good, see.
Enter the BuckSon Duo
Now back to the stars of the game - the BuckSon combination. Their contribution to making the game end as such a contrived farce - which looked heart-stoppingly exciting, but had no business getting to be that anyway - started with Ponting in the first innings. Phil Jacques had fallen early and allowed the Australian captain to briskly saunter in and prepare to get into the Indian attack with relish. When the Indian new ball bowlers failed to trouble Ponting too much, Ganguly - the Indian version of the golden armed Clarke - was brought on. In trying to swing a ball into the Australian captain, Ganguly had thrust the ball down the leg side away from the pads. But Ponting was not one to look gift horses in the mouth (even if he had many thoroughbreds in his team - golden and otherwise) and he attempted to flick that one to fine leg. He managed only to get a woody nick to the ball en route to Dhoni. Every Indian on the field celebrated first and appealed later. Umpire Benson though had no hesitation in ruling in the batsman's favour. After all, if a nick was so woody it could not have been bat, could it? But later on, umpire Benson seemed to have forgotten his golden rule of saying 'no' whenever an Indian bowler appealed. He gave Ponting out when there was actually an inside edge was involved. To be fair to the 2nd among equals in the BuckSon combination, it was difficult to spot that nick unless one had the benefit of replays.
The Jackpot Winner
Now lets fast forward to Andrew Symonds. Why do we say that he had quaffed the quadruple strength luck potion? Well because he was out four times but luck contrived to make it seem as if he was 'not out' beyond all reasonable doubt to the BuckSon combination. The first time that Ishant managed to get Symonds' edge, it did not sound like there had been a nick involved. It actually sounded like a mature wood pecker having a go at a well weathered tree trunk. Since there again seemed to be doubt in the BuckSon combination's mind (this time, Bucknor doing the honours), Symonds was ruled not out. And Ishant Sharma could not believe his luck or lack of it, rather. This decision which he is quite obviously used to being called 'out' by the Ranji umpires must have boggled his mind as it did ours. Instead of trying to learn and make sense of the BuckSon combination's experience and capabiities, he showed his disappointment. How can we have that? Would that not drive away that elusive spirit thing again?
The second time, Symonds was out stumped. Well, out according to what a few old people had written down as the rules of cricket. But not out according to the BuckSon combination (Bucknor insisted on doing the honours this time as well, but he consented to doing that from the square leg in deference to Benson's wishes). The 3rd umpire was not called in and Symonds was still burping from that overdose of the luck potion.
The third time, the BuckSon combination tried something different. They involved the TV umpire, an Australian it appears, in the game. After all, he is apt to feeling bored if all power is wielded by the BuckSon combination. Symonds was out stumped this time too - yells the rule book. The TV umpire quietens the shouting voices down and denies another stumping appeal against Symonds. Maybe the guy has luck trapped within his dreadlocks. The Indians had stopped reacting too animatedly by now. It appeared that their own spirits had gone to mingle with that elusive spirit of the game which was already missing in action.
Yes and there was a fourth time too. This time again, after completing his century duly, Symonds was ruled not out (yes, not out) when another stumping appeal was raised. Dhoni might as well pull out all six stumps seen on the ground and put them at Bucknor's feet and still one feels that that first among equals of the BuckSon combination would sagely nod his head in the negative, pick up and fix the stumps and walk back to his mark in all serenity to rule on the next decision. He wears nice looking dark glasses too.
Well, Symonds was no fool to give the umpires another chance to rule on the legitimacy of his stay at the crease. He knew his luck potion had ran out. So, he cut out all the frills and remained not out while Australia reached a commanding 463 after they were 6 down for 134. Our hero of the quadruple strength potion remained undefeated at 162. Take out those four moments and Symonds' stay at the crease was assured and authoritative. He played all the shots in the book and some of his own and enthralled all the Aussies in the stands.
Intermission
All this time, BuckSonGate merrily rolled on in the manner of a faithful TV soap opera. Line noballs from bowlers were regularly missed. And when they got the line noballs right, the bowlers almost always produced a wicket taking delivery which hit its mark. Statisticians must have had a field day for I dont think there could have been any other match where there have been so many wicket taking noballs. Even the Indians benefited from these wicket taking noballs - driving everybody in the ground to search and see for themselves whether that spirit thingy had returned by any chance.
The drama was far from over, gentlemen - though BuckSonGate did have a short commercial break during which the Australian 2nd innings played out. The Aussies compiled 401 and declared later on the 5th day than anybody else thought prudent. But then we assumed that we knew too much about the BuckSon combination before the match. Not so the Aussies, it appears. After Jaffer hurried edged his way back to the pavilion, seemingly intent on escaping the scrutiny of the by now wide awake BuckSon combination, there was a period of tantalizing battle between bat and ball when Stuart Clark (the less illustrious Clark(e), for sure after this 2nd Test) prised out VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar through sheer skill. To the former he kept on bowling leg cutters and then fed an incutter while to the latter he kept on feeding in cutters and then alternating the diet with a leg cutter. Laxman could only stand in front of the wicket, blocking the path of that incutter and Sachin figured out too late that he need not play at that leg cutter. In one stroke, Clark had gotten rid of both of the first innings centurions. Advantage Aussies. And it must be mentioned that Laxman was indeed out. Who said soap operas were always dull and gloomy? They could have their brighter moments too as did the BuckSonGate combination. Some of the decisions that they gave were indeed right, as was that one against Laxman.
Wall is broken
This was that period of play then when two former captains, Dravid and Ganguly, combined together in the middle to try and take India to higher and drier ground in the wake of the Aussie storm. But they had no idea that the waters were treacherous with swimming sharks and whales. Now we do not exactly know who among Bucknor and Benson liked sharks or whales. Suffice it to say that they enjoyed such role playing. In shaping to play a cut against the persevering and skilful Symonds, Dravid bailed out at the last moment and hid his bat behind the pad. The ball though brushed the pad lightly and lay down within Gilchrist's glove who let out another of his hollers at Bucknor - who immediately tried to look alert and ready. Since Dravid was just about wrapping up his pose of essaying a square cut, Bucknor ruled him out. After all who knows, the guy could have nicked the ball in the process of playing the shot. Also it was no coincidence that umpire Bucknor was feeling bored. Dravid's was an innings of need for the Indians but nevertheless a painstaking innings. Full of grit and lacking in glamour - the latter part to be seen solely at the other end where Ganguly was swinging his meaty Puma willow with rare relish and not inconsiderable skill. Dravid tried his head shake, rueful smile and that method of grass cultivation known as the bat slam on his way back to the pavilion but nothing seemed to move Bucknor.
Prince is Violated
Ganguly became exceedingly careful and measured with his strokes. Yet, the resurgent southpaw still found the gaps with mind-defying ease and looked the safest of the Indian players out there. That was until he got an edge to a good fast delivery from Lee and the ball travelled to 3rd slip - Clarke. The ball had actually pitched in front of Clarke who duly completed the 'catch' and threw the ball up in glee. The Australians all converged on Clarke to celebrate what was looking like a surefire victory for them at that stage. Ganguly who knew about the fact that it was a bump ball stood his ground. But umpire Benson had other ideas. All through the day, umpire Bucknor had overshadowed him in the BuckSon episode. It was time for him to set about creating the defining moment of this most effective combination. He never once looked at his compatriot - Bucknor. After all, it is that guy who he wants to overshadow. He looked keenly and introspectively at Ponting with quizzically arched eyebrows. Ponting who had earlier seemingly been asking Clarke whether the catch was clean, now spotted umpire Benson's eyebrows and wondered whether the esteemed umpire had forgotten the 'out' signal. In a helpful gesture, he lifted his own index finger to Benson and nodded encouragingly at him. Benson needed no more cues. He could handle the moment on his own. He set about giving marching orders to Dada - who thought it was too late to be showing his full range of expressions out there. He set about returning to the pavilion, dragging his bat along behind him and occasionally looking back at the now confident looking Benson to see if this was all some kind of joke. But Benson had succeeded and the BuckSonGate episode had had its defining moment. That of Ponting declaring Ganguly out, to which decision, Benson agreed magnanimously. Probably the only fact to rue in this passage of play was that the first among equals, Bucknor, did not get a chance to weigh in with his wisdom. But it was OK. It was the BuckSon combination that carried the day for the Australians.
A match, heading for a tame draw at one stage went into the boil. At the end, with liquid bubbling and steam hissing, it all fizzled out for India. Ponting and the Australians though made good use of the boiled fare that they had been served. They made a right good meal of it and why would they not. So transpired BuckSonGate.
The Aftermath
As you would expect, cries and cheers traverse the ground, the papers and the media. Cheers of course you would know the source of. The Australian fans had great things to cheer about - unassailable lead in this series and 16th consecutive Test win for the second time by their national team and all that. The cries, interestingly were heard both in the Indian ranks as well as some of the Australian ranks. It appears some of the Aussies and other foreign nationals -including Peter Roebuck - had spotted the power of the BuckSon combination and the potential of the show to become addictive throughout the world. Many stinging articles followed highlighting the mistakes and ruing the fact that they spoiled a good game of cricket. Some circles also called for more technology to be used in cricket. Well, it is not a question of using technology here. There were some decisions fluffed during the BuckSonGate episode that umpires in training can be trusted to get right 10 times out of 10 - leave alone these members of the elite squad of assassins - er, panel of umpires. There was simply no need of technology to eliminate doubt in most of these atrocious decisions. Lets not extricate Messrs Bucknor and Benson from this hole that they have dug for themselves by incoherently and indiscriminately using the 'T' word. Technology is certainly required and it can be brought in as well as improved on a constant basis in the future. But the lack of such technology is not why BuckSonGate transpired. Even in cases where technology could have weighed in, the BuckSon combination insisted on deciding based on input impinging on their not-so-young corneas.
And did you think BuckSonGate would end as tamely as all that? It appears that Harbhajan has now been banned for 3 matches for making racist comments against Andrew Symonds during his relatively long sojourn at the batting crease in the first innings. The umpires, it is said, did not know too much about this matter. Though I wonder why it is that our second among equals, Benson, resorted to covering his lips while talking to Harbhajan. To prevent lip reading, perhaps. Or was it to cover a case of bad breath? Anyway as a result of this, the Indian team - led by a company of senior stalwarts - has decided to make a stand supporting their mate, Harbhajan and refusing to make any more frivolous play down under while the ban on their mate is still in force. While it must be understood that Harbhajan, if he did utter the term 'monkey' in reference to Symonds cannot be defended successfully, we must also think about Symonds' explanation. Symonds explained to all who listened that all this started with Harbhajan deciding to hit Brett Lee on his way to the non striker's end. Did that happen? And was that done on purpose? Now, of course Symonds, mate of mates for all the Aussies, stood up for Lee and said something to the turbaned off spinner to which Harbhajan responded seemed to respond in kind. Tendulkar at the other end was a mute spectator and while all this was happening, Ponting came towards Harbhajan and had a few words while Harbhajan seemed to pat the Australian captain's shoulder in a seemingly-conciliatory gesture. Nobody would have guessed then that this would have resulted in a 3 match ban for Harbhajan. It would be a pertinent question to ask of Mike Proctor to look into the matter of Harbhajan charging into Brett Lee purposely - as claimed by Symonds. If that did not happen, then our dread locked, luck potion quaffer had no reason to have words with the Indian off spinner. And if he had not had those words, the situation would not have come to what it is now.
In between all this, lets not forget that this match had 5 Test centuries. A sublime one from Laxman, a resolute and masterful one from Tendulkar, a fast moving number with twists and turns of luck from Symonds, a muscling and in the later stages, hobbling one from Hayden who was carrying a back injury and an almost stealthy one from Hussey.
Future
Finally, let nobody mistake all the jest and tomfoolery in this piece as being frivolous. Far from that. The weight of the emotions simmering almost on the surface of the mind makes it difficult to review this Test match from a serene and staid standpoint. At such times, when reason threatens to desert you in a fog of red rage, the inexhaustible font of humour comes of use. So, dear reader, partake of it and doff your hat to this famous BuckSon combination - Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson. Chances are that you might not get to see them doing their double act together again - anytime soon. And yes, if you are Australian, you would not want that to happen!
BuckSonGate is complete and cricket is at an impasse'. No coincidence, surely?
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