Making a point..

pointedly ..

Exhibit A

Indians v Derbyshire - June 1996

Scorecard Match Report

But it was the appearance of Malcolm to open the Derbyshire innings and score a dozen of the 13 runs needed for only the county's second victory over India which sparked the furious outburst from the Indian management.

Patil explained: ``Azza completely lost his cool in the dressing room and lashed out over this. He will now take a very hard line on every issue between now and the second Test with the complete support of the tour management.

``It was an insult and a humiliation to see Malcolm coming out to bat like that but we do not blame Derbyshire or their captain Dean Jones. It was all our own fault and we ought to be completely ashamed of what is happening.

Exhibit B

Indians v Tasmania - December 1999

Scorecard Match Report

the first coming eighty four minutes into proceedings with the sight of one of the most bizarre acts of declaration imaginable. After the Tasmanians had hitherto appeared unwilling to pull the pin on their batting exhibition, most observers were taken by surprise when the closure did actually materialise at 5/548. This surprise turned into near amazement when unbeaten batsman Shaun Young (62*) seemed to make a unilateral decision to end the Tasmanians' effort, tucking his bat under his arm and striding off to the pavilion after teammate Scott Kremerskothen had eased the last delivery of a Bharadwaj over into the leg side for a single. Even Kremerskothen appeared oblivious to the declaration, only sheepishly following his partner off and the umpires and Indians did not depart for at least another minute after that.

A little background to the above episode - Jamie Cox, when quizzed at the end of the third day about a declaration, opined that since the Indians were an International team, the onus lay with the Indians to take all 10 Tasmanian wickets and not depend on him for a declaration.

Exhibit C

But Pratt did not get to celebrate the Trent Bridge victory because he had to miss the last day of the match when he was called back to Durham by his captain, Australian Mike Hussey.

"He said I was needed for county duty and then he didn't play me anyway. I think it was a bit of spite, to tell the truth," says Pratt, who admits that Hussey "was not my favourite captain".

"I suppose there might have been a phone call from the Australians to Hussey telling him to get me out of there."

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There are so many different ways of making a point- and all of them don't necessarily involve cussing and sledging and raving and ranting.

Pointing out to an International XI that "my tail enders are better bats than you" or "your bowling is so pedestrian, even my boys can score a hundred for fun" or "don't mess with us, we can screw your happiness pretty bad" are just a few of the examples.

And then there is this -

Although Mumbai batted first and ended up scoring only 218, both teams agreed to bend the rules. Australia's target was revised to 300 to allow their batsmen to gain more practice and make the game more competitive for the large number of spectators who filled up the temporary stands erected outside the ground.

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There is a reason why one of the two International teams mentioned above is the very best in the world, while the other finds itself in turmoil.