Ricky Ponting found support from a section of the Australian media with a newspaper stating that he should be praised for standing up to racism.
MELBOURNE: Under-fire skipper Ricky Ponting on Tuesday found support from a section of the Australian media with a newspaper stating that he should be praised for standing up to racism.
"Ricky Ponting should be championed as a national hero for exposing racism in cricket," Malcolm Conn wrote in 'The Australian'.
Ponting should be backed for standing up for Andrew Symonds, the only black player in the Australian team, according to Conn.
"For taking his bold stand to protect Australia's only black player, Andrew Symonds, from continuing racial taunts by Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh, Ponting deserves to be feted, not condemned."
"The only way to deal with racism is to tackle it head on. Only by dragging racism into the harsh glare of public ridicule can it be satisfactorily dealt with," he said.
"To call a black man a monkey is to suggest he is sub-human."
Conn said commentators like Sunil Gavaskar, Tony Greig and Wasim Akram who felt Ponting should have dealt with the issue off the field were ignorant of the facts, Conn felt.
"Symonds tried. When Harbhajan called him a 'monkey' during the seventh match of the one-day series in India last October, an upset Symonds informed team officials and then went and knocked on the Indian dressing room door.
"He sought out Harbhajan and explained he found the term offensive. Harbhajan apologised and the Australians believed they had an agreement with Harbhajan that he would not abuse Symonds in similar fashion again," according to Conn.
"So when Harbhajan called Symonds a monkey last Friday, during the third day of the second Test in Sydney, Ponting decided enough was enough and felt he had to act.
"For Harbhajan and his mates to deny that he ever used the word monkey is like Mark Waugh denying he was paid by Hansie Cronje's illegal bookmaker for information," Conn said.
Conn said Harbhajan's three-Test suspension by South African Match Referee Mike Procter should be held up as the way forward and flayed the BCCI for trying to get the sentence overturned.
"That the Board of Control for Cricket in India is again disgracing the game by attempting to blackmail the ICC into overturning Procter's decision is the sort of classic dummy spit which continues to make international cricket a joke," he added.
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