'Players' behaviour eases umpires' job'

PERTH: Umpires' job will become easy if cricketers behave well on the field and show controlled aggression, International Cricket Council president-elect David Morgan and India's bowling Venkatesh Prassad have said.

"Player behaviour is of utmost importance. I don't believe, to use an English expression, that cricket fields should be as silent as churches and I don't believe that cricketers should behave like church mice," Morgan was quoted as saying in The Australian newspaper.

"But I do believe that umpiring is an easier task if players behave well and observe the spirit of the game."

Former India pacer Prasad said aggression was okay but it should not cross limits.

"It's good to have aggression but it's very important to have controlled aggression," he said after India defeated Australia by 72 runs in the third Test here Saturday to reduce the series deficit to 1-2.

"You've got to channel your aggression in the right direction, but I'm sure he (Indian pacer S. Sreesanth) will have learned that," Prasad said, referring to the on-field events during the second Test in Sydney.

Sreesanth will join the team for the lone Twenty20 International Feb 1 and the One-Day International triangular series Feb 3, with Sri Lanka being third team.

"He knows how important it is to make sure that the focus has to be on the game," Prasad said.

Sreesanth, the lanky pacer from Kerala, is known for his on-field antics and the passion with which he plays.