Cricket must crack down on abuse: Boycott

LONDON, January 10: England's batting great Geoff Boycott on Thursday came down heavily on Australian cricket administrators for not cracking the whip on their foul-mouthed players and allowing the menace of sledging to foster.
Boycott squarely laid the blame on umpires for failing to report erring players which has compounded the problem and said time has come to crack down on the abuse.
"..they (Australian board) should keep a closer eye on their team all the time, and not just when there is a nasty scene that makes the news," Boycott wrote in Daily Telegraph.
"The administrators must have known that their players were developing a reputation for abusive language. If they had sat them down and laid out an acceptable code of behaviour, and then warned them that anyone who crossed the line would be dropped, we would have seen an end to it all," he said.
Boycott said the Australian team has behaved like "cry babies" in reporting Harbhajan Singh as they have been dishing out far more than that.
"Umpires have been far too lax on this sort of thing for too long. When a fast bowler finishes his follow-through, he's only 10 yards away from the stumps: how can an umpire not hear what he's saying to the batsman? The only reason they don't take any action is because they prefer an easy life."
He said sledging should be nipped in the bud and the onus lies with the umpires to check it.
"In the past, sledging used to be humorous and colourful. I am not suggesting we should do away with that sort of banter, but let's give it a rest with the abuse." he said.
"They (umpires) can use the disciplinary process more firmly, and national boards should give them support by cracking down on any player who steps out of line. It's time everybody in cricket worked together to rid the game of this sickness," Boycott said.
The straight-talking Yorkshireman said that Australian team wants to lord over every opposition team.
"I can't help noticing what a resounding lack of sympathy there has been around the world, and even in Australia, for Andrew Symonds and his sad little protestations of racial abuse. So Harbhajan Singh called him a monkey. So what? The Aussies have been dishing out far worse for years, as anyone in the cricket world will tell you.
"Yes, Australia are the world champions. Yes, they're an exceptionally talented and consistent side. But that doesn't give them the right to behave like gods who are outside the normal standards of behaviour."
"The Australians have been the leaders in this unsavoury field for as long as I can remember. If you keep abusing people, sooner or later someone is going to turn around and talk back to you. My message to Symonds - and to his captain Ricky Ponting, who reported Harbhajan to the umpires - is "Don't be a cry baby". If you dish it out, you've got to be prepared to take it in return, and not go running to teacher.
Boycott said he was not surprised that India threatened to call off the tour because cricket is "heart and soul of India's national identity."