Sportsmanship ?

Much has been said and written about Flintoffs extra-ordinary sporting gesture. But I guess its always easier to be sporting when one has ended on the winning side or when you have a strong batting line up that you can walk.

But yesterday one incident took the sheen off Flintoffs impeccable conduct after the Edgbaston test match. Inzy was playing a great innings shepherding the tail very well and was looking to score his century quickly so that he could declare, and what does Mr Flintoff do, take advantage of the wide rules of a test match and spear it down the leg side so that Inzy has no chance of scoring off that ball. And it was not a ball that strayed down leg side because one could see the keeper move down the leg side even before the ball was bowled. It was good to see Darell Hair signalling it a wide while it was even funnier to see Flintoffs expression that looked as though "What!!! how could that be a wide even Geoff Boycotts mum would have hit that ?". So this sort of makes me wonder whether its always easier to be sporting and all that when you are on the winning side, not when you are out in the heat, on the final day of a test match and desparately trying to stem the flow of runs from a batsman who is one of the all time greats that Pakistan has produced.

But then there was one more incident to show that all is not lost. Sami was steaming in and was getting hit for runs, Inzy was looking for wickets when Pietersen drove at one in the air to Sami who did not claim the catch since he felt it did not carry to him, while the rest of the team was sure he had caught it.

Contrast the 2 incidents one a established player whose place in the team is assured and the other a person whos test spot is going to be under scrutiny now that he has had a bad game and could not take wickets on the last day when the team badly needed them. And what a difference in the way they reacted to the situations that they were facing!! It is in adversity I guess that character is revealed rather than in triumph.