{
    "id": "4339",
    "author": "13",
    "cnmid": "0",
    "title": "Australian board let players down during 'Monkeygate': Border",
    "lang": "en",
    "series": "0",
    "cup_year": "2000",
    "article_type": "General",
    "excerpt": "Former captain Allan Border said the country's cricket board, Cricket Australia (CA), abandoned its players during the infamous",
    "subtype": "",
    "editor1": "<p><span style=\"font-size:14px\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Sydney, Nov 9 (IANS) Former captain Allan Border said the country&#39;s cricket board, Cricket Australia (CA), abandoned its players during the infamous &#39;Monkeygate&#39; incident, surrendering to the considerable might of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and choosing money over morality.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><span style=\"font-size:14px\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Border also said it was a reason for him to quit CA, he writes in his new book &quot;Cricket As I See It&quot;.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><span style=\"font-size:14px\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">&quot;I thought we (the board) let the players down badly then. Australians have copped our brickbats over the years for being aggressive and in-your-face and playing that style of game that a lot of people didn&#39;t like,&quot; Border was quoted as saying by The Weekend Australian.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><span style=\"font-size:14px\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">&quot;We encouraged the players to clean the game up and report certain incidents but when they did report the alleged abuse, it turned 180 degrees. Andrew Symonds and Ricky Ponting were the ones who really copped it. Andrew was the victim of the abuse and Ricky is not the sort of bloke to run off and tittle-tattle but he figured enough was enough, and did what we had told him to do... both (were) pilloried for the stance they took.&quot;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><span style=\"font-size:14px\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh was suspended for three matches after the second Test of a four-match series in Sydney in 2007-08 for allegedly racially abusing Andrew Symonds.&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><span style=\"font-size:14px\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">The Indian team threatened to boycott the tour unless the decision was overturned.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><span style=\"font-size:14px\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">CA, wary of losing out on a significant amount of cash pie from the subcontinent, contrived with the BCCI to present an agreed set of facts at the appeal.&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><span style=\"font-size:14px\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Harbhajan was let off and Judge John Hansen attacked Symonds for his approach to the game. CA earned around $7 million from a day-night match against India.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><span style=\"font-size:14px\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Border didn&#39;t divulge the boardroom conversations but writes: &quot;The backroom deals were done, and I was out of my depth. They made the commercial decision, not the ethical\/moral decision.&quot;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><span style=\"font-size:14px\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">He says the board was told that &quot;we&#39;d have a massive financial hole if the Indians went home, and we couldn&#39;t afford it. As a board member, I was really disappointed but the initial agitation dies down when you start getting those commercial realities&quot;.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><span style=\"font-size:14px\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">&quot;What price do you put on these things? I quite like Harbhajan, I like the way he plays his cricket, but was he guilty? There wasn&#39;t definitive evidence.&quot;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><span style=\"font-size:14px\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Border writes the incident &quot;hastened my departure from the board a little&quot;.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><span style=\"font-size:14px\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">&quot;I think the spiral downhill started for Andrew, his cricket started to fall away, he felt thoroughly let down and I suppose what price do you put on trying to do the right thing and backing your players and what would have happened?&quot;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><span style=\"font-size:14px\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">&quot;At the end of the day, it still sits uncomfortably with me, but I get it - sometimes you have to take a deep breath and assess what your fall-back position is, you don&#39;t just head toward the abyss,&quot; Border said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><span style=\"font-size:14px\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Recently, Sachin Tendulkar also launched an attack on the integrity of then Australian captain Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Adam Gilchrist over the affair in his newly released autobiography where he confirmed the threat to pull out, which was denied at that point of time.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><span style=\"font-size:14px\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Ponting has said that he stands by his stance of supporting Symonds and reporting Harbhajan - as the sides had been instructed before the series in cases of racial abuse - and that he did the right thing by the player, the game and society<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n",
    "image": "https:\/\/img.cricketnmore.com\/uploads\/2015\/02\/australia-board-logo21.jpg",
    "alt_img": "australia cricket",
    "alt_title": "australia cricket",
    "image1": "",
    "video": "",
    "seo_title": "Australian board let players down during 'Monkeygate': Border",
    "seo_desc": "Former captain Allan Border said the country's cricket board, Cricket Australia (CA), abandoned its players during the infamous",
    "seo_keywords": " Allan Border",
    "tag": "",
    "tagging": "",
    "status": "1",
    "img_rpt": "0",
    "google": "0",
    "standout": "0",
    "edapps": "0",
    "pulse": "0",
    "no_index": "0",
    "feed": "0",
    "fixture": "0",
    "slug": "australian-board-let-players-down-during-monkeygate-border",
    "user_id": "0",
    "read_count": "0",
    "ians_date": "0000-00-00",
    "ians_time": "00:00:00",
    "server_time": "0000-00-00 00:00:00",
    "trash": "0",
    "view_count": "1709",
    "page_break": "0",
    "instant_articles": "0",
    "auto_link": "0",
    "created": "2015-02-10 23:01:00",
    "updated": "2015-02-10 23:01:00",
    "img_from": "",
    "img_source": "",
    "schedule_publish": "0000-00-00 00:00:00",
    "news_keywords": null,
    "livescore_text": null,
    "livescore_link": null,
    "btn_text": null,
    "resend_feed": "0",
    "google_feed": "0",
    "read_more": "0",
    "posted_by": "1",
    "jio_date": "2015-02-10 23:01:00",
    "scheduled": "0",
    "news_now": "1",
    "breaking_news": "0",
    "google_date": "2015-02-10 23:01:00",
    "featured": "0",
    "pred_match_id": null,
    "article_content_type": null,
    "link": "https:\/\/www.cricketnmore.com\/cricket-news\/australian-board-let-players-down-during-monkeygate-border-4339"
}