The Only Way Benn Can Make News

The headlines today has its say that the West Indian batsman bowler player if not anything else has been handed over a 2 match ODI ban for reasons none other than being involved with an ugly spat with the Australian players Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin during the third test match between Australia and West Indies at Perth on Thursday. On the other side, Australia's Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin have been let off just with a petty fine I suppose. Reasons for this sort of biased treatment regarding the Aussies is not something new for the world of cricket.

However, coming to Sulieman Benn's case, one can just say that this is an act of publicity by the West Indian player. Or else, why should anyone target a West Indian player who despite being 28 years of age has played just 11 test matches and an equal number of one day internationals that is followed by 10 T20 games? The incident just reminds me of Vinod kambli who after being almost absent for almost a decade one fine day comes in front of the world just to say that it was his old team mate Sachin Tendulkar who was responsible for the debacle of his cricketing career.

The man under discussion is just a year and a half old when his international cricket career is taken into consideration. The man is yet to hit a six in international T20 cricket and has already made news for getting banned for 2 ODIs against Australia for sledging. All that his career can highlight is the 5 wicket haul he has been able to achieve against Australia in the second test in the ongoing series between the same two countries. This coming almost a year and a half after making his international test debut against Sri Lanka in March 2008 at Providence.

Not only Sulieman Benn but the entire West Indies team needs to maintain a lot of discipline taking into consideration their caliber and the position in test cricket they are placed not only in today's rating but also considering their test rating since the last decade or so. Of course, no one is expected to display such a sort of behaviour on the field in front of a million spectators on TV as well as in the stadium. However, someone like Steve Waugh, Glenn McGrath or Adam Gilchrist can be given a pass for such an act but not someone who is just a learner of cricket still in the initial stages of his career. May be this is the reason that the ICC has been taking more strict measures regarding sledging day by day.