
Issue No 121		30 November 2001

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Sport

Jim Marr Pipes Up

It's amazing how cricket commentary seems to reflect the playing styles of the men behind the microphones.

Ian Chappell is sharp and combative; Bill Lawry boring as batshit, but thorough with it; Ravi Shastri brings a touch of class to the airwaves; and they don't come much drier or more opinionated than professional Yorkshireman Geoff Boycott.

Indian Navjot Sidhu, though, is the prosecution's star witness. While most of his compatriots speak eloquently, more flick of the wrist than full-faced drive, the former top-order dasher mixes eccentricity with liberal doses of barely-controlled aggression.

Sidhu who, if memory serves correctly, had his Test career briefly interrupted by the small matter of a murder charge, first made the ears prick up with his on-air reaction to the controversy swirling around Sachin Tendulkar, Mike Denness et al.

"It's time to put on the black gloves and slit a few throats," he told his trans-continental audience.

Mmm, really?

Having attracted attention he moved into stride, launching a string of verbal volleys. Included in his repertoire were the following ...

"Apple pie without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze."

"He who wants a full farm must have an old cock and a young bull."

"A good face is worth half the dowry."

"The road to ruin is always in good repair."

"Straight as an arrow, crisp as a cracker."

"No root, no fruit."

If you're thinking our Navjot tends to the Freudian you won't be surprised by his retort to being chided for enthusiastically supporting the decision of cameramen to linger about the forms of scantily clad female spectators.

A fellow Indian suggested that, surely, beauty came from within.

"You have got to adore beauty but you don't want to adore a kidney or pancreas," Sidhu shot back, quick on his feet as ever.

Rarely had a lop-sided cricket match provided so much entertainment. It was almost good enough to recommend Foxtel on the strength of.

So where, in the name of all that's holy, does that leave Tony Greig? A fine allrounder in his day, he must be the exception that proves the rule.

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Issue 121 contents

Interview: Back to the Battle
Federal Labor's new industrial relations spokesman Robert McClelland outlines the challenges for the next three years.

Politics: The Baby and the Bath Water
ACTU secretary Greg Combet gives his take on the debate over the ALP's relations with the union movement.

Unions: We're Solid
Bradon Ellem charts the history of the Pilbara dispute, and finds a revitalised grass-roots unionism challenging BHP's individual contracts bulldozer

Organising: Benidgo Pioneer Comes Up Trumps
ACTU Delegate of the Year, Leonie Saunders, is living proof of the way unions are adapting to life under the strictures of a hostile Government.

Technology: India: Cricket, Computers and Corruption
Russell Lansbury cuts through the hype to look out the so-called hi-tech revolution on the sub-continent.

International: Soul Searching
The party of labour in Canada � the NDP - is right now undergoing a massive struggle for its heart and soul.

History: A Timeless Debate
The ALP and unions - it's a debate that's raged for years as this extract from a 1947 Lloyd Ross pamplet shows.

Review: In Fear of Security
Launching his new book, Anthony Burke argues that the cry of "security" is the last refuge of the political scoundrel

» Union Journo on Death List

» First 'Lab Rats' in Bank Hold-Up

» Monk's Mad Power Grab from States

» Big Print Merger Threatens Jobs

» Anger as Labor Staffers Shun Unions

» Unions Are Well Advanced In Change Unions Tell ALP

» Unions Step Up Organising Drive

» Education, Call Centre Unions Sweep Awards

» Bank AGMs Focus of Worker Anger

» Gender Balance in Transport Concessions

» Concern As Sydney Collapses

» Bakers Seek More Bread

» CFMEU Forces Re-Think On Asbestos

» Call Goes Out for Union Summer

» Twelve Weeks Parental Leave For Kiwis

» Organiser of the Year Nominations Open

» Activists Notebook

» The Soapbox

» Sport

» Labour Review

» Tool Shed

» What's Wrong With Labor

» Why I'm Quitting the ALP

» Compo Flak

» Union Democracy

» Multi-Skilling Corrigan Style

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