Chinese Criminals and Cricket Villains

Chinese criminals and cricket villains - they'll all related. I'll try to explain.

Stern Hu, a Rio Tinto executive, currently stands accused of bribery and corruption in China. He has allegedly bribed 16 steel mills in China into giving away secrets relating to the iron ore industry and seriously jeopardised the wealth of China as a whole. Just how is that related to cricket? Well, I have the distinct feeling that there will be 16 executives in China willing to “go into bat” for Stern Hu. Just as long as Andrew Strauss isn't fielding in the slips for them. I understand that China uses the death penalty to punish white collar criminals along with blue collar criminals. The 16, at least, involved will be doing their utmost to convince the authorities that Stern Hu hasn't done anything wrong at all. Maybe only to save their own skins if nothing else. It is also well known that the Chinese authorities send the bill for the bullet to the family of executed criminals.

Speaking of criminals that also ties in with the cricket currently. Just ask any dinky-di Australian how he feels about England captain Andrew Strauss at the moment and his claim to have taken a catch to dismiss Aussie opener Phillip Hughes although replays indicate that the ball hit the ground. He didn't even have the sportsmanship to ask for the umpires to send the decision upstairs to the third umpire for review. I have to say that the umpires made the decision on the ground though and didn't feel the need to get a second opinion. But with another wicket falling to a no-ball and a third top order batsman for Australia being given out caught when he didn't hit the ball it was almost a criminal outcome for the match for England to win. It's not so much sour grapes. We have the technology and we should be utilising it. If there is a catch then the third umpire should immediately review the video to see if the bowler overstepped the line. There would be ample time to recall the batsmen if something had been overlooked. Ricky Ponting must have been livid with the decisions that went against Australia. Perhaps he has a short memory though. Didn't he do things that antagonised the Indians when we last played in India? Is Ricky feeling tired or stressed? Maybe he'd feel better if he took his Swisse Ultivites.

Executives bribing Chinese companies for state secrets and England cricket captains doing anything to win a game of cricket. They'll all criminals. But the wrong guy might end up getting shot for his behaviour. He he.