WHERE SHOULD A PERSON'S ALLEGIANCE BE

At last comes the long awaited approval.As reported in the Cricinfo, England coach, Duncan Fletcher who was not sure about the ticket for Monty to travel to Australia finally declared that the British sikh was the best finger spinner in the world. It took a colodsal amount of hard work, sweat and blood for Monty to have his approval that would have been granted to a less talented Zimbabwian little too easily.It is really pleasing to know that Fletchers doesnot want Monty to be a batsman of the calibre of David Gower to be considered to be eligible to join the ashes prey.

The other surprise was the acceptance of Monty and Sajid Mahamood as fully integrated coloured cricketers into the UK society by Norman Tebbit who raised eyebrows some time ago saying that it was the duty of the emigrants to support the country of residence.Whatever the criticism thrown at him, this should be the reality.If one finds solace in living in another country other than his land of birth, it is the duty of the person serve the interests of his adopted country.In this respect, it was very sad that Sajid Mahamood was heckled by the Pakistani supporters naming him a reject and a traitor.One has to understand the fact that Sajid was a British of Pakistani heritage and his allegiance should be to the UK. Fortuntely, Indian supporters do not seem to have been affected by this syndrome.Had they been so too short sighted, Indo carribeans like Kalicharan, Chanders, Sarwan, Kanhai , or Patel duo of New Zealand, Nazzer Hussain or Monty of England, Muralidharan of Sri Lanka, half of the Kenyans, would never have played in India. Quite opposite to what was seen in England, Indians and Punjabis in particular supported Monty in hiss return to the land of his forefathers.It would have given him extra strength to go forward as Indis was the land where he was baptised to cricket.

Narrow thinking always obscures the clarity of the vision of a person,

http://content-nz.cricinfo.com/engvpak/content/current/story/256084.html

"Monty, sports personality of the year" cricinfo

http://blogs.cricinfo.com/surfer/archives/2006/08/monty_sports_pe.php

Mike Selvy on Pannesar

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/columnists/story/0,,1841137,00.html

Monty Best in the world: Fletcher

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/englandpakistan2006/story/0,,1840633,00.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/sport/2006/08/10/scbrig10.xml

Derek Pringle on Monty in his column in Telegraph

"Ashes but no sackclothBy Derek Pringle "

Panesar has been a revelation, and while Flintoff recuperates the spinning Sikh has become, if not England's best bowler, then certainly their most dependable. Even coach Duncan Fletcher, so cautious in his praise of the spinner last week, has realised it, admitting as much when he said that Monty was probably the best finger spinner in the world.
His rise, as strike bowler when conditions assist and pressure-builder when they don't, has made a four-man attack a real possibility in Australia, though not one likely to be favoured by Fletcher, who probably sees it placing too much of a burden on Flintoff.
Whatever the plans, and they will be sketches at present, one of them should be to give Panesar a Kookaburra ball to use in all practices from now on. He needs to get used to the different feel, and it is significant, for when he comes to bowl with it Down Under.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/sport/2006/08/10/scprin10.xml

New England retain tight grip after Panesar turns the screwBy Christopher Martin-Jenkins, Chief Cricket Correspondent of Times

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,426-2304690,00.html

Panesar heralds new generation to put England in the mood for Ashes writes Angus Fraseer in Times

The pair of British-born Asians shared seven wickets as Pakistan were dismissed for 155 on the final day of the third Test, a performance that gave England an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series.

MONTY PANESAR
It was always going to take a great ball or a piece of good fortune to dismiss Younis Khan and Panesar produced the former. Pitching on the line of middle and off-stump and clipping the bails on the top of off-stump, it was a jaffa

http://sport.independent.co.uk/cricket/article1217782.ece

This is a thought provoking article from Times
England happy to home in on an Asian revolutionBy Patrick Kidd

Our correspondent observes a growing trend in the national side
A GAGGLE of schoolchildren were watching the under-19 Test match between India and England at Taunton last week and one asked, as the home captain brought on his leg spinner, why there were two Indians playing for England. If he had heard the Essex accent of the former and the clear Yorkshireness of the latter, there would have been no confusion.
When the day ended with Varun Chopra on 95 not out, Adil Rashid having taken eight wickets earlier, someone remarked that “our Indians are better than their Indians”. In fact, Rashid’s father came to Britain from Pakistan, not India, but he has bred a young cricketer who is as Yorkshire as Fred Trueman and being talked up, at the age of 18, as a future England leg spinner who can bat in the top six.

English cricket has many children from Asian families who are capable not only of winning matches but also the hearts of England fans. Monty Panesar and Sajid Mahmood are the heroes of the hour after taking seven second-innings wickets between them in England’s win at Headingley Carnegie on Tuesday. Mahmood should view taunts of “traitor” from some Pakistan supporters as a sign of a job well done.
Similar jibes also had a galvanising effect on Kevin Pietersen when he returned to the land of his birth the winter before last and walloped South Africa’s bowlers.
Panesar, the first Sikh to play for England, has become a cult figure in just nine Test matches, but the crowd’s affection for him has changed as they get to know him. What was once amusement at his clownlike fielding has turned to respect for his match-winning bowling and for his determination to improve his whole game. He is Phil Tufnell with a work ethic.
Several other county players with an Asian background have a good chance of being picked for England. Owais Shah and Vikram Solanki have already had a taste of international cricket and may yet be recalled to the national one-day side while Usman Afzaal had the misfortune to make his Test debut against the 2001 Australia side. The Ali family from Birmingham are doing their fair share of producing potential England players.
Kabir, 25, has played one Test and 14 one-day internationals; Moeen, his cousin, was the captain of England Under-19 during the winter and is a bright batting prospect; while Kadeer, 23, Moeen’s older brother, was a very fine England youth player.
It was at Northampton in 2002 that Kadeer shared a record partnership of 256 with Bilal Shafayat in the under-19 Test against India. In a particularly good vintage, the England team that summer also included Samit Patel and Nadeem Malik, who are beginning to establish themselves at Nottinghamshire and Worcestershire. Of the four, Shafayat is the most likely to make it into the full England side, but his batting has been disappointing this season.
England had a few Asian cricketers when there was no India Test side — Ranjitsinhji, Duleepsinhji and the Nawab of Pataudi — but the start of the new wave began in 1990 when a moody but talented batsman who was born in Madras but went to Forest School in Essex was picked for his first Test. He would captain England nine years later.
Following in the bootprints of Nasser Hussain at Essex is a string of potential future England players. Ravi Bopara, an England A player this summer, is not shy about promoting his ability, but while his medium-pace bowling has become more effective this season, he has not scored as many runs as expected. Chopra made a hundred on his first-team debut this season and has scored 686 runs in six under-19 Test matches, while Jahid Ahmed, a 20-year-old fastmedium bowler, took four wickets against Sri Lanka in June.
Chopra is a likeable young man, who bats in a similar fashion to Graham Gooch, his coach at Essex, but though he lists Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar as his heroes there is no questioning his loyalties. As he said yesterday: “I’ve always wanted to play for England since my dad taught me the game at the age of 6. I don’t want to be thought of as a good Asian batsman, but a good English one.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,426-2306145,00.html

It was really sad to hear Hashim Amla being called TERRORIST by Dean Jones even if it was not meant to be picked up by the microphone. Perhaps religious homogenity in the Aussie team up to now must have been the reason for such a comment by a person no less than Dean.However, what must be borne in mind is the fact that Australia is no longer an anglo saxon monopoly.With the deviation from the white only policy, a huge number of coloured people belonging to various religious faiths are toilling hard in Aussie for the goodness of the great land mass called Australia. Racist attitudes of a minority is really a shame for a great nation which aspires to be a regional leader in Asia Pacific.It was not long ago Sri Lankans, South Afrikans and Hindu West Indians were at the recieving end on the field.It was sad to see Sarwan and Mcgrath brawl. I am not a person against sledging and sledging is essential to test the mental strength of a player.Who else is more competent than my super hero Steve Waugh in this field.But touching somebody's religious convictions is too much and it is a majestic gesture that Dean made a full appology to Hashim.Hashim is a part of history for us who treasure indianess in us as he was the first player of Indian heritage to play for Proteas.

I recently had the opportunity to visit the aboriginal gallery of WA musium in Perth and was able to feel the agony of the aboriginal children of the lost generation. It was an attempt for forcible integration of fair looking native australians to the Anglo Saxon culture.Those who believe in religious homogenity should learn lessons from the history like the story of loss generation.

Read Aussie rejection of Dean's racial comments in Sydney morning herald

http://www.smh.com.au/news/cricket/jones-drops-us-down-the-order/2006/08/08/1154802888344.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1