Thu, Feb 28, 2008 page18

• Matthew Hayden calls Singh `obnoxious weed'

  SUBTLE The batsman's comments on Brisbane radio are likely to deepen the ill feeling between the Australia and India cricket teams ahead of their clash on Sunday

  • AFP
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  Outspoken Australia batsman Matthew Hayden has inflamed tensions with the Indian team by calling off-spinner Harbhajan Singh an "obnoxious weed."

  Hayden made the statement on Brisbane radio on Tuesday, after the lingering ill feeling between the sides surfaced again in Sunday's tri-series one-dayer at the SCG.

  Teenage pacemen Ishant Sharma was fined after a verbal clash with Andrew Symonds on Sunday, the Indians claiming the youngster was provoked by Symonds and lodging a complaint with match referee Jeff Crowe about the "provocative" behavior of the Australians, particularly towards Harbhajan.

  The bad blood stretches back to the second Test in Sydney last month, when Harbhajan was suspended for three matches for racially abusing Symonds, a ban overturned at a subsequent International Cricket Council hearing.

  Hayden's latest comments will add spice to the tri-series finals between the sides, starting on Sunday at the SCG.

  "It's been a bit of a long battle with Harbhajan," Hayden said on radio.

  "The first time I ever met him he was the same little obnoxious weed that he is now.

  "His record speaks for itself in cricket.

  "There is a certain line that you can kind of go to and then you know where you push it and he just pushes it all the time.

  "That's why he has been charged more than anyone that's ever played in the history of cricket," Hayden said.

  Hayden was one of the players the Indians accused of provocative behavior in Sunday's game.

  The big left-hander is fiercely religious, but despite this is also regarded as one of the biggest sledgers in the game.

  He said the only reason the Indians were whingeing was because they were "losing every game they are playing."

  "I called him a bad boy," Hayden insisted. "He took offense to that and I thought that was quite funny."

  Meanwhile, Brett Lee admitted yesterday he was disappointed by the continuing ill will between Australia and India.

  Lee, who has a close affinity with India and has a small part in an upcoming Bollywood film, said he hoped the teams could put the controversies behind them and concentrate on their cricket.

  "It's a bit of a shame a few things have happened on the cricket field, people know where the line in the sand is and if you cross that line well you know you will get dealt with," Lee said.

  "The thing we have to acknowledge too is that once you do walk onto the cricket field and go over that line it doesn't matter whose made friendships, it's very important we go out there and play the hardest, toughest, fairest cricket we possibly can," he said.

  Having cooled his heels on the fringes of the Australia team earlier in his career, Lee is thriving on the added responsibility of leading the attack in the absence of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.

  He said past frustrations only made him more determined to succeed in Test cricket.

  "It made me very hungry and it made me appreciate the chance to wear the baggy green cap once it was taken away, and to never become complacent," he said.

  "To appreciate the good times you've got to go through the bad I think. Everyone's been through it, people have had time on the sidelines. Players have had times where they've missed out through injury, I think it comes down to how much you want it," he said.

  Lee admitted the last 12 months had been a rollercoaster, with the disappointment of missing the World Cup triumph with an ankle injury followed by his resurgence as a Test cricketer.
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