Pollard, Starc is history repeating

The spat between Australia’s Mitchell Starc and West Indian Kieron Pollard in the Indian Premier League is the latest flashpoint in a litany of clashes between players from the two fierce rivals that date back to the days when the Caribbean kings ruled world cricket.

Pollard shaped to hurl his bat at Starc after the Trinidadian pulled out of his batting stance as Starc was about to bowl, prompting the left-armer to fire the ball at the batsman as he backed away to the leg side.

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It followed an exchange of words after the previous delivery, a bouncer that narrowly missed Pollard’s helmet, during which the West Indian gestured dismissively for Starc to return to his bowling mark.

And earlier in the IPL series, Australian opening batsman David Warner also clashed with Pollard when he derisively blew him a kiss to which the West Indian responded with mock disgust.

Pollard and Warner share reputations as combative, verbally aggressive competitors on-field but sources close to the teams have claimed that any bad blood between the rival teams is restricted to a few individuals rather than an institutional grudge.

A number of the Australian players remain close friends with West Indian rivals, particularly those who share a dressing room in the IPL or other international competitions including the KFC Big Bash League.

But the West Indians were known to be aggrieved by some public comments from Australian allrounder James Faulkner prior to the teams’ meeting in the recent ICC World T20 tournament in Bangladesh.

And the Australians similarly felt the overt dancing celebration unleashed by the West Indians when they famously won that match – in a thrilling final over bowled by Faulkner – was a little over the top and unnecessarily provocative.

However, the most recent incident also ignited memories of previous clashes between the two powerhouses of world cricket over the past four decades, and prompted former Australian Test batsman Dean Jones to recall one of his own episodes of infamy.

Jones took to Twitter to post a link to a video of the incident in Guyana during Australia’s often heated tour of the Caribbean in 1991 when he was bowled off a no-ball, began walking from the field unaware of the umpire’s call and was run out before he had a chance to regain his ground.

“Remember this? Didn’t throw my bat tho?,” Jones tweeted, later reiterating his enduring sense of injustice by citing cricket’s law 38.2 that states a batsman can’t be adjudged run out from a no-ball if not actively attempting a run.

Jones was in the middle of another famous stoush a couple of years later during a one-day international in Sydney when he incensed West Indian fast bowler Curtly Ambrose by demanding the imposing quick remove his white towelling wrist bands.

Jones claimed they were “camouflaging” the white ball, and Ambrose duly responded by destroying Australia’s batting and finishing with the figures of 5-32.

Among the other notable showdowns between Australian and West Indian players in the years bookended by these incidents are:

• Steve Waugh and Ambrose during a Test match in Trinidad in 1995, when Waugh defiantly responded to the stares of the rampant fast bowler who became so upset that he had to be dragged away from the conflict by his captain, Richie Richardson.

• Brendon Julian and Sherwin Campbell in Barbados in a one-day international in 1999, when Julian knocked the diminutive opener to the ground as he was attempting a run which saw Campbell run out and which triggered a crowd riot as they demanded he be recalled, which he was.

• Glenn McGrath and Ramnaresh Sarwan’s ugly spat during a 2003 Test in Antigua, where Sarwan responded to McGrath’s invective by making an ill-considered remark about the Australian’s seriously ill wife, at which point McGrath flew at him in a fury.

• Shane Warne and Marlon Samuels at the MCG during BBL02, when – after an earlier incident in which Samuels impeded Warne’s team-mate David Hussey while he was batting – the former Australian legspinner tossed a ball at Samuels, who responded by throwing his bat.