# Breaking Pietersen's ribs 'would be lovely'. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 9, 2007, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-pietersens-ribs-would-be-lovely/399264 "2007-04-09T03:58:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-pietersens-ribs-would-be-lovely/399264/1 "2007-04-09T03:58:00Z")
Breaking Pietersen’s ribs ‘would be lovely’. [Breaking ribs](http://www.theage.com.au/news/cricket/breaking-pietersens-ribs-would-be-love) Quote from article - Australian captain Ricky Ponting said he would delighted if Glenn McGrath, who was responsible for injuring the England star in Australia earlier this year, broke Pietersen’s ribs again. “If he could hit him in the ribs, break his ribs and have him retire that would be lovely,” he said. Ricky, you have also been a jerk. Here you take the cake. You are actually wishing your bowlers break an opponent’s ribs so badly that he has to retire from playing sport ! Ricky, are you scared of losing your standing in the game to Pietersen? Do you realise the reaction your statement would provoke in any other sport ? Do you realise the reaction in football, rugby, tennis, baseball, basketball or any other sport if the national team captain came out and said ’ We want to purposefully injure our opponent’s best player so badly that he will never play again.’ Ricky, do you know any history? Do you know about ‘bodyline’? Ricky you are an arrogant dickhead. You can not handle losing. You are the head sledger of the worst bunch of sledging wankers to have ever played the game of cricket. You could not handle losing the Ashes in 2005. You lashed out at spectators and at the English players. You are a 31-year old man but still persist in calling yourself ‘Ricky’. You are also one of the best batsmen to ever play the game. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-pietersens-ribs-would-be-lovely/399264/2 "2007-04-09T04:15:23Z")
Is this some sort of free verse, or do you like hitting the enter key at random intervals while writing? In any event, I’ll fix your link for you: [Breaking Pietersen's ribs 'would be lovely'](http://www.theage.com.au/news/cricket/breaking-pietersens-ribs-would-be-lovely/2007/04/07/1175366537178.html) ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-pietersens-ribs-would-be-lovely/399264/3 "2007-04-09T04:38:15Z")
Ponting’s a great player, but off the field he still acts like a 17 year old who’s just been given his first six-pack. Since their rise to the top of world cricket in the early 1990s, the Australian team—or at least some members of it—have become increasingly arrogant and annoying. Despite being an Australian supporter, i was not especially disappointed to see them lose the Ashes a few years back. Of course, they turned around and won them straight back again. Anyway, i agree with you about this comment. No-one expects the bowlers to stay away from an injury, and if you play with injured ribs them you run the risk of getting them broken again. But for the captain to come out and essentially revel in the idea of breaking an opponents ribs is pretty poor form, in my opinion. It’s not cricket. Anyway, if it’s any consolation, Pietersen went on to get 104 off 122 balls. Still not enough for England to win the game, but an outstanding performance nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Klaatu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Klaatu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klaatu)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-pietersens-ribs-would-be-lovely/399264/4 "2007-04-09T04:44:09Z")
Heh, when I first started posting way back when, I was paranoid that the text wouldn’t wrap, and I would start a hideous side-scroll thing and really piss off other posters, so I would hit the enter key. That would sometimes happen on other boards back in the day. **tomndebb** chastised me one time for that. Of course he wasn’t a mod then, so I actually respected him, and took his advice. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-pietersens-ribs-would-be-lovely/399264/5 "2007-04-09T05:32:35Z")
[QUOTE=waterj2] Is this some sort of free verse, or do you like hitting the enter key at random intervals while writing? In any event, I’ll fix your link for you: [Breaking Pietersen's ribs 'would be lovely'](http://www.theage.com.au/news/cricket/breaking-pietersens-ribs-would-be-lovely/2007/04/07/1175366537178.html) [/QUOTE] Thanks. I am sorry about the script. I was going to clean it up, but I was holding my baby and he kept crying all the time. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-pietersens-ribs-would-be-lovely/399264/6 "2007-04-09T06:17:19Z")
I had no idea cricket had such a violent streak to it. Do brawls ever break out between teams like they do in baseball when a pitcher decides to plunk a batter? Couldn’t this guy get fined by whatever authoritative body that controls the sport? I can almost guarantee that in North America if a basketball, football, soccer, baseball, or hockey player said something like this, they’d up having to publicly apologize and shell out some hard earned cash to rectify things. The referees or umpires would also keep a very close eye on them for awhile in case they tried to take somebody out. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-pietersens-ribs-would-be-lovely/399264/7 "2007-04-09T06:35:20Z")
I fully endorse the breaking of Pietersen’s ribs. Strauss’ jaw would be nice while they are at it. mm ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-pietersens-ribs-would-be-lovely/399264/8 "2007-04-09T11:12:29Z")
Any respect I had I just lost. It’s ironic that such a remark should come from a man from a country that still talks with disdain about the dirty tactics used by the English in the Bodyline series. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-pietersens-ribs-would-be-lovely/399264/9 "2007-04-10T09:41:41Z")
[QUOTE=Princhester] Any respect I had I just lost. It’s ironic that such a remark should come from a man from a country that still talks with disdain about the dirty tactics used by the English in the Bodyline series. [/QUOTE] Which, you should remember, would be considered pretty tame by the standards of a later generation. Only two bowlers participated in the tactic (G. O. Allen didn’t care for it, and as an amateur of some standing himself he could address the captain as an equal and explain that he, himself, would only bowl to orthodox field settings - which he did with plenty of success - and Bill Bowes played in only one Test, in which his only wicket was Bradman, first ball) and there was no slowing down of the over rate to keep them from getting tired. Small beer compared to, say, Roberts, Holding and Daniel firing down nothing but half-trackers to the English openers and drawing nothing more condemnatory to this day than “Our boys got carried away” from their captain Clive Lloyd. I hear the Australians weren’t so worried a decade before Bodyline when it was MacDonald and Gregory sticking it to the English; they certainly weren’t in 1974-75 when it was Thomson and Lillee and ribs were indeed getting broken (such as Edrich’s, first ball of the match). Thomson was quoted as saying he liked to see blood on the pitch and batsmen writhing in agony. Pit Ponting all you like and I’ll cheer you, but he’s hardly breaking new ground. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-pietersens-ribs-would-be-lovely/399264/10 "2007-04-10T11:06:52Z")
I understand all that but it doesn’t detract from the irony. I realise that Australian righteous indignation over bodyline may be ill founded but that doesn’t make it any the less ironic that the Captain of the Australian team would say such a thing. Thompson was a boofhead, no two ways about it. He was engaging in obvious hyperbole though, which somehow doesn’t seem so bad. Cold calculating comments about breaking ribs of a particular player recovering from a rib injury to cause them to go off, by the frickin’ _Captain_ no less just appals me, basically. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-pietersens-ribs-would-be-lovely/399264/11 "2007-04-10T11:28:04Z")
[QUOTE=mamboman] I fully endorse the breaking of Pietersen’s ribs. Strauss’ jaw would be nice while they are at it. mm [/QUOTE] please explain? ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-pietersens-ribs-would-be-lovely/399264/12 "2007-04-10T11:42:52Z")
Ponting is not _that_ serious when he says this. I bet if you see the footage of this comment, it is said with a wry grin. Peitersen charged down the wicket to McGrath during the one day series and suffered a broken rib as a result. It was a stupid thing for Peitersen to do to a fast bowler like McGrath. He charged not only to get under the ball, but as a psych game with McGrath. McGrath won. In this recent exchange, it seems Ponting is playing a part in this McGrath-Peitersen psych-out bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-pietersens-ribs-would-be-lovely/399264/13 "2007-04-11T08:41:28Z")
[QUOTE=antechinus] Ponting is not _that_ serious when he says this. I bet if you see the footage of this comment, it is said with a wry grin. Peitersen charged down the wicket to McGrath during the one day series and suffered a broken rib as a result. It was a stupid thing for Peitersen to do to a fast bowler like McGrath. He charged not only to get under the ball, but as a psych game with McGrath. McGrath won. In this recent exchange, it seems Ponting is playing a part in this McGrath-Peitersen psych-out bullshit. [/QUOTE] It was rash and possibly stupid of Pietersen. That is true. ‘Wry’ grin or not , this incident proves what most people already thought- which is that Ponting is the biggest dickhead playing the game. It is not just a ‘psych-out’ ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-pietersens-ribs-would-be-lovely/399264/14 "2007-04-11T10:29:48Z")
[QUOTE=Princhester] I understand all that but it doesn’t detract from the irony. I realise that Australian righteous indignation over bodyline may be ill founded but that doesn’t make it any the less ironic that the Captain of the Australian team would say such a thing. Thompson was a boofhead, no two ways about it. He was engaging in obvious hyperbole though, which somehow doesn’t seem so bad. Cold calculating comments about breaking ribs of a particular player recovering from a rib injury to cause them to go off, by the frickin’ _Captain_ no less just appals me, basically. [/QUOTE] I think we’d probably crack a couple of tinnies and end up agreeing with each other, **Printchester**. And “boofhead” is a great word for Thommo, though I personally think it was a shame (at least in retrospect) that he buggered up his shoulder, after which he never got his edge back - in contrast to Lillee, of course, who was thought to be finished early on with a bad back, and turned out to be anything but. I wonder how many Aussies know that for all the hype over Bodyline, only two batsmen were seriously hurt in the series - neither as a result of Bodyline? Woodfull got hit under the heart by a quick one from Larwood who was bowling to an orthodox field at the time (the ball was new and still swinging - the tactic was to switch to leg-theory once the shine had gone). But Jardine, seeing Woodfull rattled, promptly changed the field setting over to make sure he stayed that way. The other bad hit was on Oldfield, who edged one onto his own temple and was quite clear that it wasn’t the bowler’s fault. Like I say, tame stuff by modern standards. As to retiring Pietersen from the game, I think England could have done themselves more favours over the last fourteen years if they’d targeted Warne’s fingers. 😛