Y tu mamá también

To rabble rousers of all stripes, the Sydney test is turning out to be what a part timer’s loopy off-spin is to a well set no. 3 batsman on a dead pitch.

First, there were the ultra nationalists and anti-racists. Then came the cultural relativists, followed by lawyers, image consultants and a Bollywood film crew.

Now, it turns out, feminists have joined the party. Fashionably late, as well groomed women are wont to be.

As cricket updates its vocabulary, I’m afraid some archaic terms will have to make way for more sensitive neologisms. After an ugly, lofted slash played by a tailender, connoisseurs must be careful to rue the absence of a deep third person. Commentators must also watch what they are saying. Gone are the days when you could yell: “He pulled that straight down fine leg’s throat” and have a stupid chuckle with your buddies.

There is a whisper around the web that Symonds got Bhajji’s goat with a gay taunt. It raises a difficult question. Which is more insulting – hurling a homophobic slur, or going apoplectic at being called a queen?

Regardless, this blog will be on a gay backlash watch.