@SN: With regard to your fears that this discourtesy will spread, this is precisely what I mean when I talk about the standards of Cricket as a whole being damaged.

As for Curmudgeon’s Corner, I don’t want to rope myself into a situation where I can only be negative and curmudgeonly; I may wish to review something, for example. That said, you can be sure that if something upsets me enough, I’ll take good advantage of my little soap box to spread my discontent to the wider world.

The bad manners highlighted above impact every sphere of human interaction; whether it is person-to-person or via the internet. Five minutes in an online game with random people is enough to convince the most optimistic person that manners are quickly becoming a thing of the past. The people who play Halo–which I cite purely as a well-known example–are renowned for running off their mouths in all manner of hateful, bigoted, crass speech.

That such disregard for basic decency is spreading beyond games and forums into the more ‘professional’ spheres of the literate internet and real life is telling–and disturbing.

I remember the Australia V India series from a few years ago, when Tandulkar made a masterful 150 runs everyone in the stands stood and gave him rapturous applause despite the fact that he was playing for the opposing team. It was clear that his performance meant almost as much to Australian fans as it did to Indian fans, because it was a stunning display of Cricket. I don’t want Cricket to reach the point where fans feel empowered to voice their displeasure and vitriol at any measure of success enjoyed by the opposition. This is supposed to be a game of manners!