I thought there’d been some rapprochement, but obviously not. Sigh. I am now going to kill this thread (so sorry other cricket fans - you will have to go over to Tony’s place).

Oh, and don’t verbal me sister. I did not compare Roebuck to Hemingway. I said the short sentences in the passages were Hemingway-esque, to wit: “in short sentences that would have done Hemingway proud, and that it is anything but “purple prose”.”

And for the record Sceptic I don’t agree with Roebuck and thought his “Ponting should be sacked” call was completely over the top. But it is simply not true to say that he is a bad writer with delusions of mediocrity, as you started out saying. Also for the record, I know Roebuck personally, though not well. And John Harms is a mate. And what a great Tendulkar century.

For example, you can easily make the case that it is sharply written, in short sentences that would have done Hemingway proud, and that it is anything but “purple prose”.

Now that is hyperbole. And I’d remind you of your manners undertaking, too. I have not had a personal go at you at all, just a go at Roebuck. We disagree. I think he’s capable of being a good writer, but in this case he’s engaging in bad writing. Maybe I dislike his writing because I disagree with him. Maybe you like his writing because you agree with him - always a possibility.

I’ve made it very clear on previous cricket threads that I dislike the way the Australian team carries on at times. I’ve also made it clear that I think the Indians are little better (although the BCCI is far worse than the team, to be fair). Roebuck is simply over the top, and - as Scott Wickstein pointed out over at AGB - often seems to hate his adopted country. Now I do realise - up to a point - that he’s forced to live in Oz. This is due to a combination of criminal history in the UK that means he’s not treated very well around these parts, and animus from certain English cricketers (notably Botham).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/10/20/nroe20.xml

you have a touch of the timbos. must be the slow bowelers

http://aftergrogblog.blogs.com/agb/2008/01/johnno-the-huma.html#comments

Tony finds the short sentences irritating after a while, but I’ve always had a lot of time for John’s writing skills, and not just because he was my teacher. In fact, IIRC, I didn’t like him that much at school, but then again, I was a teenager

And then there is good old Adrien “put to the” Swords, Catallaxy’s resident pedant who takes everything literally. Go back and read what I wrote Adrien - I was referring to the short sentences when I invoked Hemingway, a classic Ernest trait. I made no mention of “elegance”. As for “just a series of hackneyed sentences” - that is simply dribble. Like them or not, here is nothing hackneyed about those sentences. They are short, sharp and convey very precise and direct messages. Remember, these are the same sentences SL describes as “purple prose”. Umm, you do what “hackneyed” means don’t you Adrien?

Of course he is. He’s Earnest Hemingway.

I thought when Aborigines were on the piss they were acting white. Or Irish anyway.