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SYDNEY - Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has appealed to people not to judge modern cricketers by the standards of the 1950s.
Governor-General Michael Jeffery, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and former international Neil Harvey have all called for more civility on the cricket field in the wake of this summer's acrimonious test series against India.
Jeffery called for a return to "fundamental courtesies and good manners".
"I think one thing that a lot of people overlook is that we are not playing cricket in the 1950s and a lot of people I think are still living in the 1950s," Ponting said.
"It's now a fully professional game. It's not a game of just going out there and having a bit of a bat and a bowl and having a laugh and giggle with the opposition," he told Fairfax Radio Network today.
"This is fully fledged international sport played by fully professional athletes and we are trying to do the best by the game and by the Australian public and the on-field umpires and everyone involved in the game.
"Sometimes tempers can get a little bit out of line but the challenge for us now, as I've said to the guys over the last few weeks, is just to take a little step back and have a little think about your actions before you actually act."
Ponting said his team were always prepared to take criticism on board, but denied that his team lacked sportsmanship.
"We are not too good, not too big for criticism," he said.
"We'll sit back and listen to it and a lot of the times actually cop it and go away and try and make ourselves better next time these sort of things happen.
"As far as sportsmanship on the field is concerned I think that is a little bit off the mark."
Ponting said the International Cricket Council's code of conduct prevented him from commenting on the dropping of racial abuse charges against Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh this week.
But he took a swipe at Harvey, one of five surviving members of Don Bradman's 1948 Invincibles team, and a regular critic of current players.
"For some reason, I'm not sure what it is, Neil Harvey seems to be the hardest man in the world to please where modern cricket is concerned," Ponting said.
"He's also the first one that any journalist around Australia would ring because they know he is going to give a negative reaction to this team.
"And to tell the truth there is no one in our current team, and I don't think there's too many around Australia that actually sit back and listen to what Neil Harvey has got to say."
- AAP
