WHAT a fuss there has been out in Australia. You may have heard about it. If you haven't, I hope you enjoyed your inter-planetary holiday.

And if so I will fill you in on the details very briefly.

Australia beat India in a Test match,equalling their ownrecord for the number of consecutive Test victories. India should have saved the match, but weak-minded batting (the part-time left-arm spin of Michael Clarke caused havoc) and some awful umpiring prevented it.

Mind you, Australia's behaviour on the field often bordered on the unacceptable, such was the pressure they exerted upon the officials, Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson.

And then afterwards, and this is where it all really kicked off, Australia's skipper Ricky Ponting accused Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh of having racially abused his batsman, Andrew Symonds. It is alleged Harbhajan called Symonds a "monkey".

The Indians subsequently denied it was any such thing, contending Harbhajan had used Hindi to say something derogatory about Symonds' mother. They threatened to cancel the tour when he was banned for three Tests.

Oh, and if this wasn't all enough, the International Cricket Council stood down Bucknor for the next Test which has now begun in Perth.

No-one has come out of this well. For a start Indian cricket holds such sway in the financial circles of international cricket that it was horrible to witness it throwing its weight around, issuing threats at every corner and bullying the toothless ICC into replacing Bucknor. What a precedent that has set. Any side unhappy with the umpiring in future? They can call for a change.

The only good news is that my old friend David Morgan is taking up his post at the ICC in the summer. He won't stand for such nonsense.

Secondly what was Ponting doing telling tales out of school? Granted, there is no place for racism in sport, or indeed anywhere in life.

But obviously Ponting feels that the personal abuse - and it is highly personal and highly abusive - that his team regularly indulge in is OK. Ponting himself regularly indulges in it.

But there is a problem. The Australians like dishing it out, but do not like taking it. Sledging that is, not racist comments. Everybody in cricket knows as much. The Aussies are the kings of double standards.

Ponting's team were described as a "pack of wild dogs" in winning the Sydney Test. It was a good description. It was penned by Peter Roebuck, the former Somerset batsman and naturalised Australian now one of the world's best cricket writers.

He also called for Ponting's sacking as Australia's skipper. And it seems he was reflecting a good deal of popular opinion in Australia.

The country has rather turned against their victorious side. It appears they no longer like the win at all costs' mentality. Good on them. This Australian side has got away with too much for too long.

Their antics in the Ashes last winter were often despicable. They had come over here in 2005 and vowed to clean up their act. They got a shock because England "got in their faces" as former coach Duncan Fletcher put it. England weren't abusive, just aggressive.

England won and Australia went home, vowing next time to up the vocal intensity on England. That they often overstepped the mark went largely unnoticed.

Thankfully it has now been highlighted. Sledging will never go away, can never really be eradicated.

But there is a huge difference between banter ("this bloke plays everything to third man and we've got two gullies waiting" - always directed at me for some reason!) and abuse ("this bloke can't ****** play. He's a useless ****"- usually only said by a player from Surrey).

We don't mind the former and the many funny quips which can spawn from it. Everybody likes them and their re-telling.

But we don't like the latter and it needs to be stamped out from the highest to the lowest level. And it must come in that direction, from top to bottom. For youngsters and club cricketers copy the professionals. The pros need to remember that.

Of course there will be flashpoints which provoke angry reactions. A batsman who does not walk and gets away with it knows that he will cop flak. And rightly so in my opinion. That was what happened in the famous Mike Atherton/Allan Donald duel at Trent Bridge in 1998.

But the key was that it was not pre-meditated. And it was certainly not as unedifying as some of the stuff we have witnessed recently.

I was shocked when I played one game of club cricket last year at the level of chat. There was even a stand-up argument between my batting partner and a fielder. I turned to the wicketkeeper and asked what on earth was going on.

"It's how the game is played nowadays," he replied to my horror. No, it's not. Neither should it be. But they must have seen it somewhere in order to behave like that. The role models need to wise up.