Mcgrath, Hayden and Symonds were difficult to deal: Koertzen

Sat, Aug 28 10 12:17 PM

Melbourne, Aug 28 (PTI) In a scathing criticism of former Australian players, retired umpire Rudi Koertzen today said Glenn McGrath always ''moaned and whinged'' while Andrew Symonds and Matthew Hayden had to be policed closely in their playing days. The South African umpire, who stood in 108 Tests between between 1992 and 2010, said the trio was the most difficult to deal with in international cricket. Asked by website ''Cricket 365'', who was the toughest bowler he had to umpire, Koertzen said," Glenn McGrath, because of the way he acted on the field. He wasn''t one of the happiest guys. He always moaned and whinged. If he wasn''t getting wickets and the batsmen were hitting him for a few fours, he got a bit personal and upset." Koertzen though said he was "very fortunate to get on with probably 99 per cent of the players in world cricket," but not all. "There was always the odd individual who had to be babied all the time. You had to be like a policeman to them. A fielder like Matthew Hayden or Andrew Symonds, you always had to be alert when they were on the field because something was going to happen. "If you didn''t pick it up as soon as possible things were going to get out of hand," Koertzen was quoted as saying by the ''Australian''. The South African umpire retired last month after the second Test between Pakistan and England at Leeds.

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