The Tonk

England had the "Quinoa and Cranberry Breakfast Bar", the "Mung Bean Curry with Spinach" and "Pistachio and Ginger Biscotti" when they toured, M.S. Dhoni has the humble chicken burger. There is certainly nothing fancy about the culinary habits of the Indian captain. Spies have told the Tonk that while the rest of the Indian team and staff are happy with the fare offered to them by the South Australian Cricket Association, Dhoni has his own special orders. He'll wash down his two chicken burgers – yes, we are talking about an elite athlete – with a can of Coke and a serving of vanilla ice-cream. Dhoni's appetite has reminded the Tonk of one state player who made more than half a dozen trips to the canteen at Bankstown Oval one day during a Shield game a few years back, returning each time with a chicken burger in hand.

Warne aims high

Special orders: Indian captain M.S. Dhoni. Photo: Getty Images

Shane Warne has attacked the International Cricket Council over its refusal to adopt a universal ruling on the Decision Review System. The leg-spin great said it was time the game's governing body flexed its muscle regarding DRS as there was an uneven playing field across the world, affecting the relevance of players' statistics. The use of DRS requires the agreement of the boards of the competing nations but the steadfast opposition by the Board of Control for Cricket in India means it is not applied in games featuring India, and thus the system is not being used in this Test series. "It doesn't matter if you agree with DRS or not, what does matter is that everyone should have to play by the same rules," Warne said during the Channel Nine broadcast. "Everyone should be playing with it or no one should be playing with it – simple as that." India's opposition is based on the belief the technology is not accurate and because they believe it challenges the authority of the umpire. "Our tactic is to make DRS as good as it possibly can and then hopefully down the line people will be persuaded it is a system that can be used," ICC chief David Richardson said. "Who knows? Maybe in five to 10 years the technology has advanced to such an extent we can leave it to umpires to initiate the review process."

Advertisement

Healy wants volume down

Ian Healy, whose cries of "bowling Warnie" became part of the soundtrack of summer in the 1990s, believes there is too much on-field talk in the modern game. The wicketkeeping great wants to see the volume turned down on what he describes as "excessive white noise". And, Healy says, it's a problem that has filtered down to club cricket. Healy, a regular watcher of junior cricket while his son Tom was rising through the ranks, says there is "incessant talk" out on the field. "I think some coaches coach it. Keep the noise up so there's a whole lot of bloody crap going on," Healy told the Tonk. "Too often it's just general nonsense, excessive nonsense and chat rather than being constructive." The Queenslander said he once had to pull his son in line after he welcomed a new batsman to the crease by encouraging his teammates to "knock his bails to NSW", which the Tonk does not believe is a bad line, especially for a youngster. "I said 'you can't say that, let him play'," Healy said.  Reminded of his constant encouragement of Shane Warne, Healy said it was relevant because the champion spinner was generally bowling well.

M.S. Dhoni's fancy fare: The humble chicken burger. Photo: Adam McLean

Bookish Buck

Chris Rogers is reaffirming his status as the most bookish type in the Australian dressing room. The opener spends his time in the dressing room either doing crosswords, attacking Sudokus or reading. He is now flicking between Stephen King's The Stand and a biography on Alan Turing, a British mathematician, computer scientist and cryptanalyst. Turing's work was credited by Winston Churchill as being pivotal in the Allies winning several important battles against Nazi Germany during World War II.

Twitter: @_TheTonk