Former Australian Test players Glenn McGrath, Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds were the worst behaved during his Test career, according to South African Rudy Koertzen, who retired recently

Retired umpire Koertzen slams behaviour of McGrath, Hayden and Symonds

Known as "Slow Death" for his measured raising of his finger, Koertzen stood in 108 Tests between 1992 and 2010.

The South African is quoted in the media as telling website Cricket 365 that McGrath was a "whinger" and Hayden and Symonds needed to be "closely monitored on the field".

Tough McGrath
He singled out McGrath the toughest bowler to handle.

"He (McGrath) 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."

The lanky pace bowler's most infamous clash occurred in the Caribbean when he accused West Indian batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan of saying something about his wife. Both players were let off but the Australian reportedly apologised to Sarwan later.

Glenn McGrath, Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds

McGrath was fined four times and reprimanded once during his otherwise distinguished career.

Koertzen said he was "very fortunate to get on with probably 99 per cent of the players in world cricket.

"There was always the odd individual who had to be babied all the time. You had to be like a policeman to them," he said.

Alert
"A fielder like Hayden or 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 said.

Rudy Koertzen

Indian cricket fans will recall Symonds' notorious run-in with Harbhajan Singh during Anil Kumble's team's eventful 2007-08 tour of Australia, which was almost called off by the Indians following the infamous "Monkeygate" brouhaha.

The Australians accused Harbhajan of calling Symonds a "monkey", which the Indians stoutly denied. In turn, the tourists complained that the home players repeatedly sledged them.

The Australian newspaper yesterday recalled Harbhajan's accusation.

"They do it so well," the Indian spinner, nicknamed "Turbanator" famously alleged.

"They keep their backs to you when they have something nasty to say to their opponent."

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