Sydney, Dec.3 : The Times, one of Britain's most respected newspapers, has extraordinarily referred to the Australian cricket team as "the weasels of international sport".

In article for the paper, Simon Barnes attacked the Aussies during an impassioned plea to the England players not to duck out of their resumed tour of India in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack.

In his appeal to the England players, Barnes said: "If they seek precedent, they can always look to the Australia cricket team, the weasels of international sport: one hint of a murmur of a rumour of a firework going off in any city on the subcontinent and the Australian plane is making a mad U-turn and heading back to God's Own. "

He goes on to say: "I am not advocating stupidity or recklessness or carelessness with cricketers' lives. But England have an opportunity to say something important, loudly, triumphantly and publicly."

ANI