PM’S wary of throwing pies

IF Julia Gillard learned anything from John Howard’s prime ministership, it was this: never play cricket when the media is nearby.

Ms Gillard yesterday attended a cricket clinic for Indian slum children in a New Delhi park. But no amount of arm- twisting could convince her to pick up a bat or ball.

‘‘ I wasn’t tempted to showcase my skills,’’ she laughed afterwards.

‘‘Number one, because I don’t really have cricketing skills, so that would be a problem.

‘‘ Number two, while I didn’t agree with prime minister Howard’s policies I watched and learned from his prime ministership.

‘‘And a key lesson is never pick up a bat in India in front of our friends from the media.’’

Mr Howard, a self- declared cricket tragic, put on a less- than- impressive display for the cameras in 2005.

But he was in Pakistan at the time and it was his bowling that was found wanting, not his batting.

Footage of the incident screened repeatedly on Australian televisions at the time and can still be found on YouTube.

The Indian clinic is run by an non-government organisation Magic Bus — founded by Englishman Matthew Spacie 13 years ago — and partly funded by the Australian Sports Commission.

Magic Bus uses sports to create role models for some of India’s poorest kids, with a view to getting them out of poverty and into employment when they’re older.

I t trains 8000 youth leaders across India, who go on to mentor some 250,000 younger kids from their slums and villages. It aims to reach one million kids within three years.

‘‘We use sport as a metaphor for some really bigimpact social stuff, like going to school,’’ Mr Spacie said.

Ms Gillard praised the program: ‘‘This is a fantastic program of change, reaching out right across India.’’

Ms Gillard also used the clinic visit to announce Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar would be made an honorary member of the Order of Australia.

It’s quite rare for nonAustralians to awarded such an honour.

‘‘This is a special thing to do, but then Mr Tendulkar is a very special cricketer,’’ Ms Gillard said.