We’re churning out genetically modified cricketers
Roar Guru By vinay verma, 17 Jun 2009 Vinay Verma is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Andrew Symonds, Cricket, Cricket Australia, The Ashes
Cricket Australia is seeking to alter the natural DNA of our cricketers. In the future, their marketability will be determined by independent consultants and critical to their marketing component will be the “likeability” factor.
Presumably,our cricketers will be given a refresher course in how to present themselves. Lights, action and cameras. Is this what Australian Ccicket has come to ?
The hypocrisy stands condemned when they abandon Symonds for imbibing one too many. These are the same administrators that gladly accept the largesse of a brewing company. How can they be sanctimonious when the VB logo is worn next to the Australian Coat of Arms ?
It is regrettable that former trusted teammates like Ponting and Clarke have distanced themselves from Symonds.
What happened to standing up for your mates? Has the lure of a guaranteed 1.5 million dollars dulled their sensibilities? Assured pay even if you do not play.
Shane Watson could not hide his glee at the misfortune of his erstwhile teammate.
Arthur Mailey and Keith Miller turned up for matches in their top hats and tails. We celebrated the daring do of these colourful characters and the legend grows with every passing summer. These were men of substance and character that was reflected more n their deeds than in their images.
These men respected their employer but were never subservient.
Ian Chappell fought long and hard with the Don for better pay. Cricketers of this generation owe a debt of gratitude to those that went before. The Trumpers, Davidsons, Benauds, Lindwalls and Harveys.
The current generation of players are fortunate that the game affords them riches beyond their wildest dreams. As they prepare to do battle for the Ashes, they would do well to remember that some of our heroes from another age died solitary in their despair.
Cricket has a spirit that is indomitable and will survive the artificiality created men of singular commerciality. Stanford sold West Indies Cricket down the marketing drain. It is hoped our administrators will be able to strike a balance between rewarding our cricketers and spoiling them.
These cricketers have an opportunity to prove to us that they are worthy of the rewards and conscious of the legacy bequeathed to them.
It is time cricketers became masters of their destiny instead of slaves to an image.
Recommend this story.
- Explore:
- Andrew Symonds, Cricket, Cricket Australia, The Ashes
June 17th 2009 @ 1:39pm
vinay verma said | June 17th 2009 @ 1:39pm | Report comment
James- Haydens footwork may have deserted him when he was dropped but it can all turn around quickly. He was ,only last month,walking down the wicket as in his pomp and was one of the better performed batters in the IPL. Katich is a natural middle order player and has done well as an opener. But I feel he will do even better down the order. Shame about Hodge because his last Test innings was doulbe hundred.
Talking of footwork it is as important in slips as it is in batting. And hayden remains a good slipper.
June 17th 2009 @ 2:31pm
Brett McKay said | June 17th 2009 @ 2:31pm | Report comment
Vinay, this is an interesting post, for sure. I’m not in total disagreement with your main point in this piece, but I do want to point out a few things that I believe you have overlooked:
1. Symonds wasn’t sent home for drinking in public, but for breaking his personal promise to his team-mates and his employers that he wouldn’t drink.
2. Ponting and Clarke – trusted team-mates as you say, and indeed personal friends – would not have made the decision lightly. But in the context of doing the right thing for the team, they had no alterntative. The only thing they have distanced themselves from is the emotion of punishing a friend, instead just dealing with a team-member.
3. Watson has undoubtedly benefitted from Symonds’ indicretions and injuries in the past, but not this time as he was already in the squad. The context of your “Watson could not hide his glee” comment is misleading and unfair.
4. You’re absolutely right that Ian Chappell fought long and hard for better pay and conditions for cricketers, and I’m sure the current generations hold him in high regard for this. But Chappelli, as well as all of those other great players you named, never played in the fully professional era. Times and expectations have changed, and as a result – sadly – players must adhere to guidelines and agreements. Yes, this means we lose our “characters”, but that’s the price of cricket and sport becoming multi-million dollar industries.
As I said, I agree that our modern cricketers and sportspeople have all become robots, media-trained, cliche-spewing, doing their utmost to protect the “brand”, but that is the way of the world, and with media scrutiny and public expectations the way they are, they have been forced this direction. It’s a shame, but it’s the way it is.
June 17th 2009 @ 2:40pm
Justin said | June 17th 2009 @ 2:40pm | Report comment
Vinay – the fact that Hayden and Gilly dominated the IPL says more about how poor the attacks and quality of cricketers there are in the comp. Lots of U23 Indians who are not much chop. Its hardly Test match attacks coming at you, with a greenish deck, swinging ball etc etc. Flat tracks, one short ball an over….
June 17th 2009 @ 2:43pm
Justin said | June 17th 2009 @ 2:43pm | Report comment
And Vinay – if Symonds wanted it that bad and it was his life etc then he should pulled his head in. He knew the conditions of being in the squad and couldnt resist breaking those conditions. In the end it made no difference that he was not there as the Aussies had the wrong team in the T20 WC.
He is a liability in the longer form of the game now.
June 17th 2009 @ 2:52pm
El Capitan said | June 17th 2009 @ 2:52pm | Report comment
Justin,
When was the last time Aust played on a greenish deck? Most of the pitches here are rock hard and have good bounce.
The truth is Symonds was not ready to go back to international cricket. The selectors rushed him back and his little stumble has now cost him a CA contract.
I’d rather see plyers get into a side based on skills than past performances.
June 17th 2009 @ 3:00pm
Justin said | June 17th 2009 @ 3:00pm | Report comment
El Cap – fair enough, we dont have “green decks” but I think you may understand what I am getting at. We do play OS, have a look at the conditions in SA in the last tour.
And thanks for supporting my argument – Hayden cant even score runs on hard bouncy deck
June 17th 2009 @ 3:11pm
El Capitan said | June 17th 2009 @ 3:11pm | Report comment
I’ve thought Hayden was judged by the media too quickly cause Mike Hussey had a piss poor summer but managed to keep his job, as like you said Justin Hayden played well in the IPL (perhaps the pressure was lifted off him?)
We could have green decks but our curators (or cricket Aust) prepare good hard bouncy decks. I remember when cricket was a real skill and the decks were not dried out or greened up before a match. if it rained for 3 weeks in brisbane then the test would have been a green top. Now they can play consisantly on the harder pitches.
I think its going to be a hard series against the poms. some players have never experienced the english summers, nor the green decks that can provide good movement off the seam. It might take 1 or 2 games for players to find their feet?
June 17th 2009 @ 3:26pm
sheek said | June 17th 2009 @ 3:26pm | Report comment
VV,
You can’t compare a player’s form in T20 to test cricket.
Hayden delayed retirement by about 6 months waiting for his footwork & form to return. It didn’t. At 37 going on 38, he realised neither he nor CA could wait around for him to rediscover his touch. Had he been 27 going on 28, it might have been a different story.
T20 cricket is a slog fest. You don’t need a solid technique, just a good eye & quick reflexes. Perhaps as the game becomes more sophisiticated, that will change.
El Capitan,
In all the years i’ve followed cricket, poor form has rarely been judged equally. Some players are more expendible than others. With Hayden, a once great player, the perception was he had over-stayed his welcome, & it was time for him to step aside for someone younger.
Mark Taylor was persevered with for about 18 months of his batting drought. This is extraordinary! In my time I cannot remember anyone being given so long to rediscover their form.
Maybe CA wasn’t prepared to repeat the Taylor experieince. Sure, Hayden might rediscover his form – but how long’s a piece of string? He could have hit a century next test, or next year, but obviously his age factor became an issue.
I’ve read cricket experts, particularly ex-test cricketers say that, once you lose your form in your mid to late 30s, it’s almost impossible you’re going to get it back, or it takes much longer. It’s an age thing.
June 17th 2009 @ 3:33pm
sheek said | June 17th 2009 @ 3:33pm | Report comment
That should read V V!
I don’t know the full Symonds story, but I think, taken on face value, it’s a sad indictment of the politically corrct world we live in.
Guys like Ian Chappell, Doug Walters, Rod marsh, etc would have been cruxified in today’s environment, for nothing else but being themselves.
Kerry O’Keeffe tells a story of going out for a drink in NZ with Walters & Gary Gilmour, who were the overnight not out batsmen. O’Keeffe kept crying off drinking because he was next bat in the next day, & wanted to be alert. Walters & Gilmour didn’t hold back their drinking!
The next day, Walters completed a double century, while Gilmour reached his only test hundred. O’Keeffe got a duck. I think the morale to the story is to be yourself, as long as it’s in moderation. O’keeffe, who likes a few drinks, should probably have had a few drinks.
June 17th 2009 @ 4:07pm
Greg Russell said | June 17th 2009 @ 4:07pm | Report comment
Vinay has caught me genuinely by surprise: an Indian defending Andrew Symonds when one has not even heard any Australians prepared to defend him?
I think the “Australian” case against Vinay has been presented very well by Brett McK, so I won’t elaborate on that.
The angle that has most interested me from the beginning was Ian Healy’s, which I quote from an ABC report:
“Former Test vice-captain Ian Healy says Andrew Symonds was “cooked” and hoped to be released from national duties so he could focus on part-time cricket and fishing.”
This makes sense to me. Quite clearly Symonds still has psychological problems from past incidents that he just cannot shake. I do not want to reignite debates over Bollyline, except to say that I am totally sympathetic to the cause of Symonds, and I will not desist from this view, no matter what curses and/or arguments (I’ve heard and considered them all before) are hurled at me. All Symonds’s problems stem from January 2008, and at last he has found some sort of release from them, by drinking his way out of the Australian cricket firmament. No-one appreciated the amazing influence of Andrew Symonds as a cricketer more than I did – at his peak he would make fleet-footed batsman nervous just by going near the ball in the field – but I feel that the best resolution has now been found. It’s just a pity that he couldn’t find it by retiring from international cricket, as opposed to bringing it on by the sham of having a drink too many. But that’s all part of the problem in which he felt trapped.