Watson’s antics childish, says Lawson
By Adam Cooper, 22 Dec 2009 Adam Cooper is a Roar Pro
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- Australian Cricket, Cricket, Geoff Lawson, Shane Watson, Test cricket
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Former Australian paceman Geoff Lawson says Shane Watson behaved like a four-year-old when celebrating taking Chris Gayle’s wicket and will be embarrassed about it in years to come.
Watson was the fourth Australian player disciplined by the International Cricket Council (ICC) during the 2-0 series win over the West Indies, for his over-the-top antics on day four of the third Test at the WACA Ground.
Captain Ricky Ponting has vowed to address team behaviour before the first Test against Pakistan, at the MCG starting Boxing Day, after Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin were fined in Perth for bringing the game into disrepute, and Doug Bollinger was reprimanded in Adelaide.
The ICC suspended the West Indies’ Suliemann Benn for two one-day matches for his clash with Haddin and Johnson.
Lawson labelled the Australians “childish” for their recent on-field conduct and said Watson would one day regret his overblown celebrations, which cost him 15 per cent of his match fee.
“That was like a four-year-old jumping up and down having a tantrum, wasn’t it?” Lawson told radio station 2KY.
“He’s always a bit petulant when he’s given out, he’s the man who’s always going for the referral straight away and used them early in the dig.
“There’s a lot of that about what Shane does, and that was a bit of an unusual display.
“If he looks at that in a few years time with his kids, he’ll say `That was embarrassing. Why did I do that?’”
Ponting will address the issue in the team’s pre-match meeting later this week, but Bollinger said on Monday he would try to avoid repeats of him kicking the pitch in disgust when he had an appeal turned down.
“I’ll put my hand up. What happened in Adelaide wasn’t the right thing to do and I’ll make sure I won’t do that again because I don’t need it on my shoulders, people thinking I’m a bit of a spoilt brat,” he said.
“I’ll try not to cross those lines.”
Bollinger expected Australia to be better behaved against Pakistan and said there was no reason why curbing outbursts would have any negative impact on performances.
“It’s not in our nature and I’m sure the blokes will be told to back right off it and not (let it) happen again because it’s not what the fans want, it’s not what we want,” he said.
“We don’t want a bad rap for Cricket Australia (CA) or cricket in general. It shouldn’t happen again and I don’t think it is a part of Australian cricket.”
CA claims its players’ behaviour has improved since 2003, when Steve Waugh’s side devised a code of conduct following Glenn McGrath’s ugly spat with Ramnaresh Sarwan in the Caribbean that year.
CA spokesman Peter Young said chief executive James Sutherland supported Ponting’s plans to remind players of the code, but had no plans to seek a meeting to discuss the issue.
“James has a lot of faith in Ricky’s leadership and supports his move to sit down before the Boxing Day Test match,” Young said.
Young said CA was mindful of the team alienating fans through poor behaviour, but said internal research showed the public’s approval of the team had grown over the past six years.
“While there is the odd bad day – and there was the odd bad day in Perth – for the length of the journey the players’ behaviour has been good since they made the pledge to play hard but fair,” he said.
“The public’s view has improved quite sharply since 2003 and we’re always trying to get it right, as there’s no excuse for not getting it right.”
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December 23rd 2009 @ 8:49am
Jameswm said | December 23rd 2009 @ 8:49am | Report comment
Watson didn’t abuse a customer. It was an opponent. You can’t compare the situations.
On the one hand, Watson said he wasn’t embrarrassed. On the other hand, he has said this: “Unfortunately I’ve gone over the top with this one” and this: “When you see it on the replay, it’s not a great look”, so there is an element of contrition in what he’s said.
He seems to have learned his lesson. What Gayle said might not have justified Watson’s behaviour but it has given it some context.
This talk about making an example of someone is drivel. You treat each incident on a case by case basis.
And I’ve never been one to promote Ponting’s captaincy – on most levels. He’s a tough nut and often leads by example. They are his strong points.
Gayle has been quick to paint himself as the good guy in all of this and pass judgement, and he doesn’t seem to like the truth coming out! He’s trying to say it’s over and we should all move on!
I agree.
December 23rd 2009 @ 1:53pm
Photon said | December 23rd 2009 @ 1:53pm | Report comment
Australians have been disciplined on four seperate occasions during this series, if nothing else Watson should have attracted a harsher sentance for that reason, as for Gayle, his conduct has been nothing but exemplery throughout, which is more than can be said for the Australian captain. Is the height of arrogance to first plead guilty for an offence, then have your captain come out and apologise, then later to hold a press conference and profess I did nothing wrong. The Australian method is obviously to at first apologise profusely in public, plead guilty and just keep doing what you’ve been doing, Why, because as long as you’re winning you can do and behave as you please. I’m sure the right honourable Mr Broad would have loved to know the true views of the repentent Mr Watson.
December 23rd 2009 @ 2:51pm
Jameswm said | December 23rd 2009 @ 2:51pm | Report comment
Photon
It is simply not true that Watson is unrepentant or thinks he did nothing wrong. See my previous post with some of his quotes which fly in the face of what you wrote.
December 23rd 2009 @ 3:16pm
whiteline said | December 23rd 2009 @ 3:16pm | Report comment
I think half the reason the public have reacted so much to the Watson incident is because (as noted in previous posts), he is distinctly unlikeable, a bit of a sook and carries on as if he is a superstar when many believe he is a modern day Trevor Laughlin and in the team because of the annoying habit CA have in earmarking players and sticking with them no matter what.
December 23rd 2009 @ 3:27pm
Jameswm said | December 23rd 2009 @ 3:27pm | Report comment
I think he was well on the way to dispelling that. He’s been very successful with the bat and has picked up important wickets quite regularly.
I think the public was starting to accept him and acknowledge he would be one of the first picked in the side, until this. It certainly hasn’t helped his likeability factor.