Just over two weeks ago, I had the good fortune to attend a cricket dinner. I had the good pleasure to meet fellow Roar contributors Vinay Verma and Kersi Meher-Homji, both outstanding cricket writers.
I was also delighted to meet SMH cricket writer Peter Roebuck and The Australian cricket writer Mike Coward.
Both Roebuck and Coward are brilliant analysts and chroniclers of cricket. The venue, the food, the drink and the company were all excellent. The highlight of the night was a question and answer style interview between Coward and guest of honour, former test cricketer Gavin Robertson.
Robertson was very impressive in offering his views in an honest, forthright manner. He didn’t duck any questions, which I found welcoming. Robertson was a tall, orthodox off spinner and capable lower order batsman. He only played 4 tests (in the late 90s), averaging 20 with the bat and a top score of 57. His bowling probably explains why he didn’t play many Tests – he captured 13 wickets at just under 40 runs apiece, pretty expensive. I was trying to think which contemporary bowler he resembled and Nathan Hauritz came to mind. So imagine my surprise when I compared their first class bowling stats.
Robertson played 58 first class matches taking 127 wickets at 41.86. Hauritz to date has played 57 matches, taking 132 wickets at 41.84! But it’s at test level where they differ greatly. Hauritz has enjoyed greater patronage, playing 15 tests to date and taking 56 wickets at just under 32 runs each. In Robertson’s day, he had to contend with Shane Warne, Stuart Macgill and the pesky, perky Colin Miller. Consequently, it was sink or swim very quickly!
As best as I can remember here are some of the questions Coward posed to Robertson, and his answers.
On the question of Michael Clarke returning early from NZ to tend to his personal life, Robertson was totally against this. He sighted a story of Steve Waugh receiving phone calls from a distraught wife trying to deal with sick kids and parents at home, paying bills and running a chaotic household while her husband was overseas playing cricket. According to Robertson, barring a major family catastrophe, once a player commits to a tour, that’s where he stays.
On the question of too much cricket and scheduling of the various forms of the game, Robertson said we should accept having too much cricket, it was here to stay. Cricket was lucky it was able to offer three distinct forms in Test and first class cricket, limited overs and Twenty/20. I can’t recall if he was asked the future of Test cricket. I think he might have said he hoped it would continue, but warned that changing values of future generations might endanger Test cricket.
Expanding on this theme of how future generations might behave, Robertson who coaches junior cricket in the west of Sydney, believed that today’s youth were all about “Take! Take! Take!” With the great opportunities available to make money from professional sport, today’s young players had a singularly mercenary attitude to sport. Robertson made the general observation that people had lost sight of higher value objectives, and the ability to play, win and lose with honour and integrity. He thought Australia’s win over India several summers ago at home was a low point in our sportsmanship.
On the question of comparing today’s batting stars with those of the past, Robertson offered the view that leading batsmen between about 1995-2005 or so should have about 8 batting points taken off them when comparing records with players from the past. As much as he admired Matt Hayden and was a mate of his, Robertson didn’t think that Hayden compared with Arthur Morris for example. Robertson believed that apart from a few obvious exceptions, the overall bowling standard between 1995-2005 was generally poor.
Asked if a genuine wicket-keeper might once again make a test team, Robertson said the day of the specialist keeper was gone. These days, every keeper had to have batting ability, and basically be a seventh batsman at the very worst.
Most interestingly, Robertson went on to mention that there was now less direct contact between the media and players, who were cocooned and protected by a massive firewall. Even Robertson, an ex-cricketer and now a commentator on radio, found it difficult to access players. Each player had their own personal manager, and then there was a team manager, a cricket media manager, and lots of other people in between. usually, any comments from players were very tightly managed. No little wonder we think the modern professional sportsman is out of touch with the common man (or woman)!
Asked his thoughts on the upcoming Ashes series, Robertson predicted a 3-1 series win to Australia, with one draw. Finally, he was effusive in his praise of England spinner/all-rounder Graham Swann, who he thought had the right attitude and could justifiably be now regarded as a superstar of the game.
All in all, it was an enjoyable and delightful evening.
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