Cricketers and cricket fans love a ‘chirp’.
If all were to let their cricket do the talking, then the great game of patience would require a great deal more of it.
‘Chirping’ is the act of talking general nonsense to create a distraction or a bit of energy.
Cricketers do it. A lot. And in some cases it can help them get selected.
This is not limited to the pitch itself. Players use chirp to defend themselves; see any number of references to the way one plays, swords batsmen live or die by or Dave Warner’s mint flavoured shoes.
The thing about chirping is that there is a yin and yang element to every part of it.
Yes, it may spur teammates on, but it can steele the resolve of an opponent. It can draw attention to a cricketer at the exact wrong, or right time.
Chirp is equal measures dross and truth – a thin edge from the bat was, on reflection, ‘smashed’ by a chirping cricketer.
Similarly, a score of 32 will become ’40-odd’ once chirping cricketers review their own performance. Reckless swipes to a cover fielder at 5-33 become unlucky to the chirper.
Our own love of the game is built around it.
‘What they should do’ and ‘I’ve been saying this for years’ are morsels of chirp fodder that slide out of the corners of a punter’s mouth after another Australian Test match loss.
Glenn Maxwell has been annointed Lord High Chirp, elevated to this position on account of his enormous potential and his conflicted performances.
His nickname, The Big Show, seems like the sort of self-appointed title that a self-promoting, early high-school bully would bestow on himself.
Surprisingly and weirdly, he was anointed the title by his now problematic Captain Matthew Wade, chirping at the excitement that Maxwell could bring to Victorian games.
Despite the hype and money lavished on Lord High Chirp Maxwell, anecdotally he’s an incredibly down to earth suburban man. Reports of him driving around in his first car, a used Nissan Maxima, despite being one of Australia’s highest earning cricketers, seem incongruous to his profile.
Chirpers usually tend to lavish praise on their own exploits and regard their skill as paramount. It’s Maxwell’s love for his heroes and reverence to them that goes against the chirp grain.
This is paradox incarnate. A leading cricketer from South Belgrave. A cricketer seemingly in Test match selection calculations that was left out of his state side.
His place in cricket is summed up by his acquisition of a million dollar IPL contract while he made an ODI duck in Perth in 2013.
Haters of Maxwell usually cite his infamous leave against Brisbane in the Big Bash with mirth.
Indeed, it is so tragically bizarre that it’s impossible to un-see. The non-shot shot colours so much of the Maxwell perception.
His highest T20I score of 145 doesn’t float into the mind’s eye as that leave does.
Maxwell’s outlandish propensity for out of the box shots betrays his ability. He is seen as a trick shot showman that does his own thing, which is a sure-fire way to incur some tut-tut chirp.
There’s no Michael Clarke survived bouncer barrage or exhausted Peter Siddle heroics to define him.
Just an epic wagon wheel of strokes used only in T20 rubbers.
A sage cricket watcher I drink with from time to time, who sits in this camp, spoke of Maxwell’s Test tilt: “he’s not quite a batsman and he’s not quite a bowler.”
So in light of his well-documented interview, what is the ensuing chirp? Is it ‘he needs to pull his head in’, ‘might want to have a think about who the captain is’, or other ‘back in my day’ inspired dross?
Or is it different because the guy wants to play Test cricket and that can only be a good thing?
Or do people agree with Mitchell Johnson, who questioned how a player could be fined for being honest?
@wwos A fine, really!! Should be batting in front of a wicketkeeper considering he is a batsman. He was only being honest right??
— Mitchell Johnson (@MitchJohnson398) December 3, 2016
Certainly, Lehmann has made his and the selectors’ views clear, while Steve Smith has told us that everyone is disappointed with Maxwell’s comments.
The contrast of Maxwell’s perception has made him the perfect figure in this chirpstorm. He is a modern player of curious innovation in a conversation about what can and can’t be said in the greater forum of cricket.
Here we have the conundrum, irrespective of merit, should those at the top level of a game that evokes so much conversation be beige commodities in it?
Common decency aside, and the game prides itself on decency, should a player not be able to express the colours of a sport so many engage with?
If the answer is ‘no’, then I’ll be watching the IPL with the sound off so I can listen to the sound of my own tweets being typed.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
Harshal Patel was not a happy man!
David Lord has been remembered as an icon of Australian sports journalism following his death, aged 84. The renowned writer and broadcaster was an…
Sign the man up for a contract next season!
RCB have suffered a massive HEAD-ACHE after Travis Head smashed the fastest century by an SRH player in just 39 balls, as they amassed…
A brutal century by Travis Head has blasted Sunrisers Hyderabad back into the Indian Premier League play-off places in another match for bowlers to…
Two Aussies abroad have endured wildly different fortunes as Jake Fraser-McGurk joined the world stage with a thrilling first IPL half century, but Scott…
