- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The Australian cricket side has regained some form with a win in the Perth Test, and with it the fourth discipline of the Australian cricket armoury has re-emerged: batting, bowling, fielding and sledging. That the Australian side won the Test while behaving badly should come as no great surprise, for it has significant form in this area.
Prior to the Perth Test match, it appeared that the side’s sledging, as with its form, had fallen away of late. I was only too happy to see the former disappear from sight but, alas, it was merely hiding – along with Mitchell Johnson’s inswinger.
The Australians once again showed themselves to be occasionally boorish in some of the send-offs given to the English batsmen. This behaviour was unbecoming of a great side in the early part of the decade, and is downright ugly from a middle-of-the-road team now.
Lads, we dearly want to support you whole-heartedly, but sometimes you make it difficult.
The keenness of commentators and past players to embrace this renewed chirp as the “Australian way” grates just as much as the behaviour which prompts these misguided remarks.
The argument goes that for Australia to be playing well and to be up for a challenge, the players need to be in the face of their opponents, grinding them down with tirades of four letter words as much as good line and length deliveries.
If all is well and good with Australian cricket only when the players display an in-your-face, toe-to-toe attitude then we have much to be worried about and little to be proud of.
Do the Australian cricketers really need to act like twerps to lift themselves for big matches? Is that the Australian way?
If these men aren’t capable of lifting themselves for cricket’s most significant contest without resorting to equal measures of bullying, bravado and bullshit, then the state of Australian cricket is far more perilous than anyone has predicted.
For some time Australian cricketers have peddled that well-worn line about upholding the spirit of cricket and presented themselves to the public as paradigms of fair-play.
The send-offs to the English batsmen in Perth – albeit very mild by comparison with some of the side’s verbal barrages of the past – highlights the fact that despite assurances to the contrary, Australian cricket has not yet rid itself of the scourge of poor on-field behaviour.
Ricky Ponting is ultimately in charge of the behaviour of his team on the field, and the Australian side needs a leader by more than just title alone.
Ponting’s captaincy credentials have been called into question following some poor tactical decisions in series past, but his leadership in the broader sense has been shown to be lacking just as often.
After Englishman Matt Prior was dismissed following a series of short pitched deliveries on Friday, Australian quick Peter Siddle sent a flurry of abuse his way before Ponting rightly grabbed his fiery bowler and brought him back into the fold.
When the Englishman dared return Siddle’s verbal serve, Ponting was quick to bark back at Prior, apparently forgetting he had stopped Siddle doing the exact same thing only seconds earlier.
It appears that Ponting’s is a “Do as I say, not as I do” kind of leadership. Practise what you preach might be more appropriate. Siddle and Ponting were not alone in unnecessary outbursts.
No sooner had Mitchell Johnson rediscovered his ability to swing than he found his voice as well. Maybe we are expecting too much from a man who thought it a good idea to head-butt a New Zealand batsman wearing a helmet not so long ago.
Not all of the Australian side can be tarred with the same brush. Michael Hussey is in career best form, and has been gouging the English bowling attack without resorting to the crass “mental disintegration” of his teammates. He is content to let his bat do the talking, and its messages have been far more meaningful and incisive than anything from the Australian side’s lips.
Memo Ricky Ponting – your side is no longer filled with world-beaters. No one expects a side of on-field angels, but surely our national sporting identity is forged on more than crude, unsporting verbal missives levelled at the opposition when faced with a challenge.
Best keep the brat under wraps.
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.