New Zealand quick Tim Southee bowls Aaron Finch, then charges down the pitch directly at the Australian batsman and screams in his face from so close that the players’ shirt sleeves touch.
This was the first wicket of the two clashes between Australia and New Zealand at this World Cup. Southee had been smashed for six down the ground by Finch and replied with a beautiful delivery which breached the Aussie’s defence in the third over of the match.
Surging with adrenaline after snaring a massive wicket in a huge match, Southee channelled his aggression at Finch and gave him a send-off.
There was nothing wrong with his actions – I don’t mind players expressing their emotions at pivotal points in big games.
But I am mystified there was not one mention of Southee’s aggressive send-off either on the live TV commentary or in the media after the match or, indeed, amidst the current debate over on-field behaviour.
We’ve been told that New Zealand don’t sledge, don’t give send offs, and that their behaviour was faultless throughout this World Cup. Those claims about the saintly Kiwis have been made to contrast against the supposedly disgraceful actions of the Aussies in their World Cup final win over New Zealand.
But why, amidst all this denigration of the Australians, has no one mentioned or acknowledged Southee’s send off? Similarly, cricket followers have overlooked the actions of Indian paceman Umseh Yadav and Pakistani quick Wahab Riaz towards the Australians in the semi and quarter finals respectively.
The first wicket of the semi-final involved a send-off from Umesh Yadav to David Warner. Yadav’s pace beat Warner who got a leading edge which flew high in the air to cover. While the ball was still in the air, Yadav turned his back on the ball and started walking towards Warner, not even watching to see if Virat Kohli would complete the basic catch.
With the catch completed, Yadav let out a huge scream directed straight at Warner.
Yadav’s send-off was more aggressive than anything the Australians did in the final, yet we heard nothing about it in the media.
Riaz was also given a pass by the cricket community for his histrionics in Australia’s quarter final win, which again were more extreme than the incidents the Aussies are being slammed for.
After having Shane Watson dropped at fine leg, Riaz lost the plot.
First, he gathered the ball in his follow through and needlessly and angrily threw down the striker’s stumps, forcing Smith to take evasive action even though he was standing well inside the crease the whole time.
Next, he repeatedly completed over-exaggerated follow-throughs down the pitch towards Watson, directing comments at the Australian batsman from metres away each time. Then he made a big show of standing in front of Watson in his follow-through, clapping animatedly while staring at the Aussie all-rounder.
Again, I have no issue with these kind of actions, which add theatre to the sport. But had that been Mitchell Johnson, not Riaz, we would have had days of ‘Ugly Australians’ reports and debates. Instead, Riaz’s behaviour was described as ‘spirited’ and all the focus was on his brilliant bowling.
Why hasn’t this been the case with Australia in the final? They won their fifth World Cup, and fourth out of the last five tournaments, while demolishing a team which had been undefeated through the tournament.
Yet a large amount of the analysis of the game has centred around Australia’s allegedly offensive on-field actions. The outcry has become so exaggerated that there’s a handful of fabricated incidents of Australian sledging which are now being repeated as facts.
On The Roar and other cricket websites, I’ve seen people state as fact that James Faulkner screamed in Grant Elliott’s face when he dismissed him, and that Mitchell Johnson gave Vettori a send-off.
I went back through the full footage of the game, watching and re-watching replays of each dismissal. Neither incident occurred.
I have also read that Brad Haddin gave Vettori a send-off. If you watch the footage of Vettori’s dismissal, Haddin is nowhere near Vettori after he gets out, and there is no sign of him trying to yell anything at the Kiwi, who is a long distance away. If anyone can provide a link to footage which suggests otherwise I’d be glad to see it.
Roar colleague Glenn Mitchell yesterday wrote a piece addressing the criticism of Australia’s behaviour in the final and argued that the Aussies have “some work to do”.
I don’t disagree. Australia have been responsible for some ugly, needless on-field incidents in recent years and should avoid repeating them. But none of their actions in the final fit into this category.
There has been a disproportionate level of focus on the Australia’s supposedly boorish behaviour in the final, as opposed to their brilliant performance and colossal achievement.
The media has been littered with articles lambasting the Australians’ supposed abuse of Kiwi players in the final. I say ‘supposed’ because there is no audio evidence of any Australian player making offensive comments, and neither have New Zealand reported any such incidents.
The ‘abuse’ is merely assumed. People have seen the lips of Australian players moving and, without hearing what they said, have made decisions that it must be been insulting.
Why do we automatically think so poorly of cricket players? When we debate sledging, regardless of which country is in the crosshairs, so often people are quick to assume that a lot of it is personal or vulgar or derogatory.
I have played senior cricket for 18 years and am still competing. Over those years I have heard many inappropriate things said on the field – ranging from plain stupid to crude. But over the course of any give game, 95 per cent of what is said is utterly harmless.
I found the same to be true when we were given a rare insight into the on-field chat of international cricket during last year’s Test series between Australia and South Africa.
The stump microphones were turned up so much higher than normal in that series that many of the players’ comments and conversations were audible. Keen to exploit this window into the game I listened through headphones throughout the series to maximise the amount of chatter I could hear.
When South Africa were batting, the Australian fielders and bowlers were regularly engaging the batsmen. When Australia were batting, the South Africans did the same. But, just like in my own experiences, 95 per cent of the comments and exchanges were innocent. They were either banal, cheeky, clever or constructive.
The ‘sledging’ from the fielders mostly consisted of attempts to distract the batsman from their game or to sow the seeds of doubt. It wasn’t, “Batsman X you’re a piece of s—, we’re going to kill you,” as so many critics of sledging seem to think is the norm. It was, “Ooh he’s playing away from his body there. Big gap. His balance is shocking guys, here comes the wicket.”
That is just mind games. Why then, should we assume that any comments made by the Aussies to the Kiwis players in the final were derogatory or abusive? We couldn’t hear the comments so why pretend we know what was said?
The on-field behaviour of professional cricketers is extremely clean in comparison to most other major sports. Putting aside the thuggish stuff which occurs in most contact sports, what about non-contact sports?
In baseball, the game closest in style to cricket, every year there are massive on-field brawls where the benches of both teams clear and a wild melee ensues. In basketball, fist fights are not uncommon and we’ve even seen them spread into the stands, with fans assaulted by players. Soccer has been witness to similarly disgusting acts by its players.
In these sports it’s also common to see extreme remonstrations with the umpires, including players laying hands on the officials when irate over decisions.
These type of aggressive behaviours have not become a part of cricket. In light of what occurs in other sports, are we not overreacting to on-field banter between players?
Why not talk about Australia’s glorious dismantling of two undefeated sides in the World Cup semi-final and final, instead of trying to make a massive issue out of some minor on-field incidents?
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Sahas stands at the crease. The bowler approaches. The ball flies. It flies quickly. Sahas sees it. His reaction is quick. The ball is hit. It rolls to the boundary. The crowd rises. Every sentence is short. Shorter than the last. Shorter than ...
Prosenjit
Guest
To criticize the australian 'team's' behaviour one's bringing up matthew hayden, shane warne,channel 9 who're far from being parts of the australian cricket team.makes it incompetent as well as logically lame.then the 'broken arm' incident, missing anderson's part in it.pretty one eyed too.
Sandy
Guest
Where are your facts Charl? Please show in reference to this article, where your facts are.
Bobbo7
Guest
It goes deeper than the send offs. It's the ex players like Matthew Hayden having no respect for opposition teams, it's the interview with Haddin the day after the game, Warne banging on about drinking, the channel 9 band of brothers cheer squad, "break your f$& arm" etc. Every 6 months there seems to be a debate about the behaviour of the Australian cricket team. I know quite a few Australians who do not support their own team on the basis of the general behaviour. On the issue of sledging itself, I agree Australia is not alone. But I don't thnk the sledging is the main issue. It's also the pre and post match interviews etc and the issues noted above. The team generally has a poor "brand" when it comes to behaviour. Some of this maybe a bit unfair but whete there is smoke there is usually fire.
Dizzy Tangles
Guest
The self righteous sub-con teams take every chance they get to cry foul over Australian sledging but their teams are often far worse offenders. I just put it down to envy..
Prosenjit
Guest
So warner didn't whinge at all..was too simple a chat.
Prosenjit
Guest
Sahas, thanks for accepting the simple fact that indians sledge as well.btw what makes you think it's only aussies like haddin who does such gamesmanship?as i said kohli did it to a number of incoming batsmen to disturb their focus, and once in adelaide 2nd knock he came to smith to say 'stay within your limits or we'll show you who we're ' that too with a couple of 'f' words in between.frankly if i was a cricketer, would have enjoyed those clever gamesmanship lines that would've helped me motivate with some adrenaline flowing...and the bullying and abuses(of moms n sisters especially)would've just put me off.those send offs with a f off or 'ban****' should simply go from cricket.also i need to learn about the cricket logic behind virat's kisses to johnson.good thing is money still isn't deciding everything on earth otherwise india would've been champions. :-)
sahas
Guest
It was Perth match when warner made 180. Indian bowlers were taken apart that day and apparently ishant said ' lets see how many you score in india' and warner seems to have replied that he would score more runs india than Australia as pitches in india are more conducive to batting. Well we know how well that figured out.
AlanKC
Guest
You're entitled to your point of view, I have no issue with that but when it comes to claiming that "Warner revealed what ishant was saying to him on the field in the press conference" I'd ask you to provide the link because there's no sign of it anywhere on the net. Although there are plenty of sub-continent entries claiming Warner is resposnible for everything wrong with the planet from global warmimng to Tony Abbott so I'm fairly sure that would be there if it was real.
sahas
Guest
Prosenjit, My Post was in no away directed against Australian players per se, though I may have used certain incidents to back myself up. This post was largely against the aus media. Honestly I began to follow aus and eng cricket media just to get a different perspective of of Indian cricket, thinking that india media will surely not give the whole picture and be bias to its nation. But I was schocked at the way cricket media runs here. Most of them write articles to the galleries. Indian bias is nothing compared to Australia's. Just as the players even the writers like Ronan are arrogant and fail to acknowledge that there are people with different view. Again Not all of them. One of my fav writer is an Australian Jarrod Kimber. His articles are witty and never bias. If he is writing on a new unfamiliar story, you can see the amount of background research he does, unlike writers on this forum who fail to acknowledge that there is a world beyond Australia. You Point on rohit sharma, bad timing from me or him!! Yes that is what I said the disease is infectious. Some Indian Players are as cocky as Australians and I am in no denial. I dont know if you are any one share this view of mine on sledging. I detest mental disintegration. I dunno what Steve waugh had in mind while coining it, but I feel any snide remarks from wk and close in fielders about anything personal to the batsman apart from cricket is bad. For example, in test matches Brad haddin was heard on stump mic saying to kohl ' Its all about you ain't it THE Superstar ' 'there you go he is again going against his own mates'. Now this is exactly what I dont like. This is a cheap tactic to disturb the batsmens concentration by making remarks about their personality. It is utterly cheap and disgraceful to attack a person's personality. I have taken this example because only this comes to my mind recently if anybody has other examples please do, before you start attacking me for Double standards. I am perfectly Ok with anything related to cricket. Starcs it's a white ball comment, wahabs histrionics minus the kiss, even rohits ' how many wickets did you take on this mitch' comment, it was related to cricket Johnson dint take a wicket in first Inn and I thought it was funny too although it come back to bite him the next day. Even send offs I am OK with, it's related to cricket, a bowler is expressing his emotions at winning the battle, what's the bloody thing wrong in that. So what if it's in your face send off, a batsman knows he been defeated, come back tommo again and win the battle next time around and let the bowler know it. If people say no send offs then I think there should be no wicket celebrations at all because for me both are same. Instead of fighting send offs, we should focus on sledging which attacks a personality. The aussie are known for singling out platers in the opposition who are weak minded and target them with cheap snide comments. A person's personality is based on his childhood experiences and cultures which are vastly different in a sport like cricket played across diff continents. Weak minded is no way related to cricketing prowess. I mentioned 2011 because I can remember it then because I saw the press con on TV. The point was that warner revealed what ishant was saying to him on the field in the press conference, but aus are always first to say ' what stays...' line when opposing players reveal what was happening on field like kohli did. The World talks on MONEY.
Richard
Guest
I have to admit, I have never understood sledging in sport. Let me state that friendly banter is different to sledging and often amusing and never taken seriously. I have never sledged because I was never good at it or always catching my breath. So when a fast bowler has a batsman absolutely beaten hands down with a 145kmh swinging delivery or when a batsman dispatches a bowler for consecutive boundaries then why the need to carry on. As I have said before, the best players across numerous sports that I have played new that they were better than me and didn't need to carry on. they knew it, I knew it and the ones with class just went about their role.
Prosenjit
Guest
If yadav's action was a send off you must admit haddin's clap to guptil and faulkner to elliot were send offs too.shouldn't be double standards.
Prosenjit
Guest
Sahas, well constructed comment and it's honest(mostly from your perspective that is) and true as well(from the same perspective again).i believe the basis of the post is criticising the aussie behaviour with specific points w.r.t. indian players whom you think cannot be accused of the same.talking about mental disintegration,your post comes just the day after rohit sharma advocates for some on field verbals.might be argued cuz it's only ipl, but rohit and co. applied such technique in the last series,notably to johnson while he was batting at the gabba.on a personal front kohli did it to many batsmen who just came to crease, with the purpose of getting under the skin.not precisely true that indian sportsmen barring vishy anand hate doing it.you cited an incident of 2011 to point at warner's contradiction but always more relevant to talk in the recent context than going deep back into the past as plenty happened in three years of cricket that would possibly indicate warner was mostly right that they usually don't complain as other teams tend to do( remember virat's press conference a day before warner's).then there's no denying of a fine line in verbal altercations,for example..if bhajji said only 'ma ki' is a common thing but if he added a 'c***' it turns dirty..we don't know what bhajji really said though and the last point you made is just unimportant but true nonetheless. In the earlier part of the post you had given a piece of mind by saying you loved to see australia lose,except when they play england and i sense it's not the case even then.why do you bring the money matter into it,do you love to see people with more money and dominate the sport?
Jack
Guest
Here is a man who clearly did not read the article. Waleed Aly has commented on this on numerous occasions on the ABC and he rightly makes the point that the Australian team tends to play its best when it is exhibiting this sort of aggression. And lets not kid ourselves - this isn't bloody body-line, but a couple guys getting a bit in your face over dismissals - something this article rightly points out isn't even a particularly unique feature of the Australian team.
Jack
Guest
Yes, the English, not only utterly useless and perennial failures at the big tournaments, but the team with the worst and most disgraceful conduct to ever appear on a Cricket pitch etched into their wrap sheet. But no, a few nasty names is much worse.
Zim Zam
Roar Rookie
I think it's more a case of pointing out the double standards at work here. There was no talk about Southee's send-off in all the articles about NZ's victory, because it was passed off as a heat-of-the-moment reaction from a fired-up bowler, and people were more interested in talking about the cricket because it was an absolute cracker of a game. Imagine if Johnson had done the send-off and Australia had won the match: likely there would be plenty of Ugly Australian articles asserting that it had 'marred the win' the same way whatever happened in the final has supposedly 'put a stain on Australia's World Cup victory.' I don't have a particular moral objection to sledging, but I'm not a fan of send-offs in general. The sorts of screamy ones like what Starc gave someone during the Indian Test Series, like the Watto to Gayle one you mentioned, they look stupid and classless in playback - but it's not like they're pre-meditated. If you've got pumped-up bowlers in high-pressure situations, they're going to lose control of themselves and do stupid things every once in a while. I can forgive them for it. I mean, you should see some of the wicket reactions in our house - when Starc took NZ's 9th wicket we probably put cracks in our next door neighbours' windows. I think the arguments regarding send-offs and sledging are sort of different, as one is very deliberate and one is heat-of-the-moment, but what I take out of it is that there are bowlers in every team who will just end up losing their heads and having a bit of a scream every now and then. I don't think the Aussies really do it more than other teams do.
Vic
Guest
Still no facts, mate - just your perspective.......
James
Guest
Ah, I'll keep that in mind. Cheers.
sahas
Guest
And ronan, you called yadav action a sendoff??? GET A PAIR OF PROPER GLASSES.
sahas
Guest
An Honest Indian View of Australia Cricket. Australia is by far the best cricket team in the past two decades. I dont think they are the best team at the moment, SA are. I always love matches against Australia more so because they were once the invincible team and now could be a chance to beat them kinda mentality. As an indian it gives me more pleasure to see aus lose to anyone bar england, when aus and eng play I cheer for Aus. For a lot of my childhood aus ruled the cricket fraternity, both on the field on off it in terms of money,press and media. They do still pull their punches on the field, but Money wise india are clearly on top. The one thing that Aus still on top are the media. There are certainly a lot more acclaimed international cricket writers in Australia than India. I always don't get the Opinion Pieces, they are the person opinion, it not as if if Gideon Haigh wrote something on a topic then that view is the best. I beg to say that I am not being biased here, I genuinely feel that Aus writers are selectively bias towards Australia. Just have a look at wisden india, there are many good writers in india but they don't get the fame that Aus writers get, they give a more balanced approach. I am talking about print media not TV and News channels. India news channel panelist are the worst they have absolutely no idea what they are taliking. Also I think aus still think they are THE Cricket team in the world in terms of power and they are not. and I think that is a hard pill to swallow for the Australian media and their players. Huge respect for Australian cricketers based on their prowess on the field, but one thing is clear they certainly are Arrogant and do not show respect to opposing team. Not all of them certainly, but I think Brad haddin is right at the top. They are certain exception like Mike Hussey, Lee, clarke. Mcgratgh once called jayasuruya a monkey, but I didn't see the issue becoming MONKEYGATE racist and all that. The media hardly wrote about it. The non Australian media was hardly born then except for English media who only care when England play. Hand full of srilanka papers made an issue but did really cricket care about anything written in a country other than aus and england. Now they are complaining because other countries media is rising and taking them on. Indian media gave the monkeygate incident a fair coverage, but not in a utterly bias way the aus media put. India gave a fair thought that he could have said Monkey rather than maki, but aus media were adamant that he used the monkey. They didn't give a fair share of thought to the idea that he could have said Maki, which is very common slang. They didn't understand how common it is in rural india to use the word tere Maki, obviously they couldn't, they don't come from that part of the world,but it was a single minded view. They see only the Australian view and none else. Anyone in their narrow minded aus view is wrong is the culprit. Even now anyone mentions monkeygate it always bhaji said monkey. They refuse to see the Indian view istead they get on their fav topic BASHING BCCI for their power. Clash of cultures, yes, but india accommodated both views, aus failed. Certain rules that Australia make and expect other teams to follow 1. Mental disintegration. Absolute bullocks. It's a game of bat and balls not a battle of minds. Go play chess. 2. What's said on the field always stays on the field. They make this rule. They break it when ever they want. Warner once said of an incident with ishant in 2011 tour in press conference. What happened to the rule then. When opposing player plays the same the aussie come out in same press conference saying what's said in the field always stays on the field and that's how we have always played. 3. The thin line, the legendary thin line between this and that. 4. Our players are aggressive in your face players, but awww! They are so sweet off the field. We don't care how they are off the field we don't get to see them in their homes, weddings, party. We get to see them in the field that's all.