Gone are the days of big lovable characters in the Australian cricket team who every man and his dog loved.
Test cricket is slowly on the decline in Australia. This is due to the Australian public being unable to relate to the Australian players. You used to feel like you knew the players, like they were one of your mates. We had Boonie, Punter, Binga, Hayden, Pigeon, Gilly, Mister Cricket and the Waugh brothers to name a few who all Aussies universally loved. They all were blokes you would love to have a beer with. They are all blokes you loved to watch play cricket.
These days we don’t have these characters. Never has an Australian team been so polarising. We don’t feel like we know the players and in turn, we are less willing to ride the highs and lows with them. We have Warner who is statistically one of the most dominant opening batsmen ever, but the public is still undecided on him. Unlike Matthew Hayden who was universally loved. Why is this?
Because these days the players are so restricted in what they can say to the media. They offer boring, bland response to media questions at the fear of saying the wrong thing. Let them show their personalities, trust that they won’t overstep the mark. Once we start building these personalities in the game again, that will lead to the crowds returning to Australian cricket.
This is why the Big Bash has been so successful. Channel Ten has done a great job of bringing personalities back into the game. Just look at the recent characters of Big Bash. We’ve had Hussey, Hoggy, Andre Russel, Gayle, Chris Lynn, Travis Head, Ludeman and Brad Hodge to name a few. Through the openness of the players, you feel like you get to know them. These are now the players kids pretend to be in the backyard rather than the Australian players.
This is a massive problem for the future of Test cricket. We need the characters back in the Australian cricket team. When this is achieved, the crowds flood back to the game.
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