Sporting etiquette is a funny thing.
In tennis, you can incur the wrath of officials and fans simply for whacking your racquet on the ground in frustration.
In rugby, demonstrating your frustration is fine as long as you stop short of punching someone in the face.
In boxing, punching someone in the face is the whole point and if you don’t do it you’ll never get anywhere. It’s all relative.
Then there’s cricket, which has long been considered a gentlemen’s game – by which was originally meant that the working class would be allowed to play, but only if they did everything the rich guys said.
It is often said that cricket is ‘different’: that the codes of behaviour that apply to the game are stricter and more decorous than in other sports, and that keeping them so is essential to cricket’s very nature.
It’s generally believed that standards have slipped in cricket and that players are far more disrespectful of the game’s spirit than in the past. Notwithstanding the time Peter Heine told Trevor Bailey he wanted to murder him, or when Dennis Lillee actually kicked Javed Miandad, this might be true as a broad trend.
The fact that Test captains are constantly called upon to piously declare that they never cross the line (O, that mythical line! How mysterious its ways and how nobly it reigns over us!) suggests that the line, wherever it may objectively be, is frequently in the vicinity of players’ feet.
I would love if it were not so, and not because of the example it sets. I don’t think children are at risk of becoming delinquents if they see David Warner scream or if they lip-read Mitchell Starc’s response to being hit for four.
Davey Warner, seen here at his peak. (AAP Image/David Crosling)
It’s not the most pressing issue confronting the world. It’s not even the most pressing issue confronting cricket (that being selectorial bias against Glenn Maxwell).
But there is a good reason I would like cricketers to stop flirting with ‘the line’, clean their act up and display better manners in the heat of battle.
Put simply, it is because I love cricket, and I would enjoy it if we could talk about it occasionally, instead of spending all our time pondering the acceptable extent of verbal abuse.
Australia just secured a great victory against a strong team on their own turf. Dogged, skilful batting and brilliant bowling were on display. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all be discussing and celebrating this, instead of lamenting the degenerate modern generation?
Wouldn’t you love to be reading and listening to commentators waxing lyrical about Mitch Marsh’s unexpected turn as the saviour of the top order, or Mitch Starc’s searing detonation of the lower order in both innings, or even Nathan Lyon’s continued wily excellence?
The less patriotic among us might even care to reflect on the fact that in defeat, Aiden Markram played one of Test cricket’s great Forlorn Hopes.
But we barely hear about any of this, because it’s all been drowned out by the exasperating juvenilia of the players’ playground spats.
It’s not that I have no empathy. I understand how when the blood is up and the adrenalin is pumping, it’s easy to forget oneself and act like a bit of a dick. Although the amount of time the Australian team, since the reign of Steve Waugh, has withered on about the use of sledging as a tactical device suggests that these incidents aren’t always a result of spontaneous head-loss.
But whatever the circumstance, it is well past time that every player remembered that he has a choice, every time he goes onto the field.
Warner, for example, had a choice when he affected the run-out of AB de Villiers: he could bellow with joy, throw up his arms, embrace his teammates, and celebrate the success of his team; or he could shriek abuse at Markram and take this moment of exultation as an opportunity to belittle an opponent.
At the same time, Nathan Lyon, on whipping off the bails, had a choice: he could hurl the ball skywards in ecstasy as successful fielders traditionally do, or he could carefully drop the ball on his prostrate foe like a schoolboy pulling a girl’s pigtails.
AP Photo/Themba Hadebe
Both Lyon and Warner made their choices.
It’s not a one-sided thing. Kagiso Rabada has a choice as to how he marks the fall of a wicket: he can revel in his own triumph or he can yell at the batsman to f*** off.
And certainly, Quinton de Kock has a choice as to whether he leaves the field quietly to have a cup of tea at the designated time, or make the jokes about his name even easier to spout by deliberately trying to provoke a fight with an opposition player via pointless arseholery.
Having said that, Warner had a choice there too. I can sympathise with anyone wanting to lash out when their family is insulted, and it’s hard to blame him, but nonetheless he could have chosen to roll his eyes at the tosser trying to goad him and laugh at his idiocy back in the dressing room.
It’s not always easy to make the right choices when you’re angry, but I would beg of all cricketers to strive their hardest to do so.
Because honestly, I just want to talk about cricket.
Wal
Roar Guru
Offence is such a personal thing, and this is why I have an issue with sledging. You are trying to find that line and offend/upset the opposition to put them off. That is the whole concept. The problem then becomes everyone has a different line, some for personal reasons some for cultural. If deKock gets offended by personal attacks why is he an more wrong than Warner getting offended by an attack on his partner? Who decides where the line falls? A quick look at history also shows that what was inoffensive 20+ years ago is off limits now. (Often for very good reason) Both teams are very good at Cricket why not let that be enough and just play the game.
El Loco
Roar Rookie
Classic
Perry Bridge
Guest
And how good Ross Taylor to get the Kiwi's over the line with a fair chase target set by the Englanders.
Chris
Guest
Is that exactly what Quinton is accused of saying?
Paul
Roar Guru
de Kock and anyone else who might have been involved but not directly seen on the footage.
Onside
Guest
Most people haven't seen any cricket to talk about, because it's on pay TV.
DaveJ
Guest
“Quinton de Kock has a choice as to whether he leaves the field quietly to have a cup of tea at the designated time.” Yes just after Warner had called him a f***ing sook just as they walk off and apparently after carrying on at him like an arsehole nonstop for an hour or more. (See video on Roar). Back in the day Warner would have been sorted out behind or in the pavilion before he ever made it to first class cricket.
remington
Guest
What did De Kock say? I've only heard a very vague, biased, if not false, suggestion. The longer Warner is rubbed out the better. It would be good if Australia didn't pick him at all until he learns to act like a human, but when they are happy to let a terrible racist be coach, that's unlikely to happen.
David
Guest
I don't know what was said by either de Kock or Warner in the tunnel but it started on the field. For me, what happens on the field should be moderated by the umpires and it is clear they were powerless to act. The issue of sledging is not getting better - it is getting worse. Cricket is not played by gentlemen it is played by warriors who will take advantage of any little thing about their opponents they can. It is now time for the umpires on the filed to be given more power. Perhaps something like this might help: First offence on the field (where an umpire hears something unacceptable), gets an official warning. Second offence and the player gets to spend an hour or say 15 overs off the field (no replacements so the whole team suffers). This will immediately take the heat out of the situation and all players will be on notice. If there is a third offence in the same game, the player is removed from the match and referred to a tribunal for further disciplanery action - again no replacements for the player either as a fielder, bowler or batsman. I don't know if the reports are accurate but for a player to be insulting another player about their appearance for an hour is unacceptable and this type of behaviour needs to be stamped out. If the ICC fails to act soon, our game will be taken over by thugs.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Yeah, in truth I don't think the Aussies are any worse than any other team. In fact, they tend to have less disciplinary issues than most. In the Ashes just gone, the English team seemed to be doing a lot more sledging than the Aussies. The South African's have certainly admitted they give as good as they get when it comes to sledging. I think it's more apparent these days purely because the media loves to highlight it so much more so than because it's any worse than it's ever been before.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Maybe, although, I reckon Candice could take de Kock. He might want to watch himself!
George
Guest
All speculation. All we know is that Warner was darting about and yelling like a crazed fool - both on and off the ground.
Duncan Smith
Guest
Here are my thoughts on sledging: STFU and play the game.
Flemo
Guest
Warner doesn’t deserve suspension, he rightly reacted to his wife being called something she shouldn’t be called
Perry Bridge
Guest
Yesterday I was tuning in from work to the Vic vs NSW shield game at the revamped Junction Oval - what a final days play that way - Victoria just managed to find a way to hang in there - or NSW just managed to find a way to shoot themselves in the foot - - a hit wicket, a risky run on the Maxwell arm, the debutant beaten by the one that went the other way and then losing the last 4 for 11 in 5 and a half overs including 3 wickets to Fawad Ahmed. It was a game that had everything - it was tough batting and the Vics in each innings had a rock - Harris in the first and Dean in the second. O'Keefe got a bag of 10 for the match for NSW as well.
jameswm
Guest
Warner was only mouthing off - twice. I don't think any of them - de Kock, Warner or Rabada - should miss a game, but they all need to be fined and reprimanded and lose demerit points, and the match referees need to draw a line in the sand with the captains - yes, another mythical line.
jameswm
Guest
"I truly hope Warner and co get at least one game suspension" Who are "and co"?
jameswm
Guest
Latest I heard is that 4 demerit points result in a missed game, and he'll likely get 3.
JamesH
Roar Guru
I think the article is half-right. I want to be talking about the cricket too, but what the players are doing is only half the story. The other part of it is that the media is creeping further and further into parts of the game that were inaccessible until relatively recently. I mean, we all know Steve Waugh's side was full of sledgers (probably much worse than the current mob) but it's not as if their legacy was noticeably tarnished by it. We've only ever heard little snippets of what they said because it generally all stayed on-field. Unfortunately, the advent of stump microphones, additional camera angles and greater media access to players has helped to bring more of the sledging into living rooms around the world. What Warner and Lyon did after the run out wasn't a great look, yet it would probably only have been a minor footnote to the game if not for what happened later in the day. And we might have remained blissfully ignorant about it if not for the leaked CCTV footage that the media latched onto. I'm not condoning sledging but I'm not going to lament it either (although I do hate send-offs with a passion - they're cheap and cowardly because the batsman has no opportunity to respond). Sledging is what it is and it's not going away. Ultimately, individual players will live with the consequences of how they choose to conduct themselves. Warner and de Kock have both lowered their colours in the public eye and might even find themselves suspended. Lyon clearly felt like a tool for dropping the ball near (not on) de Villiers, to the point where he offered a personal apology. What goes around comes around. If anything, I'd like to see the administrators and umpires be a bit tougher on players who they judge to have gone overboard. The policing is pretty weaksauce at the moment - it's ridiculous that the Waner-de Kock incident got to the point it did when the umpires were right there. Fines, suspensions and intervention by officials are better moderators than 'the line' ever will be.
Flemo
Guest
THIs is more important to talk about