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Now that the cricket world has had a chance to take it all in…
It can’t be too long now before we begin to forensically unravel the past. To begin the search through history in some detail. And fair enough in the name of finding a personal and collective context. An in depth trawl through crickets heart and soul, it’s history.
It’s going to be a long, interesting and absorbing story. But as many have already said, it’s almost certain cricket as a whole will be in a better place as a result.
Everything that gets said is a blend of someone’s view, mixed in with someone else’s. But there still is a sound collective reality out there somewhere. A few certain absolutes
The precursor, the foundation of this all is clearly the mindset. The ‘win at all cost’ mentality that is lauded by large sections of the Australian cricket community. A few days of thinking and I’ve begun to wonder whether the stakeholders should also take a good look at themselves? And ask ourselves if we might have played at least some small part.
A part of what created and still sustains the sport at such a consistently high public profile
Personally, these days, I love sport for the entertainment. I just seem to enjoy seeing people express their talent. Whether they are on my team or not, there is a genuine appreciation for an athlete doing their thing.
It’s simply that I’m not so obsessed with the winning anymore. And so I’ll find myself instinctively clapping opposition players skills for the genuine appreciation.
But that certainly wasn’t always the case. In my younger years, I was often happy to stretch the line in the name of a win. I don’t quite know what made me develop that mindset in the first place. But I sure was able to justify it in my mind at the time.
I don’t exactly know where things exactly changed but somewhere along the lines they did. Me judging will be hypocritical. And as we’ve seen, hypocrisy doesn’t go down too well with the public.
Ultimately all cheating is premeditated. Whether it’s conceived over two years or two seconds, it’s been decided on prior to it happening. But cheating is ultimately born of a mindset where needing to win is the sole focus.
There are things that a clearly cheating to everyone. And there are things that are not quite clearly cheating to everyone. This one, it’s cheating to pretty much everyone. I haven’t heard someone say this isn’t cheating.
(Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
Taking a look at cheating on an individual, personal level, the only one you are really fooling is yourself. You are cheating yourself out of finding out how good you really are.
It’s clear the mindset in the Australian dressing room is to win. It’s been that for a long, long time in some form of another. Are we really saying that we can bully and intimidate, but not cheat? Well, blatantly cheat.
There are already many others claiming this was always coming. More than anything repeating the thinking that this is all just a reflection of the overall mindset. Not just the mindset of the national cricket team, it’s also part of the whole cricket community, promoting a win at all costs mentality
Within the Australian cricket community, there will be a fair few versions of what ‘playing to win’ means. In some way, we have own unique versions of that line not to cross. And some of those versions might only be differentiated by a very thin line. On an even wider level, every country will also their own version of the line they don’t want to cross.
The greater context is that good cricket players are lauded by large sections of the public. Lauded for their technical capability, yes. But also lauded for their aggression and ability to bully.
(AAP Image/Brendan Esposito)
To do what it takes and win for the fans. To smash em: The stark reality is that the Australian National team is a big deal for a good many people. And the stakeholders all have their own frame of reference. Some stakeholders are looking to be entertained, some looking to win, and some combinations of the two
Is it really such a stretch to be witnessing recent events?
The opportunity is now in front of the stakeholders collectively. Everyone’s getting a chance to say what they think. More than anything, Cricket Australia are hyper aware on issues relating to public perception.
It’s clearly one of the biggest considerations for them right now. So that collective, public mindset will in a big way shape the way of thinking moving forward
It’s great to see these events encourage us all to re-evaluate what we really want from cricket from this day on. Together, we can redefine the position description for Cricket Australia.
The overwhelming concern about public perception is one of things that made most sense in James Sutherland’s first press conference. And it’s what’s going to make most sense moving forward.
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