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Joined September 2018
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Like so many other Australian Cricket fans, I was mortified by the ball tampering scandal in Cape Town in March 2018. It made me question my life-long passion for Cricket and my steadfast support for the national team. And so, combining my passions for cricket, the law and writing, I embarked on a search for `The Spirit of Cricket'; one cricket tragic's attempt to define `the line'. Does Cricket have a distinct spirit? Can we define 'the line'? How are the values Cricket holds dear different from any other sport?
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They are images that will remain scorched into our minds for as long as this epic English summer of 2019 is remembered.
Quite some years ago, while sitting under the green roof of the members stand at the SCG, my wife and I watched as an Australian wrist-spinning understudy stood at the top of his mark, flipping the ball belligerently from hand to hand.
It is probably one of the more difficult things to achieve in sport.
Is it possible to simultaneously feel elation and deep despair?
When I was a young lad, my dear maternal grandfather used to take me to watch my heroes play at the SCG.
Social media is suddenly awash with a mash-up of Steve Smith’s uniquely exaggerated technique when it comes to leaving balls outside his off-stump.
When cricket tragics wax long and lyrical about great Ashes moments, they typically cite the same epochal events.
Although hardly singing a solo, I vocally condemned Steve Smith for his role in the ball-tampering abomination in Cape Town 15 months ago.
With another Ashes series about to commence, it’s natural to reminisce about cricketing triumphs past.
It’s the last over the final of the Cricket World Cup of 2019.
It’s November 1984 and I’m 16 years old. I’m at school with a small yellow transistor radio close to my ear, listening to the last day of the second Test between the Aussies and the Windies.
As I sit and write these words, the adrenalin is slowly seeping from my veins. The raw excitement has gone. I’m feeling somewhat deflated. Yet there is elation to be found in my despair.
When Australia’s troupe of wandering cricketers left for England in the winter of 1989 it was mercilessly mocked as the worst Australian team to leave our shores.
Australia versus the West Indies – it’s Boxing Day 1981.
It’s the Boxing Day Ashes Test in 1982 and I’m 14 years of age.
So the Ethics Group concluded that Cricket Australia spawned a malevolent culture of “winning without counting the cost”.
As I read the 145 pages of the Ethics Committee review into Australian cricket, I started hearing Jack Nicholson’s voice – in the role of Colonel Nathan Jessup from A Few Good Men – creeping slowly into my consciousness, like an insidious, hissing snake.
Just this week, I published an article on The Roar about defiance.
In the turbulent wake of the ball tampering scandal, I started re-examining my relationship with the sport I cherish.
I have traditionally prodded around in the corridor of uncertainty on where I stand on the dark art of sledging.
My memory is that Anderson only ever troubled Australia in favourable bowling conditions with Duke ball.
Like you, RAGAV, I don’t remember Anderson ever performing in a backs-to-the-wall situation for England.
I stand to be corrected.
Smith sizzles in the summer of Stokes
Wow Jumbo!
You’re assuming – I think – that Smith’s OTT behaviour is voluntary.
I don’t have any special expertise, but I’m pretty confident it’s the result of a nervous condition and completely involuntary.
I don’t think Steve is trying to taunt anybody.
He’s just being Steve.
Smith sizzles in the summer of Stokes
“Did he run over his dog or something?”
Classic Mike! That made me laugh.
I agree with your analysis of the bowling, though.
Smith sizzles in the summer of Stokes
Based on his average in both this Ashes series and the previous one in Australia, Raimond, you can expect another 270 runs if Smith bats twice!
Smith sizzles in the summer of Stokes
Thanks Paul. I appreciate it!
To be honest, whilst I am thrilled that Australia have retained the Ashes – and nothing can take that away – for me, a drawn series at 2-2 would be rather hollow.
I think it’s imperative that we don’t lose at the Oval.
Smith sizzles in the summer of Stokes
Thanks for your thoughtful post, Mike. I really enjoyed it.
It wasn’t underhanded, but England did try some unorthodox tactics to Smith in Brisbane in the most recent home Ashes series, where they bowled over his head and wide of off-stump. They essentially tried to bore him out. But Smith’s patience ran much deeper than England’s and he scored 141 not out.
I agree with you 100% about Broad. He’s a tremendous bowler and a decent bloke. If you haven’t listened to it, his podcast series with Stephen Fry is terrific.
I also agree with Anderson. Sorry, never rated him.
Smith sizzles in the summer of Stokes
Thanks Peter. Take a deep breath, mate!
My article was about a very specific exchange between Lyon and the English crowd. Hence the focus on Nathan. Did the title not give that away!
I don’t believe Lyon was solely responsible for Australia’s loss at Headingley. If you’ve calmed down and are interested in my broader views, read this article:
Or even this one:
In the meantime, I hope your day is getting better…
Lampooning Lyon: The folkoric charm of crowd banter
I wonder how the Aussie crowds will warm to Jack Leach…?
Lampooning Lyon: The folkoric charm of crowd banter
The Poms aren’t laughing much now, U…
Lampooning Lyon: The folkoric charm of crowd banter
Thanks Spanner. That’s good to hear. I attended the Lord’s Test in 2015 – which Australia won comfortably – and the crowd there was very well behaved. That said, this is pre-sandpaper-gate, so they didn’t have much to worry about beyond an instinctive dislike for David Warner and a visceral fear of Mitchell Johnson’s moustache.
Well, I have to agree with you, if somebody like Stokes cheated they would cop it in Australia. He may still do, for the nightclub incident. Although Australian crowds respect a competitor so his recent heroics may counter the any ill-will.
Lampooning Lyon: The folkoric charm of crowd banter
Thanks Paul. I hope we see more of it. For me, the best part was that Lyon took it in the right spirit.
Lampooning Lyon: The folkoric charm of crowd banter
It’s good to see! If there’s an underlying respect, then good natured ribbing is part of the theatre.
Lampooning Lyon: The folkoric charm of crowd banter
It turns out that most of the Aussie batsman were fine!
I was really pleased to see a mental toughness, which I doubted.
After the heart-breaking loss, will the Aussies recover?
Ha! Thanks, in particular, for your side note, Matt!
I totally agree with you! I guess everybody has their own interests in life, but mine would be so much poorer if cricket somehow ceased to exist.
This is probably worthy of an article in itself, but I watched all of the last day of the Headingley Test from my home study. Talk about an emotional roller-coaster! And when I returned to my study after work on that Monday evening, I actually felt emotional. It was though all the emotion from the previous night / morning, was still seeping from the walls and from my desk.
This has been a great Test series already and Headingley was just extraordinary. I hope the final two Tests continue that momentum.
Oh! And I agree about Starc. He could well be the X-Factor.
After the heart-breaking loss, will the Aussies recover?
Those are all good points Paul. And they are professional cricketers with a strong will to win. There are a lot of positives Australia can take away from the first 3 tests.
But these blokes are also human.
It will be interesting to see the body language adopted by each side as play commences and the struggle for an early advantage begins.
Will the English batsman take to Lyon in an attempt to effectively kick him whilst he’s down? How long will it take Archer to bowl a searing bouncer at Smith? Will the Poms sledge Paine for his DRS bungle?
And how will the Aussie bowlers try to counter Stokes?
Jesus! I l love test cricket!
After the heart-breaking loss, will the Aussies recover?
I agree, Pierro, Australia have a good chance if they are in the right mindset.
After the heart-breaking loss, will the Aussies recover?
Very nicely done, Chris! I really enjoyed that! Helped me relive what was an extraordinary experience.
I agree with Jero, though. Definite aggravation of my Prodigious Test Stress Disorder.
Headingley showed us that Test cricket is the greatest game of all
I think this is fantastic. I love the passion. I would have done the same thing if I contributed a verse to the powerful Ashes play.
The moment Jack Leach recreated his famous one run
Fair enough. I agree that the bowlers should have gone into T20 mode to match the batsman doing so. But as we have seen in T20, there’s precious little the bowlers can do when a batsman has his eye in (as Stokes certainly had after batting for, what, 5 hours) and he’s just smacking everything coming at him. Think Stokes was just so “in the zone” that there was nothing much the bowlers could do.
Why England’s miracle win is a sign of the times
We can beat that team with Warner, Harris, Labuschagne, Smith, Head, Wade, Paine, Cummins, Starc, Hazelwood and Lyon.
Australia’s Ashes glass is still half-full
What should the bowlers have done differently, Goalsonly?
Why England’s miracle win is a sign of the times
The selectors will be lynched if they drop Leach. He’s achieved folk-hero status!
Have you seen the vision on Twitter of him reinacting his famous single to backward square-leg? Though it grates, it’s hilarious!
I totally agree about the benefit of the gap between Tests.
Australia’s Ashes glass is still half-full
Yes, absolutely. My take is that the personal trauma / shame of being banned for a year has exacerbated the nervous condition which manifests itself in more exaggerated idiosyncratic behaviour.
But let me stress that this is just my personal lay opinion.
Smith sizzles in the summer of Stokes