Steve Waugh says Australia are too nice

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Steve Waugh has volunteered some helpful advice on how we can win back the urn, suggesting Australian lost the Ashes because they were too friendly with England. I thought the same thing. Australia seemed to go into the series determined to clean up their image to the point where Matt Hayden was congratulating Andrew Flintoff on knocking over his stumps. I expect that kind of craven obsequiousness from our opposition, not our own players. Conversely, England went in with a hard attitude as evidenced by their aloofness when Ricky Ponting was struck in the face in the first session of the series. That was a fascinating moment of Test cricket. It reminded me of Allan Border when he consciously adopted a Captain Grumpy approach with England in an effort to win back the Ashes. Consider his comment to English batsman Robin Smith during a drinks break:

"What do you think this is, a f***ing tea party? No, you can't have a f***ing glass of water. You can f***ing wait like all the rest of us."

Okay, AB took it to extremes but he was a pioneer - after several decades, we've refined sledging to a fine art. I like many thought Australia did have a bit of an ugly reputation with incidents like Glenn McGrath's episode in the West Indies or Shane Warne's profane send-off in South Africa. However, after the Ashes loss in a profound moment of self-discovery, I suddenly found I prefered a nasty, winning Australia to a chummy, losing Australia.

All this is leading up to what will be an engrossing series. Australia will be more determined than ever to win back the Ashes but England will be just as determined to prove themselves after poor series against India and Pakistan. It will be a clash of two steely willed, highly skilled teams. To paraphrase Shane Warne, let's hope we show more Fonzie and less Richie Cunningham.

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Posted by JC on Sun 30 Apr

5 comments

England discover a player or two that can bat and bowl and then turn them into celebrities! This will surely be the cause of their ultimate downfall. Maybe Sir Elton can help them with their sledging -- he was very impressive at the airport in Taiwan a few years ago. But seriously, Pietersen is a glorified slugger who should be left to the short form of the game and will probably eventually only get a spot in the 20-20 side once the hype wears off. He aint a stayer like Mr. Cricket although their figures look similar at the moment. Flintoff can play OK on the minefields they call pitches in the UK. He also looked OK in the long version of the game on the flat decks in India but his one-day form was nothing special at all. If Australia loses the Ashes it will only go to show that we forgot how to bowl properly on our own pitches because of the over-extended break.

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Posted by TA on 2006-04-30 16:15:26

I put Pietersen in the same box as Andrew Symonds - he's got no business being in Test cricket. Yes, he played one innings of substance in the 5th Test and yes, it saved the series. But if we'd held onto just one of the 3 chances he gave early in his innings, we could've won the series and he would've probably been dropped by now. I'll be very happy to see him take the field in Brisbane.

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Posted by JC on 2006-05-01 00:25:48

JC,Talking of Sledging,emailed you article on sledging incidents in past two-three decades :-)

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Posted by Unsui on 2006-05-01 20:44:13

Yep, got the email, some great sledges there. One of my favs was a sledge to Mark Waugh: "At least I'm the best cricketer in my family". Very clever, I'm sure the guy was up late the previous night coming up with that one :-) On a slow news day which is bound to happen over the next 4 months, I'll probably do a post on some of my favourite sledges.

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Posted by JC on 2006-05-02 03:00:38

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