Cricket crisis a long time coming ... and we wrote about it 10 years ago

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This was published 5 years ago

Cricket crisis a long time coming ... and we wrote about it 10 years ago

By Peter FitzSimons
Illustration: John Shakespeare

Illustration: John ShakespeareCredit:

I’ll say it again. The collective response of Cricket Australia to the sandpaper saga in Cape Town looked exactly like what happens when a bunch of harried and hassled chooks get in one corner of the yard and go off at each other – a fluster-cluck.

There were lots of feathers flying, a cacophony of clucking, a little crowing that everything had been fixed and a succession of headless chooks running around.

And of course the chief rooster and chair, David Peever, had to go, as he did on Friday. That was much obvious as the full seriousness of the ethics review sunk in, and it was realised that the chair – who had presided over the whole debacle – had himself been reappointed for three years just four days before the review had been handed down.

Ahhhhh, no. Go.

Untenable: David Peever fell on his sword on Thursday in the wake of the ethics review into Australian cricket, brought about by the ball-tampering scandal.

Untenable: David Peever fell on his sword on Thursday in the wake of the ethics review into Australian cricket, brought about by the ball-tampering scandal.Credit: AAP

And yet, lest this current catastrophic cock-up be thought as one of recent invention, let the record show that the problems at the high end of Australian cricket have been around for years. Just this week, I came across the words from the late Peter Roebuck a decade ago after some disgraceful histrionics from Ricky Ponting and the Australian team following victory over India in an ill-tempered Test in Sydney.

Take it away, Peter.

"Ricky Ponting must be sacked as captain of the Australian cricket team. If Cricket Australia cares a fig for the tattered reputation of our national team in our national sport, it will not for a moment longer tolerate the sort of arrogant and abrasive conduct seen from the captain and his senior players over the past few days.

Years in the making: Ricky Ponting during the controversial Test series against India in 2008.

Years in the making: Ricky Ponting during the controversial Test series against India in 2008.Credit: AP

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"Beyond comparison it was the ugliest performance put up by an Australian side for 20 years.

"The only surprising part of it is that the Indians have not packed their bags and gone home. There is no justice for them in this country, nor any manners.

"That the senior players in the Australian team are oblivious to the fury they raised among many followers of the game in this country and beyond merely confirms their own narrow and self-obsessed viewpoint."

And so on.

What was done?

Nothing.

This is a mess that has been a long time in the making. And as I said in my column on Thursday, it is not a mess made merely by the three players in Cape Town, nor by the coach, CEO or chair. It is all of us who have seen this boorish behaviour deteriorate for years, and looked the other way to contemplate the shiny silverware on the national mantle-piece as if that was an end in itself.

Q&A ... eventually

In her Andrew Olle Lecture delivered on Thursday evening to rave reviews, Fairfax’s Caro Wilson lauded the ABC’s Leigh Sales for the tight brilliance of this question she posed to the Chair of Cricket Australia, David Peever, on Monday evening in the wake of the Ethic Review: “How can the very same people who presided over the flourishing of this toxic culture now be the ones to change it, particularly when, as the report explains, you are the only people who couldn’t identify the problems?”

Bingo. There was no answer, and Peever did not see out the week.

Gilchrist the saviour?

The way forward for Australian cricket? They need to draft in the most respected and noted good sportsman of his generation – Adam Gilchrist. And yes, I know Gilchrist has television commitments of his own, but so has Mark Taylor at Channel Nine, and that has not stopped him. The new generation of Australian cricket leadership should see both of them heavily involved, as at least they would start out with the respect and even affection of the public.

On the subject of Mark Taylor, I was not the only one gobsmacked at Ian Chappell’s characterisation of Taylor’s involvement to this point. On ABC’s 7.30 on Wednesday night, Ian Chappell was going hard saying the board needed more people on it who had experience of cricket at the highest levels. When Sales pointed out that Taylor was on the board, Chappell dismissed him as, and I quote, "window-dressing".

All round good bloke: Adam Gilchrist.

All round good bloke: Adam Gilchrist.Credit: AAP

I work with Taylor on Channel Nine’s Sports Sunday – where Chappell also occasionally appears – and know him reasonably well. Taylor is an interesting character with an affable nature covering a steely spine. I know not what he thought of Chappell’s dismissive characterisation, but if it was me, I would invite Chappell for a full and frank discussion behind the woodshed. Fire at will, Ian. That was an outrageous insult to someone who has enormous respect in the cricket community, and with whom you have worked for 20 years.

And I will be interested to see what both have to say about it, when I appear with them on Sports Sunday tomorrow at 10am.

And in a flash, he's gone

Yup. T.S Eliot was right: this is how the world ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper.

Usain has bolted from the Mariners.

Gone in a dash: Usain Bolt leaves Mariners after failing to agree to financial terms.

Gone in a dash: Usain Bolt leaves Mariners after failing to agree to financial terms. Credit: AAP

After all that hoopla, all that carry-on, all that feverish speculation about the wonderful effect he would have on the turnstiles at Mariners’ games, all that earnest nodding from the parrots that it was really was possible for a 32-year-old to pick up in a few weeks of intensive training the skills with a ball that his teammates have spent a life-time assembling ... it ends with a tight statement on Friday afternoon, from Mariners owner Mike Charlesworth: "Despite the fact that we could not come to an agreement that would continue Usain Bolt’s football journey with the Central Coast Mariners, we’ve been thrilled to have the Olympic champion sprinter and world record holder as part of our club for these past eight weeks."

That waft of burning rubber as he spoke? Usain heading for the airport.

I wouldn’t say it was a farce from first to last, but only because ... Oh, the hell with it. It was a FARCE from first to last.

And don’t take my word for it. The former Irish international Andy Keogh, now playing with Perth Glory, was quoted this week saying that far from Bolt demonstrating silky control of the ball like the real pros – always on the tip of their boot, till they unleash – Bolt had a “touch like a trampoline.”

“It's nice to have the attention on the A-League but him playing here, that's not for me,” the former Wolves and Millwall said.

In short, good luck and good night.

(Lest that all appear too harsh, I did hear from an authoritative source that Bolt was a genuinely good bloke, well liked by his teammates. It’s just that he couldn’t play.)

A kick in the guts

The Wallabies? Don’t start me. But let me just say two things.

At first grade level, a hooker not putting the ball in straight to the line-out is unacceptable. At Test level it is inconceivable.

We cannot be serious contenders until such basic stuff as that is fixed. Get it right, or get out.

Kick-offs? There are three possibilities.

1. Short kick-offs, giving your forwards a chance to either recover the ball or bury the opposition bloke that gets it.

2. Long kick-offs to the corner, obliging their full-back to kick for the line, giving you the put-in to the line-out on attack.

3. Hopeless kick-offs to their blokes on their own 22. They are too far away to recover the ball, or belt the bloke – but they give them the option of either kicking, or running, or doing what they damn well please, as they have time to get the ball, compose themselves and get going, without being in the shadow of their own goal-posts.

Why do we keep kicking option three?

What they said

Winx’s trainer, Chris Waller. “We are just so privileged that Winx has us in her life.” Winx is a horse.

Jockey Hugh Bowman with Winx trainer Chris Waller after their fourth Cox Plate win.

Jockey Hugh Bowman with Winx trainer Chris Waller after their fourth Cox Plate win.Credit: Eddie Jim

Simon Longstaff in his 147 page ethics review of Australian cricket. "[The sandpaper episode in Cape Town was] an extreme example of a latent tendency growing out of the prevailing culture of men’s cricket in Australia. [Players have] internalised the belief that winning is the only thing that matters [and been] led to believe that their worth resides entirely in their capacity to meet CA’s strategic and commercial goals."

Longstaff’s characterisation of the world of Australian professional cricketers: "A gilded bubble."

David Peever on the greatest scandal to hit Australian cricket in its history: "A hiccup". He was gone within days.

Phil Gould on October 19, 2015, sending Ivan Cleary on his way: "Ivan Cleary has done a tremendous job in his four years at the Panthers. He has laid the foundation for the future and we are enormously grateful for his contribution to the club. We wish Ivan, his wife Rebecca and his family all the very best for the future." That future would include Gould paying him a multi-million dollar contract to come back again.

Wayne Bennett on his time at the Knights: "I always regretted that decision."

Donald Trump tweets about game four of the world series: "It is amazing how a manager takes out a pitcher who is loose & dominating through almost 7 innings, Rich Hill of Dodgers, and brings in nervous reliever(s) who get shellacked. 4 run lead gone. Managers do it all the time, big mistake!" Me too. Staggering. Much more staggering is that the President of the United States has nothing else to occupy his energies.

Candice Warner to TFF on Sports Sunday on what was said by the late Phil Hughes’ brother, Jason, to make Warner leave the field while playing for Randwick Petersham: "Look, I’m not going to go into the details, however, David was taken aback by the comments and thought they went a little bit too far so he decided to remove himself from the game ... it went too far. I would personally put [the comments] into the [abuse] category. It was hurtful, very hurtful.”

The kindest version of what Jason Hughes said to Warner: "You're a disgrace, you shouldn't be playing cricket."

Daniel Ricciardo on topping qualifying before the Mexican Grand Prix to take pole position: “I’m tripping major nut-sack right now ... Shout out to the team to get a one-two.”

Ricciardo after yet another DNF at the Mexican Grand Prix, when his car broke down: “I don't think 'frustration' is the word any more. Everything feels hopeless. You know, honestly, now where I am, I don't see the point of coming on Sunday, I don't see the point of doing the next two races. I haven't had a clean race or weekend in so long. I'm not superstitious or any of this bullshit, but . . . the car's cursed.”

Matt Johns announcing his forthcoming retirement from doing the MMM Grill Team: “I’ve done breakfast for eight years. How blokes like Alan Jones keep doing it is unbelievable. Some nights I get to bed about midnight after my Fox Sports show then I’m up at 4am. It’s too much. I just need a break. You know when it’s time.” Been there. Perpetual jet lag – where the jet never quite lands and allows you to recover.

Aussie punter Michael Dickson on making a big play for the Seattle Seahawks: “Yeah, I’ve got big balls. They call me Big Balls Dickson.”

John Coates on Brisbane putting its hand up for the 2032 Olympic Games with a mixed metaphor of all time: “While he has been mindful that Brisbane is considering the Games, I will be briefing him that momentum is building and that this is a very serious bid but, obviously, there are hurdles we have to cross.” And bridges they have to jump?

Team of the week

Boston Red Sox. A ninth world series for the fabled baseball team.

Lewis Hamilton. Won his fifth Formula One driver's championship.

Tyronn Lue. Sacked coach of Cleveland Cavaliers. Literally could not win a game without LeBron James.

Elvis Kamsoba. Avondale FC player the inaugural winner of the Michael Cockerill Medal for the best player from an NPL team in this year's FFA Cup. Born in war-torn Burundi, Kamsoba's family fled to Tanzania when he was just four months old. He spent the next 11 years of his life in a refugee camp. It was there he fell in love with football, although he and his mates had to kick around condoms filled with clothes in lieu of an actual ball.

RIP Todd Reid. The one time winner of Junior Wimbledon, an obvious Australian tennis star of the future, passed away age 34 last weekend.

Sekope Kepu. Became the ninth Wallaby to bring up 100 Tests.

Winx. Now at 29 straight wins and four Cox Plates among them.

RIP Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha. Tragic death of Leicester City owner due to helicopter crash after their game.

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