Cricinfo - Blogs - Different Strokes - An un-Australian sight

That’s why I wasn’t quite sure why I was at the Gabba tonight. It’s normally not my cup of tea to watch a meaningless T20 game with nothing at stake, surrounded by rowdy patrons on a Friday night. But I’m glad I went.

It was a game played at high intensity and at a blistering pace. Shaun Tait was slinging it down at 150 k’s and Michael Dighton from Tasmania hit a six first ball over third slip. It was that sort of pitch. Peter Siddle, after 8 weeks on the slower pitches of India, let fly with a few searing bouncers that went straight over the keeper’s head for five wides. And he smiled.

Brad Hodge played some stunning shots to remind us all that if any Australian batsmen slip up, he can still mix it in the very best company. Justin Langer too peeled back the years and struck a few balls into the crowd.

What was most revealing though was that here was proof that Australian cricket can be played hard and fast but can also be played entirely in the right spirit. There was none of the snarling and muttering that we saw from both teams in the recent Border Gavaskar Trophy. It was just high quality cricket, played by high quality cricketers with no ‘mongrel’ necessary.

What this shows is that Australian cricket too often sells itself short. It's too easy to justify the on-field excesses by claiming that in order to be competitive, they need to fire themselves up by behaving poorly. The sledging and verbals apparently provide the spark to light the genius within.

Tonight’s game has just shown that trash talk for exactly what it is – rubbish. The skills, power and brilliance shown tonight owed nothing to that sort of behaviour. It was purely down to some wonderfully talented cricketers, evenly matched, going at each other with ferocity but without venom. Dropped catches, edges, french cuts and not a hint of the usual vitriol.

Even the behaviour of the crowd was in keeping with this civilised theme. Denied of a team to hate, they seemed to be transfixed by the wonderful entertainment on show from Australia’s best cricketers. They had their personal favourites of course – the local Queenslanders and Gilchrist were cheered louder than most but it just lacked that unpleasant edge that sometimes happens late at night after a thousand beers. This was Australian nightlife at it’s most generous and magnanimous. It’s such a shame that so many of our international visitors to the Gabba don’t get to see this.

The Australian team were ultimately beaten by the AllStars. Some people will point to that and say “see I told you. They were too friendly and that’s why they lost”.

Wrong. They lost because it’s T20 cricket and that happens sometimes. They lost because Australia’s depth is so strong that the ‘2nd XI’ were always a chance to win this game. Perhaps they were a bit tired after the long flight home from India and weren’t quite pumped up for this ‘friendly’ encounter. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that they weren’t trying to win. That would be an insult to both teams.

OK, let’s be realistic – they weren’t playing for sheep stations and perhaps it lacked that little 'something' that comes when you’re playing an International. Even allowing for that, my original point stands. Here were some wonderful cricketers, most of them playing for spots in the Australian team, enjoying cricket for the pure unadulterated joy of it. Smiles instead of snarls. Shrugs instead of sledges. This is what they mean when they talk of playing it hard but fair. Forget the other rubbish of having to abuse somebody to prove you really want to win.

It’s a good to be an Australian tonight. Played hard, played fair, played with a smile on the face. To use an awful cliché, cricket was the winner tonight!

Thanks Mike

The night could have been further improved by not selecting players so soon returned from India. It was alot to ask guys who had only been back in the country for just a few days to come and perform.
By selecting these players in the Australian team, it reinforces that cricket is rapidly dissolving into an uncontrolled, jumbled "caravan" of the different formats.
It's asking alot of everyone involved in the game if Cricket Australia expect players to adapt & perform in a few days from a serious overseas Test Series of the highest quality to chucking themeselves around in a "slogfest" under lights. It's also asking alot of cricket fans in general to credibly support players and administrators as they chop and change in a few days from the "serious" to the "baseball" the "overseas" to the "domestic" and "day" to the "night" versions of the game.

I agree with you that the game was played in a great spirit but this was because no-one was wearing a baggy green.
I think at one stage Australians played every game of cricket like this. Back when the baggy green was just a cap to keep the sun off your face.
We lost something important along the way somewhere. But hey Michael don't expect to see the same cricketers being civilized & smiling and enjoying themselves when the first test starts against NZ.
I wonder now if it is the cricketers fault or the expectations of a certain kind of fairweather cricket follower (you know the ones that care too much about their chosen football code in the winter)being pandered to.
Such a tremendous shame that this type of friendly entertaining cricket isn't the norm. What great role-models these people could be to our aspiring young cricketers. But no, we just get sour faced foul mouthed louts like Ponting.
Pity.

Live and let live.I do not want the Australian Cricket down and out like the west indies.sure, I love the intensity, the thrill, the fizz, some sarcastic comments. Cricket is always not just batting and bowling. But why targetting family members, personal traits, disrespecting national leaders ( as you mentioned this happens after a thousand beers ).
Its just the same feeling you develop when someone gives you back the same stick. So learn the human nature, look for mutual respect, live happily.
If you doubt that the australian cricket is going down and they have started pre series practice matches, its good that at last you have passed the reality test.
All the best for the revival of australian cricket with good spirits and hard cricketting talents. Please shrug off this sledging, snarling, complaining.
If you stop, everyone will stop.

Sridhar, my point was that Australia can play good, hard cricket without the ugly stuff if they really want to. OK, it wasn't quite the intensity of a full-blown international game but Tait was still bowling very fast and just about everyone else was trying to impress national selectors. Even allowing for a bit of that 'relaxed' atmosphere, it was still very competitive. Which only goes to prove the point that you can still play good, hard cricket with a smile on your face. No real need for all the other stuff.
Too many people confuse sledging with competitiveness. I don't. Friday night's game was a good example of how you can play with spirit but it doesn't need to become personal and abusive. I just wish we could see more of it. I'm just hoping that Aust can see that it's still possible to play cricket this way and still try to win. The two qualities are not mutually exclusive - it is possible to be a gentleman and still be competitive. I fear though that it won't happen!