Jarrod Kimber: The Ugly Australian

[PhatBoy]

http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/st...ustralian--the-evolution-of-a-cricket-species

If you’ve got a spare 10 minutes this is a seriously interesting read.

And also produced a fact that I had no idea about: since 1970, South Africa has the best winning percentage of all test nations. Not bad considering they missed 20 years when they would largely have had a champion team.

 

[Richard Pryor]

http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/st...ustralian--the-evolution-of-a-cricket-species

If you’ve got a spare 10 minutes this is a seriously interesting read.

And also produced a fact that I had no idea about: since 1970, South Africa has the best winning percentage of all test nations. Not bad considering they missed 20 years when they would largely have had a champion team.

Off the top of my head I don't think South Africa has ever had a straight up bad side, and probably not even a mediocre one, since coming back to international cricket.

 

[PhatBoy]

Off the top of my head I don't think South Africa has ever had a straight up bad side, and probably not even a mediocre one, since coming back to international cricket.

Considering the factors they’ve dealt with in that time, it’s a pretty remarkable feat. Australia for what it’s worth have not been laughably bad in that period either but I think on the overall score of consistency SA have been the more solid side

 

[Ishikawa]

Fantastic article that really captures the Australian cricketing psyche and the underlying cultural norms that prevail at each level. Never witnessed anything physical though in my 15 years of playing so perhaps that part is not representative.

That's what Australia has been doing for generations. They needle until you crack. And when you blow up, they claim persecution. No one plays the moral high ground better than an Australian who seconds earlier was the instigator.

This paragraph sums the attitude of many up perfectly.

 

[PhatBoy]

Fantastic article that really captures the Australian cricketing psyche and the underlying cultural norms that prevail at each level. Never witnessed anything physical though in my 15 years of playing so perhaps that part is not representative.



This paragraph sums the attitude of many up perfectly.

I absolutely loved the way he separated the quality of australia’s cricket from the volume of Australia’s sledging and related the latter to the former rather than vice versa.

Just to re-iterate a stance I’ve had to clarify many times, I don’t mind a bowler saying a word or two in their follow through to a batsman he has in trouble. It comes with the territory especially for a quick - you’re fired up, you’re pushing your body to the brink like perhaps nobody else on such a repetitive basis in a non contact sport.

But I don’t see why it has to go further. Likewise a clever quip from the field or a reminder to your teammates of the type of situation the batsman might be in (sangakkara was good at that from memory, so was Boucher).

 

[Gough]

Winning covered up a multitude of sins in Australian cricket. Carry on like Warner did while you're losing as well and everyone just thinks that you are an a grade f***wit, win and you're tactical genius like Steve Waugh with his mental disintegration. No wonder they resorted to cheating.

 

[R Chee Manning]

'They run like a pack of dogs' said FAF.

Aussies are proud of behaving like wild rabid dogs.. they even have a name for it - the 'mongrel spirit'.

 

[DeadlyAkkuret]

Aussies are bullies etc. yawn...

When another team gets to the level we reached for 10+ years I’ll bet there won’t be a similar article regardless of how they behave.

No one else will reach that level, though.


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[R Chee Manning]

Aussies are bullies etc. yawn...

When another team gets to the level we reached for 10+ years I’ll bet there won’t be a similar article regardless of how they behave.


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When India reaches that level... (2-1 last summer) there won't be a similar article - you're right.

There's only one cricketing nation in the world that is made up of aggressive, arrogant, boorish bogans.

 

[R Chee Manning]

http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/st...ustralian--the-evolution-of-a-cricket-species

If you’ve got a spare 10 minutes this is a seriously interesting read.

It's a great read and thanks for sharing.

It's refreshing to see that not all Aussies subscribe to the 'ugly mongrel' 'win at all costs' approach to cricket.

It's heartening for Kiwis to re-watch the underarm incident and see Rod Marsh go 'No mate' before the ball was delivered and see him go up to Edgar and McKechnie immediately afterwards and apologise.

Not all Australians are assholes.

 

[PhatBoy]

It's a great read and thanks for sharing.

It's refreshing to see that not all Aussies subscribe to the 'ugly mongrel' 'win at all costs' approach to cricket.

It's heartening for Kiwis to re-watch the underarm incident and see Rod Marsh go 'No mate' before the ball was delivered and see him go up to Edgar and McKechnie immediately afterwards and apologise.

Not all Australians are assholes.

For all the things I don’t like about Marsh throughout the years, not least of all his joke selectorial practices, it’s one thing that’s always stood out to me, he knew it was wrong and he didn’t just let it happen, he at least tried something to avoid it

 

[PhatBoy]

Aussies are bullies etc. yawn...

When another team gets to the level we reached for 10+ years I’ll bet there won’t be a similar article regardless of how they behave.

No one else will reach that level, though.


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Either you didn’t bother reading it or it’s content went straight over your head.

A team already reached that level before Australia did it, by the way. And yes, it had some f***wits in it too.

 

[R Chee Manning]

A team already reached that level before Australia did it, by the way. And yes, it had some f***wits in it too.

I remember going to Lancaster Park with my Dad to see the Windies v NZ in 1980...

Viv Richards had decided not to come and it was clear that the rest weren't really that keen on playing a cricketing minnow like Aotearoa.

We won the first test - by one wicket.

Come the second test, in CHCH... the Windies even went on strike at one stage - refusing to play for about 12minutes...



And then of course there was this ugly incident...



So yes... Australians aren't the only ones who can play cricket with an ugly attitude.

 

[PhatBoy]

I remember going to Lancaster Park with my Dad to see the Windies v NZ in 1980...

Viv Richards had decided not to come and it was clear that the rest weren't really that keen on playing a cricketing minnow like Aotearoa.

We won the first test - by one wicket.

Come the second test, in CHCH... the Windies even went on strike at one stage - refusing to play for about 12minutes...



And then of course there was this ugly incident...



So yes... Australians aren't the only ones who can play cricket with an ugly attitude.

Absolutely. Croft and Holding in particular had some ugly moments. They were a mixture of white line fever idiots and gentlemen

 

[Ishikawa]

Aussies are bullies etc. yawn...

When another team gets to the level we reached for 10+ years I’ll bet there won’t be a similar article regardless of how they behave.

No one else will reach that level, though.


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Didn't read the article then

I recommend it, it's a good one that goes far beyond any cliches.

 

[R Chee Manning]

It is a great article.

Particularly as the writer admits himself that he also engaged in the time honored Australian traditions of sledging and cheating.

I think that's why this article is so potent.

 

[Kram]

Winning covered up a multitude of sins in Australian cricket. Carry on like Warner did while you're losing as well and everyone just thinks that you are an a grade f***wit, win and you're tactical genius like Steve Waugh with his mental disintegration. No wonder they resorted to cheating.

This was the number 1 crime for mine.

 

[Caesar]

And also produced a fact that I had no idea about: since 1970, South Africa has the best winning percentage of all test nations. Not bad considering they missed 20 years when they would largely have had a champion team.

Alternatively you could conclude that they have such a high winning percentage because they missed 20 years when everyone else was being flogged by the West Indies.

 

[Caj]

What a load of trollop. It's easy to kick the Australian team, but they're no different to a couple of other international teams out there

India go on with all sorts of crap on the field, then play the victim (monkeygate anyone?) and England aren't much better. No mention of Du Plesiss (sp) multiple ball tampering charges etc.

 

[PhatBoy]

Alternatively you could conclude that they have such a high winning percentage because they missed 20 years when everyone else was being flogged by the West Indies.

When they were speared, they had a side better equipped than any other to challenge the West Indies. They had just utterly destroyed an Australian side that was full of quality shortly before their turfing.

Their re-entry into the sport was to make the World Cup semi finals (should have made the final probably), getting within 50 runs of beating the West Indies at Kensington Oval in their first test for 20 years and then winning a series against India.
Given the volume of star players who never even played a test, I think it’s more likely that they would have competed than not

 

[sherb]

I get a bit tired of reading about the poor behaviour of Australian teams, when you had incidents like this occur.

The West Indies may have been great cricketers but they were not in any way great sportsmen - they were as ruthless and their behaviour as questionable as any Australian side I have seen.

https://www.cricketcountry.com/arti...-jones-is-run-out-in-unfortunate-manner-24531

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

What a load of trollop. It's easy to kick the Australian team, but they're no different to a couple of other international teams out there

India go on with all sorts of crap on the field, then play the victim (monkeygate anyone?) and England aren't much better. No mention of Du Plesiss (sp) multiple ball tampering charges etc.

When England are winning, they are worse than Australians. Jimmy Anderson is a classic example. When he thinks England are in a winning position, he's in there abusing everyone within earshot. The moment he cops it back, he goes running to the press whingeing about those horrid Australians saying nasty things to him. I've never been able to respect him. His mate Broad gives it, takes it, and just gets on with it. Far easier to respect someone like that.

 

[The Speaker]

Alternatively you could conclude that they have such a high winning percentage because they missed 20 years when everyone else was being flogged by the West Indies.

Given the players South Africa had during that era, I strongly doubt the West Indies would've had the stranglehold they did over world cricket had the Saffers been playing.

If we were to imagine a team playing in 1980, they would've looked something like:

Barry Richards
Jimmy Cook
Peter Kirsten
Graeme Pollock
Clive Rice
Mike Procter
Alan Kourie
Ray Jennings
Vince van der Bijl
Denys Hobson
Garth Le Roux

with Adrian Kuiper, Kenny Watson and Stephen Jefferies hanging around.

 

[Ron The Bear]

Thought it was pretty demeaning to club cricketers. The author is an admitted cheat, ball tamperer and sledger, and tars the rest of us with the same brush. Maybe he was just unlucky to be at a bad club... and elected to stay there.

The article is replete with bits and pieces of identity politics and though it contains some grains of truth, it is pretty erratic in its reasoning. Take the following:

It may only be club cricket, but that is not how it feels. My father played for his team until he needed two knee replacements because of his frequent 30-over days. My uncle would toss his bat when he was out, and used his knowledge of the laws to push the limits of cricket. Once, when I was 13 and my finger was snapped at slip, I went off the field, someone got some electrical tape and taped my fingers together and sent me back out.

That is what you did. It was your club, your mates, it meant something, so you put in. You risk your body, or sledge until you get a lifetime ban.

It was about winning, at any cost.

The writer conflates putting yourself on the line for your team with bending the rules and sledging. He makes mateship and belonging to a club sound dirty. Not sure he ever got it.

Then there's the sidebar titled "Ugly Australians: a brief history".

1981 Greg Chappell, Australia's captain, asked his brother Trevor to roll the last ball of the tri-series final on the ground so that Brian McKechnie couldn't hit it over the fence for the six runs needed for New Zealand to win. Richie Benaud called it "one of the worst things I have ever seen done on a cricket field".
Sure, acknowledged by all as incredibly unsporting

1981 The image of Javed Miandad, bat raised, ready to smash Dennis Lillee over the head, after the two had words in the wake of Lillee obstructing Miandad while he took a run did not, thankfully, translate into actual physical violence.
Is Javed the bad guy, then?

1995 Curtly Ambrose had to be pulled away from Steve Waugh after the Australian swore at him in the Trinidad Test.
Waugh swore? Oh no.

2003 Glenn McGrath v Ramnaresh Sarwan could have turned uglier than it actually was, after McGrath needled Sarwan with homophobic abuse and Sarwan retaliated with a comment about McGrath's wife
Sledging match won by Sarwan. If it's going to end with you losing your shit, best not to get involved. Is homophobia the crime being highlighted?

2004 and 2009 Two Australian players (Justin Langer and Brad Haddin, now both on the Australian coaching staff) have knocked the bails off "accidentally" and had their teams try to claim wickets.
Can't recall these. Sounds grubby as described. Any action from CA or the ICC?

2013 David Warner got in trouble when he took a swipe at Joe Root in a pub in the UK.
Off-field incident. Warner's a dickhead, we all realise that.

2017 Steve O'Keefe was suspended and fined A$20,000 for a "drunken rant" aimed at fellow New South Wales player Rachel Haynes.
Off-field incident. Is ranting at a female the crime?

2018 Warner again, this time in an argument that nearly led to a fistfight with Quinton de Kock in a stairwell after de Kock said inappropriate things about Warner's wife.
Sledging match won by de Kock. See above re McGrath.

Then there's his thinly-disguised contempt for the pub rock scene of the 70's/early 80's where he seems to be implying something he's not prepared to come out and state. Jimmy Barnes shouted? So what.

Any valid points are lost in a torrent of cultural cringe.

 

[Blue1980]

I get a bit tired of reading about the poor behaviour of Australian teams, when you had incidents like this occur.

The West Indies may have been great cricketers but they were not in any way great sportsmen - they were as ruthless and their behaviour as questionable as any Australian side I have seen.

https://www.cricketcountry.com/arti...-jones-is-run-out-in-unfortunate-manner-24531

Yes the slow over rate stuff too, especially towards the end of their reign, like in 1990 when they deliberately slowed their over rate to prevent England from winning.

And I do remember that run out very well.

The English taking high moral ground on Aussie behavior is just BS old colonialism wanting to feel they are superior to us, while ignoring their own behavior.