XLNT article by Craddock-on Aussies and the spirit of cricket!!!

[Rajan]

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23046492-5003413,00.html Written pledge on cricket behaviour is a mistake Robert Craddock AUSTRALIAN cricket is in a state of confusion as the national team tries to assume two incompatible identities . . . bully boys and moral guardians. Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland last week gave the Australians the right to continue their hard-edged approach to the game with a "carry on sledging" themed press conference when he said the game was not tiddlywinks. Fair enough. No surprises there. Sutherland was guilty of misreading the mood of a huge number of fans not happy with the side's behaviour but at least he was encouraging the side to be what it was. But yesterday in Perth the team had a meeting about reinforcing their commitment to the Spirit of Cricket pledge they penned during the final years of Steve Waugh's captaincy. And this is where the trouble starts. The cold hard facts of modern sporting life is that you can be either Mike Tyson or Mother Teresa, but you can't be both. And when you try to be both – as Australia will – you get branded hypocrites. And not without justification. When other nations read Australia's august Spirit of Cricket pledge, their eyebrows almost lift off their foreheads because their impression of the team is of a hard-edged, sharp-tongued, no-nonsense group of ruthless professional sportsmen who do what they have to do to win. There's generally no problems with that. Great modern sporting teams – the All Blacks, Manchester United, Real Madrid, the New York Yankees and many others – are never known for being nice. The outside world can grudgingly accept Australia's arrogance . . . but they can do without the empty moral posturing. One of the seven Spirit of Cricket pledges that grates rivals is to do with cultural tolerance. It goes: "We acknowledge and respect our opponents may hold different cultural values and beliefs from our own. By treating our opponents with dignity and forging bonds of mutual respect we will overcome any cultural barriers." Ouch. Sorry boys, we might have to take the halo off for that one. Let's not kid ourselves. That pledge might be suited to the Vienna Boys Choir but, sadly, it has no place in the values of a modern Australian cricket team. Just as well Australia was, according to its pledge, committed to building moral bridges in the Sydney Test.Otherwise the two nations would be firing nuclear weapons at each other by now.Australia could well have done without introducing the pretentious pledge. Former selection chairman Trevor Hohns had a policy of never writing policy down on paper because he believed that, once you did, you became trapped by it. The players should have done the same thing. Just a collective effort to lift their game would have been good enough. Scribes and players from around the globe have had little sympathy with the Australians in the cold war with India. The culture debate yesterday took top South African journalist Neil Manthorp back to a quote from feisty former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga after Shane Warne accused him of failing to appreciate Australia's culture. "Don't talk to me about culture – mine is 5000 years old, yours is five minutes," Ranatunga said. Manthorp, remembering the searing personal abuse the current South African captain Graeme Smith copped in his first series against the Australians, felt the Aussies are getting criticism they have long deserved. "For many years and many tours in Australia players from the subcontinent have felt belittled and humiliated by an Australian sporting 'culture' which is based on a win-at-all-costs approach and which makes little allowance for the sensitivities of its opponents. "Now, however, the twin forces of 'Westernisation' and the acceptance that India, in fact – not Australia or England – controls the financial well-being of the global game have resulted in the current impasse. "For decades the Australian cricket team has mimicked the schoolboy who challenges his rival to a race with a smile on his face, counts 'ready, steady', and then makes a dash for the finish line before uttering the word 'go'. "The 'Aussie way', so cherished and protected by generations of players, includes the perfectly acceptable (to them) habit of questioning their opponents' sexual practices and orientation, their parentage and, indeed, the apparent bedroom fetishes of their sisters." Harsh words indeed. But when you dish it out . . . ======================= This guy is one of the most respected writers on Cricket, in fact sports in Australia.

[Chandan]

It is so true. There is no problem if Australia bullies and don't show any self integrity in claiming grassed catches and so on, if they move at win at any cost theory. It is when they start showing themselves as someone who plays with the spirit of the game, the problem arises. Trying to be something which one is clearly not is being a hypocrite. I hope India doesn't fall into this trap again. If someone missed the post in the sledging thread. there is a separate chapter dedicated to spirit of game: And now this is a code the players themselves are supposed to have authored:

The Players' Spirit of Australian Cricket

As cricketers who represent Australia we acknowledge and embrace

.The Spirit of

Cricket

. and the laws of our game.

This Players' Spirit of Australian Cricket serves as a guide to the shared standards of behaviour that we expect of ourselves and of the values we hold.

Our on-field behaviour

We play our cricket hard but fair and accept all umpiring decisions as a mark of respect for our opponents, the umpires, ourselves and the game.

We view positive play, pressure, body language and banter between opponents and ourselves as legitimate tactics and integral parts of the competitive nature of cricket.

We do not condone or engage in sledging or any other conduct that constitutes personal abuse.

We encourage the display of passion and emotion as a sign of our enjoyment and pride in the game, as a celebration of our achievements and as a sign of respect for our opponents.

Our off-field behaviour

It is acknowledged that we have a private life to lead but understand our off-field conduct has the potential to reflect either positively or adversely on us as individuals and also on the game of cricket.

We consider off field conduct that may be likely to warrant legitimate public criticism to be unacceptable conduct.

Our team

We take pride in our sense of the importance of the team and acknowledge the role of the team captain and our direct support staff. We demonstrate this by displaying loyalty and compassion to each other, by accepting our role as mentors and by supporting each other to abide by these values.

We value honesty and accept that every member of the team has a role to play in shaping, and abiding by our shared standards and expectations.

We strive to be regarded as the best team in the world. We measure this by our on field achievements and by exploring ways in which we might continue to .raise the bar

. in respect of our own professionalism.

We acknowledge and follow the traditions of our game while encouraging and accepting experimentation that will enable us to create our own traditions and history. We do this in the expectation that we will leave the game in a better shape than it

was before we arrived.