Michael Clarke and Simon Katich clash over non-aggression pact

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https://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/india-vs-australia-michael-clarke-and-simon-katich-clash-over-non-aggression-pact/story-VDN9rQa2rggoD3B7Ud56pI.html

 

Michael Clarke and Simon Katich famously clashed physically in the dressing room when they were Test players and this week they have become embroiled in a verbal disagreement over Australia’s commitment to be less aggressive on the pitch.

Clarke joined a chorus of former players who have criticised the new ethos propagated in the wake of March’s ball-tampering scandal, saying Australia’s chances of success would be compromised if their aggressive streak was tempered.

“You don’t need to be best mates with everyone. Australian cricket, I think, needs to stop worrying about being liked and start worrying about being respected,” former Australia captain Clarke told Macquarie Sports Radio.

“Play tough Australian cricket. Because whether we like it or not, that’s in our blood.

“If you try and walk away from it, we might be the most liked team in the world, we’re not going to win (anything). We won’t win a game. Boys and girls want to win.”

Katich, a former Test opener, has been touted as a candidate to join the Cricket Australia (CA) board in the wake of a highly critical cultural review that forced the resignation of chairman David Peever.

Among the findings of the Longstaff Review was that on-field abuse of opponents had been “normalised” and a culture of “winning without counting the cost” had been fostered in the Australian game.

Katich thought Clarke had missed the point. “What’s been forgotten in all of this is we blatantly cheated and the reason we’re at this point now, and what led us to this point, and we talk about the line that was talked about for so long,” he told SEN radio.

“The point is, we were caught for blatantly cheating and we have to rectify that as soon as possible to earn back the respect of the cricketing public in Australia and worldwide.

“We’ve been a disliked team for a number of years through that on-field behaviour and it obviously came to a head in Cape Town. They can still play the Australian way in terms of playing competitive and playing fairly, but not going over the top and going across the rules like they did in Cape Town.”

Captain Steve Smith and his vice captain David Warner were banned for a year, while batsman Cameron Bancroft was suspended for nine months by Cricket Australia for the attempts to tamper with the ball in a test against South Africa in Cape Town.

Tim Paine will lead the side into a four-Test home series against India next week, having vowed to eradicate the verbal abuse, or sledging, under his captaincy.

 

[Zero_Unit]

Clark needs to be honest here. Does Tim Pain look like he has it in him to be a savage? Pain looks like a guy you could bully, not the bully himself.

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26 minutes ago, Zero_Unit said:

Clark needs to be honest here. Does Tim Pain look like he has it in him to be a savage? Pain looks like a guy you could bully, not the bully himself.

Paine already declined Clarke's request

[putrevus]

Mr. Clarke what is Australian way ,is it edging to first slip and still standing and claiming the catch which clearly bounced . Or holding opposition batsmen like you held Sachin.

Smith and co were caught blatantly using sand paper who know how long this has been going on. You should just shut up and let Paine be nice boy for a change.


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[goose]

Agree with Clarke. 

[Lannister]

Their lack of skills or lack of win drove them to ball tampering saga. This was coming when ICC turned a blind eye on their ugly behaviour all those years. After 2015 WC, other teams had started to catch up with them and some teams even went past. Now any team has a decent chance to win against Australia and that made them desperate and opt for underhanded tactics. 

[Global.Baba]

This whole Aussie aggression thing is so overrated and fake. Sure, guys like Warne,Ponting,McGrath,Hayden,Lee, Waugh brothers had a swagger that comes naturally with the confidence of being one of the best in the world.

 

Guys like Gillespee and Gilchrist came across as nice guys anyways.

 

Rest is a bunch of hot-air

 

 

Edited November 29, 2018 by Global.Baba

[WeStMiDz]

To be honest the series will lose appeal if Aussies are all nice nice. How good was the contest between Mitchell Johnson & Kohli/Rahane last time?

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Former Australian captain Michael Clarke has angrily rejected suggestions he helped create a culture that led to the ball-tampering scandal, slamming a leading broadcaster as a “headline-chasing coward”.

The war-of-words stems from comments Clarke made on Wednesday criticising attempts to improve the cricket team’s image in the wake of the cheating row in South Africa this year, insisting they “won’t win a game” without their infamous abrasive attitude.

“Australian cricket, I think, needs to stop worrying about being liked and start worrying about being respected,” he told commercial radio. “Play tough Australian cricket. Whether we like it or not, that’s in our blood.”

Long-time Clarke rival Simon Katich blasted him for “once again ... missing the point”, saying the team were caught “blatantly cheating” and that “our behaviour is a big part of that”.

 

Current skipper Tim Paine, who has advocated a more nice-guy approach, also weighed in, saying the team’s friendlier way of playing was not so much about being liked, but knowing when to ease up on the aggression.

But it was the reaction from Melbourne-based sports broadcaster and writer Gerard Whateley that sparked a scathing Instagram response from Clarke late Wednesday.

“Clarke’s interpretation of the predicament the Australian men’s Test team finds itself in is breathtaking,” said Whateley. “That he would continue to rely on the line -- the fiction his and subsequent teams used to excuse all manner of boorish behaviour -- might be the single greatest piece of nonsense over the past nine months.”

Clarke said he would not stand by while “my leadership, my integrity” were attacked, insisting his conduct as an honest and rules-based captain had never been questioned.

“For Gerard Whateley to insinuate that I am responsible for the ball-tampering issue makes him nothing more than a headline-chasing coward,” Clarke wrote.

 

“If you think that the current No.1 team in the world in cricket right now puts being liked as of higher importance than being respected and playing to win inside the rules of our game than you’re as delirious as you are ill-informed.”

The cheating scandal involved Australian players using sandpaper to alter the flight of the ball in a Test match against South Africa last March in Cape Town.

Coach Darren Lehmann quit in the wake of the controversy and then-captain Steve Smith, deputy David Warner and batsman Cameron Bancroft received lengthy bans.

The affair also claimed the scalps of Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland and chairman David Peever. The Australians have endured a dire run of form since losing 17 matches out of 24 in all formats, ahead of a home Test series against top-ranked India starting on December 6.

 

 

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Sunil Gavaskar tears into Australian team, says ‘they tend to break the line between cheating & gamesmanship’

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/sunil-gavaskar-tears-into-australian-team-says-they-tend-to-break-the-line-between-cheating-gamesmanship/story-nS8rTcSodY57CyyZojUnhM.html

“Their attitude over the years has been most different from other teams where they look to win at all cost. There is a fine line between breaking the rule and bending the rule. And their (culture) review told the world that their administrators did nothing about it,” Gavaskar told India Today.

“They tend to break the fine line between cheating and gamesmanship. They tell us we will not cross the line but what their line is no one knows. It’s like our line of control.”

“Australians coming in and engaging in abuse, I have never understood that. That’s why now when they are losing, everyone is laughing. While even the Windies team is struggling, everyone wants them to come up. That’s the difference. That’s why people liked the West Indies team that won so much. Even Australia had a team that dominated for more than a decade but no one liked them for the way they played,” Gavaskar said.