Homeworkgate: Watson, Pattinson among four axed for third Test

[Crookbond]

I was wrong but find it hard to accept suspension: Shane Watson Watson indeed has sacrificed a lot for the team including sticking to rehabilitation programs and obeying every CA order (like withdrawal from CLT20 last year). I think he deserves the right to express disappointment for the punishment. http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-australia-2013/content/current/story/624698.html

Shane Watson challenged Australia's team performance manager Pat Howard to research his reputation as a team man among cricketers around the country and denied he had any major problems with the captain Michael Clarke on his early return home from the India tour. Having left Chandigarh to spend time with his pregnant wife following his dumping from the team for the third Test alongside James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and Usman Khawaja, Watson declared Howard did not know him or the game well enough to make the contention that he only "sometimes" does the best thing for the team. "All I can really say is go around and ask every person I've ever played cricket with and that will give you the best indication of whether I'm a team man or not," Watson said at Sydney airport. "Pat Howard doesn't particularly know me very well. He's come from a rugby background and hasn't been in and around cricket very long. I think the best people to ask are the people I've played cricket with and they'll be able to give their honest opinion." As for Clarke, of whom Howard said he and Watson had to "sort their issues out", the vice-captain insisted their relationship was strong. Watson also revealed he had spoken to Clarke immediately after landing in Australia following the airing of Howard's comments. "The way relationships work, there's always ups and downs like there is in marriages, friendships and everything," Watson said of Clarke. "I've been playing cricket with and against Michael Clarke since I was 12. We've got a lot of history as people. We're obviously quite different people in certain ways but very very similar in a lot of ways as well. "In the end, like you do in every relationship, it goes up and down and things are going really well at the moment with me and Michael. With Pat Howard, he's only come on board the last year and a half. Myself and Michael go a little bit further back than a year and a half." Maintaining his view that the sanctions for four players having failed to send in feedback ahead of the third Test was extremely harsh, Watson noted how many bouts of injury and rehab he had battled through to keep playing for Australia. "I, with a few other guys, took it as leading into the Test match and I got that extremely wrong, which meant that it's cost me a Test match," he said. "They [the leadership group] obviously thought that was the right decision for the team at this point in time. I accept that I did the wrong thing with what I did, but I will always find it very hard to accept being suspended from a Test match for my country. "I've missed Test matches and games through injury throughout my career. I feel like I've worked my absolute bum off to have an opportunity to represent my country. When that's taken away from you, you think the actions must be very severe. That's where we differ on our opinions. I think it's extremely harsh. I expressed my extreme disappointment with the punishment. But everything happens for a reason in your life." Watson's father has spoken of how a future without international competition may be comfortably filled by Twenty20 duty in the IPL and for other clubs, and the sometime allrounder said he would be carefully weighing up his love of the game and the hurt this suspension has caused him. "It'll give me a chance to reflect on what's really happened over the past couple of days and be able to absorb what's happened and have a think about where things are at," he said. "I absolutely love playing cricket. I love nothing more than being able to have the opportunity and privilege to represent my country. That's something that, when it was taken away from me with this suspension - well, the guys back in India know how much it hurts me."

[I6MTW]

Everybody in the team is changing there words. First he said I did nothing wrong and now he is saying I've done wrong but I wont accept it

[saneindian]

As per this report , following were the previous instances of indiscipline 1. Wellness reports, which players are asked to complete daily explaining everything, right down to how many hours' sleep they got, were not being completed and sent to the team's strength and conditioning trainer. There has been concern over some players' skinfolds. 2. Some have worn the wrong uniforms when they step out to training or in transit. 3. Scheduled appointments with the support staff, including physiotherapist Alex Kountouris, had been brushed aside without explanation as a general slackness set in over the past fortnight. http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/homework-saga-just-the-tipping-point-20130312-2fyl2.html#ixzz2NLb8n4vx

[G_B_]

As per this report , following were the previous instances of indiscipline 1. Wellness reports, which players are asked to complete daily explaining everything, right down to how many hours' sleep they got, were not being completed and sent to the team's strength and conditioning trainer. There has been concern over some players' skinfolds. 2. Some have worn the wrong uniforms when they step out to training or in transit. 3. Scheduled appointments with the support staff, including physiotherapist Alex Kountouris, had been brushed aside without explanation as a general slackness set in over the past fortnight. http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/homework-saga-just-the-tipping-point-20130312-2fyl2.html#ixzz2NLb8n4vx

i wonder what caused the aussies to be this slack in india? Are they out partying extra hard or something or what?

[GoldenSun]

As per this report , following were the previous instances of indiscipline 1. Wellness reports, which players are asked to complete daily explaining everything, right down to how many hours' sleep they got, were not being completed and sent to the team's strength and conditioning trainer. There has been concern over some players' skinfolds. 2. Some have worn the wrong uniforms when they step out to training or in transit. 3. Scheduled appointments with the support staff, including physiotherapist Alex Kountouris, had been brushed aside without explanation as a general slackness set in over the past fortnight. http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/homework-saga-just-the-tipping-point-20130312-2fyl2.html#ixzz2NLb8n4vx

These are things you would expect from Pakistan... not Australia. WTH happened to the Aussies?

[vamos_rafa]

i wonder what caused the aussies to be this slack in india? Are they out partying extra hard or something or what?

They are only focusing on the Ashes I guess :winky:

[Crookbond]

Hilarious take by the telegraph on this incident! Revealed! The Australian cricket team's powerpoint presentations :hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical: :giggle:

[Sachin=GOD]

^:hysterical::hysterical:

[GoldenSun]

All this spectacle has done is make India and English LAUGH at Australia. The Australian dressing room will be fragile for months.

[Old guy]

this is killing me now non stop fun!

[Jersey #10]

With pattinson out, they have no hope

[GoldenSun]

When did Australian Cricket turn into a joke? Everyone on Cricinfo are admonishing Clarke for using methods of power play. This is going to be more detrimental for a team that barely has 4 months to get itself ready for back to back Ashes series. He and Arthur made a much ado about nothing. If anything CA should have fined these players at max. All this has done is destroyed the chemistry in the team. Watson does not deserve this collateral damage that he is receiving.

[veer]

pattinson might play' date='he regrets[/quote'] Nope.. all four will sit out this game... otherwise it is going to get even uglier.. Clarke is man of his word..

[Shunya]

full2 comedy...unexpected from aussies...but as always we always fluster them some way or the other...surely bhajji did something again..lol

[zakk]

Hilarious take by the telegraph on this incident! Revealed! The Australian cricket team's powerpoint presentations :hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical: :giggle:

:hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical:

[Ram]

Absolutely love the Aussie team management for doing what they did. When you play team sport at the professional level, there are some non-negotiable principles that you need to abide by, chief among them being your commitment to team discipline. We all know that teams have scheduled net or training sessions regularly. These pre-planned sessions are not just to hone your cricketing skills, but also to entrench team discipline. Sachin Tendulkar does not have to practice to be able to bat successfully, but he still has to turn up at the nets, in the appointed time. If you dont, it means you are willing to comply orders. You are sending a message of defiance. Where there is defiance, the leadership is marginalized. When leadership of a team is weakened, then it significantly reduces the chances of success. This not just applies to sports, but for any group to operate successfully, there has to be a leader and followers. Without this model, consistent outcomes cannot be guaranteed. This was one of the main problems with a team like Pakistan thru much of the 90s and 00s. Most times, their team had several ex-captains who could not be bothered. Other senior pros like Afridi and Akhtar often considered them as a law unto themselves. This reflected in Pakistan's dramatic fall in world cricket from the mid 90s onwards to till now. Whether you like the Aussies or not, you gotto love what they did in this occasion. P.S; it should not be ignored that clearly, there is some big time crisis going on inside with Mickey Arthur's coaching. Its quite apparent that he seems to have lost control and command. This looks like a desperate, last ditch attempt to restore order.

[Crookbond]

Absolutely love the Aussie team management for doing what they did. When you play team sport at the professional level, there are some non-negotiable principles that you need to abide by, chief among them being your commitment to team discipline. We all know that teams have scheduled net or training sessions regularly. These pre-planned sessions are not just to hone your cricketing skills, but also to entrench team discipline. Sachin Tendulkar does not have to practice to be able to bat successfully, but he still has to turn up at the nets, in the appointed time. If you dont, it means you are willing to comply orders. You are sending a message of defiance. Where there is defiance, the leadership is marginalized. When leadership of a team is weakened, then it significantly reduces the chances of success.

I repeated this point earlier and repeating it once again - why not insert command on a cricketing reason? The drop for HW is just too small a case than playing cross batted shots when specifically asked not to.

[Ram]

I repeated this point earlier and repeating it once again - why not insert command on a cricketing reason? The drop for HW is just too small a case than playing cross batted shots when specifically asked not to.

I think Clarke's made it quite clear that the home-work gate was only the last straw that broke the camel's back. Like I indicated earlier, it seems pretty clear now that Mickey Arthur's authority within the Aussie camp has been ignored/challenged for quite a while now. I think it came to a point where they felt something had to be done before the situation became irreversibly bad.

[Crookbond]

I think Clarke's made it quite clear that the home-work gate was only the last straw that broke the camel's back. Like I indicated earlier' date=' it seems pretty clear now that Mickey Arthur's authority within the Aussie camp has been ignored/challenged for quite a while now. I think it came to a point where they felt something had to be done before the situation became irreversibly bad.[/quote'] Interestingly the two other players I was talking about was Hughes and Warner who played cross batted shots (sweeps) despite asking not to do so. A perfect cricketing situation for an infraction like Damien Martyn's waft which put him out of the side for 6 years. But nothing has been done despite a valid cricketing reason. Clarke would very well understand that preparation is an individual trait and you can't force your preparation on others. This is well established in history of cricket - be it Botham/Brearley or Sarfaraz/Imran. For example, Dravid never practiced a day ahead of a Test match. Would you call him lazy? No, that was his preparation. Clarke's jobs is not to build a military but to marshall his troops. There is a difference between the two and ATM he doesn't understand. Do NOT for a moment think that this is Arthur's decision - he never has and in all likeliness is not that sort of a guy. Clarke with previous issues with Symonds, Katich and Hussey is very well known authoritarian. This is Michael Clarke behind this with Arthur as a shield for the media since the retirement of Hussey has stepped up his role.

[Ram]

Interestingly the two other players I was talking about was Hughes and Warner who played cross batted shots (sweeps) despite asking not to do so. A perfect cricketing situation for an infraction like Damien Martyn's waft which put him out of the side for 6 years. But nothing has been done despite a valid cricketing reason.

This is an interesting point. Can you punish a player for an indiscreet shot while batting? I would say it depends on the circumstance. Just because a batsmen gets out to a cross-bat slog to a part-timer is not grounds enough to castigate him. Btw, dropping players (especially batsmen) for their failure to respond to pressure situations in a quality way actually happens all the time in cricket. For example, half of the Pakistani players ODI careers nose-dived after the fiasco with India in the WC quarter-finals in 1996.

Clarke would very well understand that preparation is an individual trait and you can't force your preparation on others. This is well established in history of cricket - be it Botham/Brearley or Sarfaraz/Imran. For example, Dravid never practiced a day ahead of a Test match. Would you call him lazy? No, that was his preparation. Clarke's jobs is not to build a military but to marshall his troops. There is a difference between the two and ATM he doesn't understand.

I dont think we are talking the same thing. I recognize that each player has his own unique ways of preparation. I am not advocating for a near-uniform way for all players to warm-up before the match. Clearly, that is not the case. A player, given a past record that validates his approach, is well within his right to adopt a suitable technique that fulfills his own unique needs the best. But we are not talking approaches here. We are talking defiance and disrespect. When all the team members are asked to do something and you dont, the clearly tells that you dont care for authority, nor do you respect leadership. That is not a sustainable culture in a team situation.

Do NOT for a moment think that this is Arthur's decision - he never has and in all likeliness is not that sort of a guy. Clarke with previous issues with Symonds, Katich and Hussey is very well known authoritarian. This is Michael Clarke behind this with Arthur as a shield for the media since the retirement of Hussey has stepped up his role.

Hmm, that could be true, though we cant say for sure.