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Journalism of Courage
Come on lads,catch it, said Michael Clarke,after the fast-falling leather had landed a safe distance between him and a few other Aussie players. He didnt scream it out,yet it was heard echoing clearly around the PCA stadium for it was one of only two voices that chirped during the entirety of Australias fielding drill on Monday. The rest of the group pretty much remained voiceless. And indistinguishably nameless.
The other set of vocal cords in action was that of Mickey Arthurs. Each standing with a separate set of players on opposite ends of the lush Mohali field,Clarke and the South African-born coach barked away their orders run faster,cup your hands,three more to go. The players,they listened in rapt attention. It had after all been just a few minutes since they had been huddled together and told of the suspensions meted out to four of their mates for not doing just that. Now,even the deaf scrambled for hearing aids.
There are going to be consequences, said Clarke,while speaking with the Aussie media at the end of a long day,supporting his and his coachs decision to axe Shane Watson,James Pattinson,Mitchell Johnson and Usman Khawaja from the third Test for not submitting in time a three-point team-improvement presentation. It was a very simple task8230;It shows a lack of respect for the head coach and in Australian cricket that is unacceptable.
Not the only reason
Clarke did mention that the non-submission of the presentations wasnt the only reason behind the suspensions. Its not just about one incident, he said. There have been a number of issues on this tour where our standards werent hit.
When Clarke took over Australias captaincy,he was far from being the most popular man in Australia,having been perceived to have played a major role in ending the international careers of Andrew Symonds and Simon Katich. But Clarke quickly won a lot of his former detractors over,by scoring runs at a near-Bradmanesque rate and by revealing an imaginative,aggressive style of on-field leadership.
But on this tour of India,both sides of his captaincy have come under the spotlight again. On the tactical front,he has twice made decisions about the composition of the spin attack that have proven,in hindsight,incorrect playing only one specialist spinner on a square turner in Chennai; leaving out Nathan Lyon and opting for Xavier Doherty and the untested off breaks of all-rounder Glenn Maxwell in Hyderabad.
Chequered Past
And now,with the suspension of these four players of whom Watson and Pattinson could conceivably have made series-turning contributions in the Mohali Test questions about his man-management skills have cropped up again,causing the spectres of Symonds and Katich to pop up once again.
A rudimentary search on the internet tells you that Clarkes likability polls have dropped rather severely. The comments section in the same hits will also perhaps give you hints none backed by evidence,of course that something had to give in the relationship between Australias captain and vice-captain. With the crutch of hindsight and the knowledge of the current suspension,a few of Clarkes statements on Shane Watson make you reach for the magnifying glass.
Asked during the Hyderabad Test if Watson one of only three squad members to have played in India should show a little more intent,Clarke answered: You probably have to ask Watto that question. In that very press conference,Clarke made it clear that he wasnt pleased with the fact that a genuine all-rounder wasnt pulling his weight at all with the ball. Shane has made it clear right now that hes concentrating on his batting and batting only. You know that wasnt Cricket Australia making that decision.
Watson,before rushing back to Australia on Monday,claimed that the punishment was very harsh. For a man who made his international debut under the die-on-the-field-for-your-side style leadership of Steve Waugh,it was quite a statement. So,the question to be asked here is,what would the great Australian captains of the past have done in this situation?
With tongue firmly in cheek,Ian Chappell was quoted as saying that when he was captain,the only writing he or his mates ever indulged in was to ink letters for their wives back home. On Monday,it wasnt just a ball that fell far from Clarkes grasp. The captaincy apple too had fallen far from the tree.
Amazing. 4 Aussie players banned for not doing homework ,I thought letting them play in the next test would be punishment enough 3-0india
Andrew Flintoff
Bowl better,Bat better,Catch better,communicate better8230; Just bloody play better8230;. I am now available for Selection of Australia..!!!!!
Michael Vaughan
Even bigger story. Im batting 5 next test!!! iPad charged up PowerPoint done
Damien Martyn
Not really up on modern text speak,but gather that ROFL might be appropriate
Jonathan Agnew
Four Australians axed from the next Test for lack of texting. This must be very confusing for poor Pietersen.
Pavilion opinion wonders
Reasons for dropping Test cricketers: 1. Texting a South African,2. Not texting a South African.
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