Flames focused for road trip challenge
NEW coach Justin Langer said the Australian side were behaving like “spoiled brats” ahead of the Cape Town balltampering scandal and Steve Smith wasn’t a strong enough leader to handle the situation.
Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were all suspended for their roles in the ball- tampering incident during the third Test in South Africa in March.
“The whispers were there,” Langer said of the team under former coach Darren Lehmann in a British Sky TV interview.
“Once upon a time, the opposition didn’t like us because we played really good, hard cricket – we were very skilful and we won a lot of games.
“It’s easy to dislike the opposition if they’re good, but there have been too many whispers in the last 12 months or so about the abuse on the field or, dare I say, the side playing like spoiled brats.”
He said, as a former player, he “nearly died” when he heard about the scandal.
“You’ve got to wonder why it gets to that point,” he said.
“But it has happened now and we have got to make sure we learn from it.”
The scandal was preceded by several other unseemly incidents in the South African series: a stairwell clash between Warner and Quinton de Kock, and Nathan Lyon dropping the ball on a prone AB de Villiers after he was run out.
Asked about the difference between the aggressive side he once played in and Smith’s team, Langer pointed the finger at the captaincy.
“I think Steve Smith maybe just wasn’t strong enough in his leadership,” he said. “But he loves the game of cricket – he practises harder than anyone I’ve ever met – and he is a very, very nice young lad.”
Langer took charge of his first game on Wednesday, with Australia losing the opening match of their one- day series in England by three wickets at The Oval. TOWNSVILLE Flames guard Miela Goodchild believes the “reality check” of their first loss of the season has only made them more focused for this weekend’s QBL double- header.
The Flames face a tough road trip against a Logan side featuring Townsville Fire stars Mikhaela Donnelly and Zitina Aokuso tomorrow night before taking on the unbeaten Ipswich on Sunday.
Townsville fell behind early in last weekend’s humbling 96- 67 loss to defending champions the Southern Districts, but Goodchild was confident they had the right mindset to bounce back.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing that we lost. It gives us a reality check and we’ve worked really hard at training to get these wins on the weekend,” Goodchild said.
“We were all pretty frustrated. It wasn’t a great start and it kind of dug us a hole a bit too big to get out of, but it’s not the end of the world.
“It’s just one game so as professionals we’ve got our heads back on track and ready for the rest of the season. There were definitely a lot of things we needed to improve on … but it’s a good reality check and it makes us accountable for what we need to do on defence and really be focused.”
Logan is also Goodchild’s former club, and while she insisted there hasn’t been any trash talk this week, she said it would be an exciting challenge to come up against some familiar faces.
“Most of the team is the same so hopefully I can give some scouting tips,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Townsville Heat will be looking for a more consistent performance as they chase their eighth win in a row this weekend.
The first- placed Heat ( 7- 1) have been perfect on the road this season and will fancy their chances against Logan ( 5- 3) and Ipswich ( 2- 5), but veteran Peter Crawford said it was crucial that they maintain their intensity across both matches.
“We can always play a little bit bet- ter. I think we haven’t all clicked at the same time yet so hopefully that can happen on the weekend,” he said.
“We go up and down a little bit so probably just being solid the whole time and keeping our energy and our effort levels high.”
Crawford’s scoring has been down this season, averaging 10.88 points a game, but he said that was just the result of Townsville’s stacked roster, with four players averaging more than 16.
“There’s going to be nights where you don’t get as many shots,” he said.
“The difference between a good game and a bad game is just shooting a higher percentage and knocking those shots down when you’re open.”