Time to reclaim values: Hussey
It will be difficult for Australia’s besmirched cricketers to reclaim their reputations when the dust settles on the balltampering scandal but the episode is nonetheless a chance for the team to reclaim some of its lost principles and values, feels former batsman Michael Hussey.
“I feel like we’ve lost sight of some of these principles in recent years...there are some very good people representing Australia at the moment – but the ball tampering issue isn’t the first time the team as a collective has been in the headlines for the wrong reasons,” Hussey wrote for ‘playersvoice.com.au’.
“The next few days, weeks and months will be difficult for Australian cricket. Jobs might be lost and heavy sanctions handed down,” said Hussey, who represented Australia in 79 Tests, 185 ODIs and 38 T20 Internationals, accumulating 22,783 runs across formats. “...this period will also present the team with a chance to reset. Our values. Our team culture. Our true north...We played hard, certainly, but also positively and fairly.”
Hussey, who is currently the batting coach of CSK, said a player is always remembered
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more for how he played the game than the runs or wickets. “What’s the first thing that springs to your mind when someone mentions Rahul Dravid? I’d be surprised if you said, ‘He scored 28 hundreds,’ but in no way surprised if you answered, ‘He was The Wall. He had an incredible technique and temperament. He played the game with great integrity’.”
“...as I’ve got older, and the more people I have spoken to since retirement, I have come to realise, ‘Shivers, no one really gives a stuff about my runs now!’,” he added.
“Organisations remember these things after you’ve finished playing. When they’re assessing whether to sign you, they’re taking into account your character, your reputation and whether you enhance their brand,” he said. Only a country that doesn’t baulk at punishing its high priests for a breach can call cricket a religion. In the way they have reprimanded Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, Cricket Australia (CA) has laid down some marker. No other association is obliged to cite CA’s ruling as precedent but its claim to be the sport’s guardian will ring hollow every time it doesn’t.
The ICC may equate ball-tampering with making an obscene gesture on the field. So many, from Marcus Trescothick to Adam Parore, Faf du Plessis and Rahul Dravid have got away. Players say it is common at every