Lack of respect by Ashes rivals causes concern
OPINION: On November 3 last year, New South Wales state coroner Michael Barnes read through his 30-page finding into the death of Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes.
The four-day hearing had been brutal. Within the first few hours, it developed into a standoff between the cricketers on the field that day at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2014 when Hughes was felled by a bouncer and a grieving family sitting in the front row, often in tears, shaking their heads in disbelief and mouthing obscenities.
Ultimately, Barnes saw the incident for what it was: a tragic accident with nobody at fault. Yet he made one observation that stood above the rest.
‘‘Hopefully, the focus on this unsavoury aspect of the incident may cause those who claim to love the game to reflect upon whether the practice of sledging is worthy of its participants,’’ Barnes said.
‘‘An outsider is left to wonder why such a beautiful game would need such an ugly underside.’’
Just over a year later, as the Ashes series takes hold of us all, that advice has seemingly been ignored. The lack of respect shown by Australia and England towards each other is concerning.
We tread carefully here because, even three years later, the heartbreak of Hughes’ death remains raw. But the ‘‘ugly underside’’ Barnes spoke about is being exposed the longer this series goes on.
It started with Australian vicecaptain David Warner talking about ‘‘war’’ and finding within himself ‘‘hatred’’ of the opposition; continued with off-spinner Nathan Lyon wanting to ‘‘end careers’’; coursed through with first test with the supposed ‘‘bullying’’ of England keeper Jonny Bairstow over a headbutt that doesn’t really sound like it was a headbutt; and then reached its nadir in the final session on day four in Adelaide when Australian captain Steve Smith and keeper Tim Paine engaged in some animated tonguefu with England skipper Joe Root, who was pointing his bat like a lightsabre.
Meanwhile, off the field, former England gloveman Matt Prior has been fuelling the hate, too, claiming without any attribution that the Australians have ‘‘crossed the line’’ with their ‘‘personal’’ sledging.
Prior, it seems, is referring to some growing chatter about what really is the root of the conflict between Bairstow and the Australian side. Only those on the field really know what has been said, although it’s all over social media.
Indeed, none of what we’ve witnessed and heard so far is comparable to what the Hughes family alleged at the inquest when it was claimed NSWquick Doug Bollinger had told Hughes: ‘‘I’m going to kill you’’. Bollinger and others denied it was uttered while Barnes, in his finding, said it had no bearing on Hughes’ death.
Yet the line is being crossed in this series. Admittedly, we all have different lines when it comes to sledging on a cricket field.
I prefer clever missives like Steve Waugh’s apocryphal line ‘‘You just dropped the World Cup’’ to Herschelle Gibbs rather than Glenn McGrath’s, ‘‘What does Brian Lara’s d... taste like?’’ to Ramnaresh Sarwan. Some of us are old-fashioned like that.
There’s strategic missives to intimidate, chirping from the slips cordon and death stares from the quicks after the ball has missed the edge of the bat by millimetres.
Then there’s schoolyard bullying that sounds dreadful over a stump mic and looks even worse from the myriad television cameras that take us out onto the centre square.
Smith and Root – two of the main protagonists spitting fire at each other – can change the tone for the remaining three tests.
‘‘As I’ve said previously there’s a line we’re not to cross and I’ve got no issues there,’’ Smith said after the Gabba test. ‘‘I think the umpires and match referees are there to determine that.’’
I find that statement extraordinary. The captain is in control of his team. He determines how his players behave, the manner in which they play. Smith lost control of his emotions late on day four in Adelaide and it filtered through his side.
As this series plays out, it’s hard to ignore a remark from England quick James Anderson.
‘‘It was a tragic accident,’’ Anderson said in reference to Hughes’ death.
‘‘I think it shook the whole world at the time and it is still there. I think when we get out on the field things like that will make sure the game’s played in the right spirit.’’
He said that in July 2015, on the eve of the last Ashes series. Time for both sides to abide those words.