Cricket fails Hughes, opens door for nanny to have say Breakers reflect on hard Perth landing
Coronial process should provide some sensible boundaries in the wake of batsman’s death.
Walk across a deserted road on a red light or pedal along the seafront on a bell-less bicycle and a police uniform pops up out of a drain and fines you a fistful of dollars.
But run as fast as you can for 20 metres, wind your body up to the point of curled fury and hurl a hard 160 gram spheroid at another human being’s head and the uniforms just check the crowd to see if anyone is intoxicated.
It’s a weird world and there is no place quite so weird as Australia. Their national sport sanctifies assault while their parliament and state legislatures bring in law after law ordering people not to have fun in public. I did not think we’re as bad here in New Zealand and then I heard an officer justifying the ludicrously prohibitive policing of Martinborough’s Toast Wine Festival by saying people did not know the difference between tasting and drinking.
I know the difference. I have a taste and, if I like what’s going into my mouth, then I have a drink.
At the end of the day I might stumble a bit and dance like Rodney Hide. At the end of the day I might grin like a loon and make foolish remarks. But I know what it’s like to be up on the serene plateau with a lot of like-minded people and the view from up there is great. ‘‘Hey, hey, you’re a sports writer, why are you rambling about in the vines? Get back on message.’’
What, you as well? OK, OK, so I am having a hard job getting my head around what has been going on in an Australian courtroom this week. Over in Sydney, where the wild things have been run out of town, NSW coroner Michael Barnes has been holding an inquest into the death of Phillip Hughes, who was struck by a cricket ball two years ago.
The consensus is that improved helmets or a faster ambulance response could not have saved Hughes. All week commentators have bleated that nothing could have saved Phillip. This is absurd. At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious – not bowling a succession of fast balls at Hughes’ head would have saved Hughes.
Brad Haddin, the NSW captain, says that there was no plan to target Hughes. The players all say that there was no sledging. No-one can remember nothing. Doug Bollinger cannot remember saying ‘‘I’m going to kill youse’’. Even the umpires have amnesia. There is a silence of guilty terror.
Match analysis by a former umpire says that 23 bouncers were bowled on the fateful day and 20 were aimed at Hughes. Matthew Day, a friend of the family and former Tasmanian batsman, attested that Trent Johnston, the NSW assistant coach, told him: ‘‘I am struggling with the fact that I was a big part of the plan that New South Wales adopted.’’ David Warner confirmed the existence of a plan.
So when, in summing up, Cricket Australia’s lawyer said that all player testimony had been honest, the Hughes family walked out in disgust. Greg Melick, the family’s lawyer, said: ‘‘At the end of the day, there was a plan, there was sledging, and short-pitched balls were bowled at Phillip Hughes, which increased the risk of an injury. Nine consecutive shortpitched balls from the one bowler aimed at leg stump or the body of the batsman was going too far.’’
It is fairly obvious to even the most gullible observer that NSW targeted Hughes with some shortpitched stuff and gave him a bit of a spray at the same time. It’s called Australian cricket. The question the coroner needs to address, when he reaches his conclusions on November 4, is whether cricket should condone persistent short pitched bowling at batsmen who are not very good at dealing with the stuff.
A year ago New Zealand’s bowlers came around the wicket and persistently aimed balls at the chest and head of Sri Lanka’s callow batsmen. Presumably coach Mike Hesson thinks this sort of stuff is all right.
I don’t, but if there is any point to this whole ghastly inquest then it should be to provide some sensible boundaries. Under section 82 of the Coroners Act 2009 (NSW) Barnes has the scope to make recommendations, particularly in the interest of public safety.
Part of me is thrilled by this possibility. Part of me thinks back to the whole wretched legacy of Bodyline and is revolted by some of the assaults that are now happening on a cricket pitch. But part of me looks at the sign on Bondi Beach that reads: ‘‘For everyone’s enjoyment, No dogs, No ball games, No frisbees, No kites.’’ Do we want a sign on a cricket pitch saying ‘‘No shortpitched balls?’’
It’s a question of responsibility. If the players won’t stick their hands up, if the umpires won’t intervene, if the ICC and Cricket Australia refuse to legislate, then are we willing to accept the risks of sport without further interference. Are we willing to hear the groan of Hughes when he went down and go back to the end of our run-up the next day.
Either we take responsibility or give power to a state that never anticipates the consequences of its meddling. The Hughes tragedy is now subject to Health and Safety in the workplace. If these busybodies can make me take a photo of my office chair to check that my spine is correctly aligned when I work, what might they end up doing to cricket and rugby.
Give nanny the chance, and she will stick her nose in. Cricket has failed Hughes. The ICC, who won’t allow a doctor a mobile phone in case he leaks inside information to gamblers, has failed Hughes. Cricket Australia, who declined to look at the issue of short-pitched bowling, has failed Hughes. The players, who owned up to nothing in the courtroom, have failed Hughes.
It is another open door for the nanny state. Even the family of Phillip Hughes did not want this inquest, but at least do them the decency of telling the truth. They know their son isn’t coming back. All they want is fair play. Breakers coach Paul Henare had plenty to ponder on the long flight home from Perth.
He has himself the makings of a pretty decent basketball team, for sure, but Friday night in the wild west offered a painful reminder they’re not there yet.
After the euphoria of that season-opening home victory over title favourites Melbourne, a tension-filled 75-73 defeat at defending ANBL champions the Perth Wildcats represented a reality check for the Kiwi club which has played in five of the last six grand finals.
The Breakers went down because they lost their poise again early in the fourth when turnovers and bad decisions handed the momentum back to the hosts (via an 8-0 run); because they allowed last year’s grand finals MVP Casey Prather to torch them again (for a career-high 29 points); and because they weren’t able to execute as well as a veteran lineup really should in a tight game.
The Breakers had scrambled well to give themselves a shot late. Tom Abercrombie (12 points) missed an off-balance corner three that would have given them the lead with 31 seconds left, but two errant Jarrod Kenny free-throws gave the Kiwi club the final possession, trailing 73-75.
They ran a play for Corey Webster coming off a flair screen, but the world-class guard simply couldn’t make the shot as his runner missed by some margin.
‘‘I liked the fact Corey got in the lane,’’ said Henare afterwards. ‘‘It seemed like bit of a crowd around him, but I liked the fact he was aggressive and didn’t settle.’’
Added veteran guard Kirk Penney, who once again started ahead of Webster: ‘‘This is a tough environment to play ... We’ll take a lot from this game and we’ll learn a lot from it.’’
Henare has things to think about. The Penney ahead of Webster experiment has question marks over it. Once again neither player really revelled in their roles. But there are positives as they prepare for the Sydney Kings at the NSEC on Thursday. ‘‘I thought we were well balanced again,’’ Henare said. ‘‘Different guys stepped up at different times.’’