Callouts key to ending homophobia in cricket: Schutt
police could narrow it down.’’
In the late 1980s he moved to Cape Town to work for a computer company, got into coaching with the university, then Western Province, and in 1997 led Glamorgan to their only County Championship in the past 50 years, before being appointed England’s head coach in 1999.
He had two bits of luck: central contracts had just been introduced, so players did not burn themselves out in county cricket, and he had an England and Wales Cricket Board chairman he could do business with in Lord MacLaurin, who had already decreed that players should no longer share twoto-a-room. ‘‘One mismatch can wreck team spirit,’’ Fletcher said.
As Vaughan suggested, Fletcher was six years ahead of his time when he urged the International Cricket Council in 1998 to adopt the Decision Review System, which we all accept now. ‘‘The system interests the public in the game because it makes them into umpires – and the correct decision is made.’’
Last summer, Stuart Broad was admired for completely dismantling David Warner’s defence. Here is another of Fletcher’s legacies: this was how Flintoff disarmed Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist in 2005, by bowling round the wicket, whereas it had been the rule for England’s right-arm pace bowlers to bowl
Australian bowler Megan Schutt says while the public’s response to Marcus Stoinis’ homophobic sledge has been encouraging, the incident shows the need for greater work to be done in the men’s game.
Melbourne Stars BBL allrounder Stoinis was fined A$7500 (NZ$7811) but avoided suspension for a homophobic sledge towards Renegades player Kane Richardson. James Pattinson was banned in November for a similar incident, over the wicket and across lefthanders.
‘‘Unless you’re Jimmy Anderson, the only way you can get a left-hander out from over the wicket is if he nicks a catch. If you’re round the wicket, you can get him caught or bowled or lbw. Cricket is all about angles.’’ Ah well, it only took English cricket about 120 years to work that one out, and even then, it was a Zimbabwean.
Twenty years ago England’s record in Asia was lamentable because of their batsmen’s inability to play spin. Under Fletcher, they achieved their only test series victory in Sri Lanka until last winter, and in Pakistan they won for the only time apart from 1961-62: indeed, they have played spin well in all formats since, another Fletcher legacy. Sir Andrew Strauss has recounted how he thought he could play Shane Warne although it was his third code of conduct breach in 18 months.
‘‘I think men get heated in situations and it’s unfortunate that those words still slip out – but I don’t think there was actually any malice in it – or I like to hope not,’’ Schutt told AAP.
‘‘But it’s also cool to see the reactions that have come out because it shows, in society as a whole, we’re trying to eliminate the use of those words definitely as
Former England captain Michael Vaughan, left, on former coach Duncan Fletcher
at the start of the 2005 series and was found out. He went ‘‘scurrying back to Duncan’’ – and made two hundreds in the last three tests.
Fletcher’s two main precepts against spin: first, ‘‘get down lower in your forward stance so you get your eyes underneath the ball and can judge its length’’ (the forward press); second, ‘‘when you are surrounded by close catchers, hit the ball into the ground’’.
Nowadays Fletcher is liable to turn sideways or suddenly look over your head. ‘‘Look, a starling – that’s what your Cecil Rhodes brought to South Africa.’’ For since coaching England and India, he has become an avid birdwatcher and photographer.
Of 960 birds known south of the Zambezi, he has spotted 650, the insults, first and foremost.
‘‘So I think that’s probably been the best part of it, is everyone saying that he’s got off lightly and those sorts of things – it shows we have a lot of people in our park, which is honestly really welcoming. It’s just nice.’’
Schutt emphasised the importance of female cricketers being willing to call each other out on offensive language – something she felt was less prevalent in the men’s most recent being the African pitta, after driving five hours on a dirt road from Harare. ‘‘It may look like a little brown job, but when you photograph it, you realise the fantastic colouring. Or take the swift – it switches off half its brain and sleeps at night while flying at 10,000 feet.’’ Ingenious, even by his standards.
He watches a bit of cricket, especially Sam Curran, son of his late friend Kevin. ‘‘Sammy had an amazing understanding of the game when he was 13. I wish he was less impatient when he bats.’’ And he wants to know where Ben Stokes has been. ‘‘If you don’t have characters like that in your dressing room, you don’t have team spirit. He’s 28 – why wasn’t he in the 2015 World Cup?’’ Because other selectors and coaches are not so ingenious.
And maybe he continues to say today what everyone will accept in a few years’ time. ‘‘The danger is that this generation which loves test cricket will die out and nobody will replace them. Test matches should last four days, with 200 or 220 overs for each side. You can bat however long you like in your first innings, say 150 overs, then leave yourself the rest in the second.’’
England, and other countries, should experiment in domestic four-day cricket. Usually Fletcher has been right, years ahead of the rest of the game.
– The Daily Telegraph
‘‘He was ahead of his time in cricket coaching, he saw the game technically better than anyone else I worked with.’’
game.
‘‘We call each other out with things like that and I think the males probably need to get better at that,’’ she said.
‘‘In the [men’s] change room, I’m sure there’s not a lot of people calling each other out on the words they use. So until that changes, probably on-field, these things will still happen.’’
Team-mate Jess Jonassen said while Stoinis had been remorseful,
The Test: A New Era for Australia’s Team filmed by CA and to be streamed on Amazon in March. It is an eight-part series which tracked the Australian side from last summer’s test series against India to the World Cup and their successful campaign to retain the urn in England.
For many Australian fans, Smith’s hit brought back memories of Phillip Hughes’ tragic death in 2014 after being knocked unconscious by a short ball during a Sheffield Shield game. It provides context to the reactions from players and support staff.
The Australian camp react differently to the chilling events unfolding before them, but the concern is palpable. The severe impact the blow has had on Smith clearly rattles Steve Waugh, who had a reputation for being the Ice Man during his decorated career.
‘‘We need someone out there, we need someone out there big time – that’s nasty,’’ Waugh says.
Coach Justin Langer cannot she would like to see an ‘‘appropriate’’ sanction for homophobic language adopted.
‘‘I think going forward we need to come up with some sort of appropriate sanction because you don’t want somebody who’s in a community cricket situation — or anybody else who’s wanting to put out there who they are as a person — to be afraid of being ridiculed like that.’’