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We care too much about beating England

Anthony Sharwood

by Anthony Sharwood

17 Dec 03:09pm

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Filed under: Brad Haddin, Cricket, Paul Collingwood, Ricky Ponting, The Ashes

38 comments

The original headline for this piece was “Ashes myopia the root cause of ineptitude”. Then I decided to say it in everyday language. Because Australia’s incompetence in this Ashes series, notwithstanding today’s excellent fightback with the ball, has a simple foundation.

Well, at least this guy' s come good. Photo: AP

In short, we care about beating England too much. While Australia has spent 18 months building for this series, and this series alone, England has been busy building a strong cricket team for all occasions.

While Australia has been hell-bent on Ashes revenge, England has focused on Australia as just one obstacle on its climb to the top of cricket’s tree. Let me explain with two contrasting anecdotes.

In October 2009, a couple of months after the Ashes loss in England, I interviewed Australian wicket-keeper Brad Haddin about the upcoming summer of cricket against the West Indies and Pakistan.

You’ll recall it was that woeful, lopsided summer which desperately warranted a mercy killing.

So OK, even before that summer you could tell there would be modest fare on offer. But do you think Haddin had anything at all to say about the Windies and Pakistan beyond a cursory quote or two? Anything? Bueller?

Forget it. All he could talk about was the revenge mission against England 13 months down the track.

Contrast that with English all-rounder Paul Collingwood, who I bumped into in a Faux Irish pub in a hotel in Delhi. As you do. Over a frothy beer which went extremely well with the local cuisine, I asked him if I could grab a few quotes on the record.

“I’ll talk to you mate,” Collingwood said. “But not about The Ashes. I’m here to play IPL cricket. Let’s talk about that.”

If you extrapolate from those two examples, you’ve got a pretty good idea of the respective headspaces of England and Australian cricketers over the last year.

England have used their 2009 Ashes triumph as a springboard to greater things across the cricketing globe. As individuals and as a team, they have grown.

Australian cricketers have shrunk in stature, their collective eyes narrowed into Ponting-like slits as they focus solely on The Ashes.

Yes, we still beat the minnows of world cricket (for now, anyway). But any time we play someone half decent, like India or South Africa, or even Pakistan on neutral territory (as we did in England in July), we struggle.

Part of the problem here is the skipper. Never mind the 5-0 drubbing we dished out on our own soil five years ago. When Ponting lost his second straight Ashes series in England, he should have been promptly relieved of duty.

Was it not Oscar Wilde who said: “to captain one Ashes series loss is unfortunate, to do it twice looks like carelessness”?

Yet Ponting was allowed to continue his personal anti-England crusade. And despite today’s better signs, we’ve all seen how well that’s turned out so far.

Imagine, for a minute, if we’d blooded a new skipper after England. Could’ve been Clarke, could’ve been Katich, could’ve been anyone.

Whoever we picked, there would have been a totally different mood pervading the (admittedly weak) Australian side, instead of the defeated rabble we’ve seen almost every session this series.

But picking a new skipper was never going to happen. That would have entailed thinking broadly about the future, rather than just the current series against England.

Most commented

38 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • MarK says:

      02:31pm | 17/12/10

      I don’t care where we come as long as we beat New Zealand

      Reply

    • hot tub political machine says:

      02:45pm | 17/12/10

      Hmmm weirdly New Zealand is my favourite team to lose to- its kinda like getting beaten by your younger brother. Feeling upset and proud at the same time….

    • Radler says:

      02:32pm | 17/12/10

      Mate, how do you make a living writing about sport? Your opinions are always off the mark and you completely fail in your attempts to understand the Australian sporting psyche. Pitiful really…

      Reply

    • Ant Sharwood says:

      02:57pm | 17/12/10

      Radler, because i feel a dose of the Christmas spirit, I’ve allowed your comment today.

      But if you are going to attack me or any Punch writer or contributor in the future, please at least provide one tiny bit of evidence in your comment as we generally don’t publish “that was crap” type of comments without a bit more to back them up.

      You may well be right. So tell me why. Though if you actually read the piece, not just the headline, you may well end up agreeing that we’ve been a bit myopic i9n our ashes build-up, and that England’s overall buildup has been better than ours.

      Also, send a real email next time, not a bogus one, OK?

      Anyway, cheers - ant

    • Adrian says:

      03:26pm | 17/12/10

      My only criticism of Sharwood articles is the constant name-dropping. Ok so you know famous people, that’s cool man.
      And that you’re generally very anti-Australian which follows the rest of mainstream media when Australia are going through a rough patch. It happens.

      You want Ponting gone as captain but the only person even remotely worth captaining the country is Michael Clarke. And ‘remotely’ seems generous at the moment.
      The point is, Ponting needs to captain this side as they develop, absorb all the arse-kickings they will receive as an inexperienced side, and then use that to motivate them to become better and hopefully regain #1 spot in the next few years. All the articles in the world won’t change that, but you guys have got to write about something.

      If Australia were to win in Perth and go on to win the series somehow, there would be a hell of a lot of writers and commentators that would look foolish, and as much as I like reading the punch articles about cricket, Ant Sharwood would fit this category in my opinion.

    • John C says:

      03:43pm | 17/12/10

      I am with you Radler. The writer has taken two anecdotes and, from that, constructed a theory that Australia is only concentrating on beating England whereas the Poms have taken a global view.

      This may very well be right but it surely needs more evidence than the writer has supplied.

      One problem is indeed Ponting and it has been thus since he was appointed. He is clearly not the hard man that all succesful Australian captains have been.

      The other problem is the selectors. They have no idea. Just about any cricket fan in Australia could have done a better job.

      Ponting must go, the selectors must go, the whole coaching team must go, and those who administer the game should also go - they are concerned only with revenue.

    • Ant Sharwood says:

      03:53pm | 17/12/10

      @Adrian. Agreed. No one likes name droppers. Thing is, I’m still trying to work out how to convey things you learned from meeting someone without saying you actually met someone.

      @John C. That’s more like it. Attack the man and the ball at the same time. No one can argue with that.

      Evening, all. Off home early now…

    • Adrian says:

      05:06pm | 17/12/10

      You’re my favourite Punch columnist Anthony. If we agreed with everything you wrote and the way in which you wrote it all then we’d have nothing to comment on! Then we’d have to spend our workdays actually working.
      Don’t ever change man…

    • John C says:

      05:52pm | 17/12/10

      I see. Having the temerity to criticize Ponting and the selectors is playing the man. Are we not allowed to express doubts about the captaincy skills of the captain and the judgment of the selectors.

      Perhaps we should bring in a system whereby only SHarwood can offer an opinion.

    • stephen says:

      12:26am | 18/12/10

      Pontings’ got no character.
      He was caught pissed and disgraced somewhere in Tassie years ago and should not have been considered for Captain.
      That he was, is proof that the selectors have not one iota of sense about Test Cricket, and what it means for this country.

    • Tripper Smurf says:

      03:13pm | 17/12/10

      Interesting piece and it does highlight something that is seriously wrong with the Australian cricket team and its culture…. Indeed its not 1900 anymore and there are more than just England to play against.

      In essence however Australian cricket wasnt going to stay at the pinnacle of the sport forever.  Even the best sporting dynasties do eventually end.  Its how Cricket Australia and the team itself react to no longer being top dogs and look at rebuilding the side to reclaim lost glory in the future. 

      For another example in the cricket world, look at the fall from grace the West Indian cricket side suffered during the 90s.  We should be able to do better than that.

      Reply

    • acker says:

      03:22pm | 17/12/10

      Malcolm Conn wrote a good article in the Australian saying that Cricket Australia reminded him of the old VFL prior to AFL ..petty club vested interests getting in the way of running the game..in CA we have petty state cricket bureaucratic vested interests. They need to pull down that structure like the AFL did

      Reply

    • Shane From Melbourne says:

      03:27pm | 17/12/10

      Never mind talking about when Ponting goes, let’s talk about the need for the Board of Selectors to go…...

      Reply

    • john says:

      03:36pm | 17/12/10

      Cricket or International cricket used to be a gentlemen’s game and great to play or watch, match fixing, gambling, seedy scandals and a list of “things” longer than my coles shopping receipt for a xmas party shop over the decades, has brought this game into disrepute and on many occasions its just a yawn fest. Its more suited to bogans in lower social economic belts that are stuck on welfare, homeless people, juvenile delinquents, troublemakers, bored numskulls and women who want equality on that same level.

      Also the vast amount of money players earn gives the impression its more of a business, same goes for AFL etc. Its simply just not fun anymore.
      The fact the Aussie team forgot how to play the game just adds garbage to the dump so to speak.

      Pity as I used to love watching the game.

      Reply

    • Eno The Wonderdog says:

      04:01pm | 17/12/10

      Can it be wrong that Australia V England is the epitome of sport? I used to watch the Speedway (Solos)  in the UK as a kid watching Aussies of all sorts (Mitch Shearer) but come the “Test Series”..

      I was talking to my newly four year old - he said he was following the Aussies looking at the Vodaphone sponsorship - they’re the mob he follows in the car racing too.

      I said “Don’t follow that I like the other team” Oh that’s ok daddy - ‘cause if we don’t have two teams we can’t play a game together..

      Damn the surety of the young..

      Reply

    • The Truth says:

      04:18pm | 17/12/10

      Clarke needs to be sacked. He is useless, and will be the worst captain in Aus history. His whole game is a disgrace atm. Losing the 20/20 was bad enough, now he’s just as bad in tests and 1 dayers too. Get rid of Clarke ASAP!

      Reply

    • hot tub political machine says:

      04:28pm | 17/12/10

      You don’t lose a game of 20/‘20 - you don’t win it either-you just randomly swing a bat and see what happens. Its as much a test of skill and sporting prowess as flipping a coin. A Gorllia (actual Gorilla but a meaty bloke would do ok too) with strong arms and good hand eye co-ordination is a better 20/20 player than Bradman would have been…...

    • The Truth says:

      08:46am | 18/12/10

      Mr hot tub, your retort displays what you actually know in relation to the game, but playing along with it; if it’s horses for courses, and gorillas are the best option, then Clarke should be last picked. We have him as captain. How stupid do we look!

    • Shifter says:

      01:53pm | 20/12/10

      I’d be interested to see if anyone can find the last time Australia won a 20/20 match where Clarke made a decent contribution.

    • bleD says:

      04:38pm | 17/12/10

      Australian cricket seems to be heading in the same direction as Australian tennis. A pity really. Too much money is spoiling all sport.

      Reply

    • The Old Bat says:

      05:25pm | 17/12/10

      Australian cricket is going through a rebuliding stage after one of its most successful periods ever. Maybe we held on to great cricketer’s too long, but unlike say George Gregan, the old timer’s were still contributing much to the cause.

      Life moves in cycles and sport is a part of life. Our collective depression and angst at our cricketer’s present performance will pass. We’ll be back!

      Reply

    • PK says:

      07:47pm | 17/12/10

      As an Aussie living in UK, not sure I agree with you - the English team is only concerned with winning the Ashes and that has been there goal for a long time - not to be number 1 in the world. And that goes for most of the supporters as well. You might be right about Australia focusing too much on England but it is reciprocated.
      If anything Australia has unfortunately caught the English disease in many ways regarding their cricket and this is one of the symptoms among many e.g. chopping and changing players,

      Reply

    • Jerry says:

      07:51pm | 17/12/10

      I know it probably because I am biased…

      To me the Poms are starting to look like complete tools with their constant ‘shooshing’ the crowd after they have taken a wicket.

      I know that looking like a tool is probably genetic, but please fella’s try and resist nature.

      Reply

    • James says:

      10:09pm | 17/12/10

      I don’t get waht dropping Ponting would have done. They would have put Clarke in too early and then we’d be in an even bigger mess here. And extrapolating from 2 pieces of data! Not sure if that was a joke, but what are you on about? Collingwood was being paid a handsome sum to play IPL and talk about nothing else than IPL. Of course that’s what he’s going to talk about!

      Reply

    • Sean Williams says:

      05:17am | 18/12/10

      Aussie fightback is good for the series. May be enough to win this Test but can’t see England blowing it with two Tests to play on pitches which should be, to put it diplomatically “less Aussie friendly”. England remain the superior outfit in all departments.
      However, if I were an Australian it’s not cricket I’d be embarrassed about at the moment. It would be the bizarre reaction to the Oprah Winfrey visit. Geesh, how small and needy a nation are you? Just listened to a piece on BBC radio absolutely ripping Australia to shreds for its hysterical, pant-wetting response to this fleeting piece of recognition that their country exists from some cheesy Yank chat show host. So cringeworthy it made my skin crawl, and I’m not even an Aussie!

      Reply

    • Stewart Henstock says:

      06:06am | 18/12/10

      Sorry…ever since the pom captain went into the Aussie dressing room to complain about a disgression in which the Aussie captain replied,“which one of you bastards called this bastard a bastard”...it’d been on.
      It’s been decades of humiliation for the poms in cricket and rugby league.
      All they think about is….when are we going to beat those Aussies in something…anything…...
      Well now is the time,if they can’t win against this Aussie team…they’ll never win.

      Reply

    • Another fine mess Ollie says:

      04:17pm | 19/12/10

      Er Stewart, I’ve actually yet to meet a Pom who knows or cares who wins at rugby league, but that’s probably beside the point. Me, I just like watching test cricket, especially playing the Poms, our oldest and noblest adversaries. Cricket’s meant to be a drawn out and subtle contest, not wham-bam, gotcha gladiatorial. Speaking for myself, and I’ve been an avid follower for 40 years, I can honestly tell you this is the first series I’ve walked away from the TV and I wouldn’t say ‘Yes’ if you offered me 2 tickets to the Boxing Day test. The weary old Punter is hanging on grimly for the money no doubt but he really ought to let go, and as for Clarke, I don’t know how his team mates feel but I personally wouldn’t follow him, even out of idle curiosity. We won this test because a bowler they couldn’t play last test comes back and top scores in the 1st innings, then takes 6 wickets! And where were our glorious flashing blade leaders when this was going on? Mate, it’s really time for the selectors to stand up.

    • S.L says:

      06:57am | 18/12/10

      What a lot of Australians don’t realise is while cricket in Australia is the working mans summer game, in England it’s the past time of the “landed gentry”. Sort of like what Rugby Union is here. The man in the street in London is not hanging by a thread waiting for an Ashes victory. 
      I know of a few Aussies who’ve made a dollar (pound) or two playing in second tier English domestic cricket having never even played first grade here.
      I’m pleased to see the Poms with a decent side though. Now if only the Windies can relive their hayday of the 70s and 80s international cricket might be a contest again.

      Reply

    • The Redman says:

      09:51am | 18/12/10

      The reason I love Ashes cricket compared with Australia playing any other nation is that you can be vitually assured of tough cricket without suspicion of shonky bowling actions, match rigging, ball tampering, temper tantrums resulting in walk offs, dodgy pitches and teams imploding with internal conflict. Perhaps South Africa comes close, although their record was sullied by Cronje some years back. It would be great if New Zealand could get a team together as good as the eighties - they played to great matches in that time with Hadlee and the Crowe brothers. The Ashes represents everything that is great about Test cricket which no other rivalry can match.

      Reply

    • FemaleTestCricketLover says:

      10:03am | 18/12/10

      The only thing worth seeing at the MCG in Summer is a Pom’s bum as he heads back into the changerooms! haha! That will never change, my friends, no matter what cycles we go through in our cricketing fortunes.
      Facing “The Old Enemy” still brings em out in droves, even if we’re in a slump/rebuilding phase.
      Bring On Boxing Day!

      Reply

    • Stace says:

      12:38pm | 18/12/10

      I got sick to death of the Aussies beating the Poms by huge margins. I’m GLAD to see they’ve put a good team together and are doing alright. I like to actually see some competition in sporting competitions! I find one-sided battles very dull.

      Reply

    • Nadine says:

      02:59pm | 18/12/10

      All I’ve got to say is this:  WE CAN NEVER EVER CARE TOO MUCH ABOUT BEATING ENGLAND

      Reply

    • Eno The Wonderdog says:

      03:52pm | 18/12/10

      Ant - try this conundrum. Does anyone else get the irrits with this 2 challenge system we have to the third umpire?

      Since cricket is already a stop start game I see no trouble with having all appeals referred to the third umpire that the ref doesn’t see clearly as in or out. The game would not be impeded - indeed it may speed it and remove the annoying appeals for every damn thing on the offchance * it could also add to the enjoyment of the crowd as it means they will get to see the ‘forensic analysis’ of close calls on the big screen when quite often things are damn hard to see at the speed the ball shifts about at the G.

      * Assumption I believe there is a law against ‘frivolous’ appeals.

      Oh Ant - thought a little leg pulling yesterday was due given the way the complexion of the game changed between your (quite rational I thought) comments of the morning and the way things turned evil. (Not that I’m supporting the English against you colonials.. it’s just time you understood not to give cheek to your masters.. and don’t call us poms.. you were the prisoners..)

      Reply

    • AJL says:

      01:20pm | 21/12/10

      And that last paragraph is why we’ll always love sticking it up the English smile

    • orange says:

      06:02pm | 18/12/10

      Your comment: As in many other sports once players become celebrities and advertising earning top $  they faulter. Be famous through sport or advertising not both…. examples ponting clarke and in the past pat cash greg norman
      When your on the field forget about the camera boys. The english have an excellent team and will be up there for years to come

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      08:51pm | 18/12/10

      The history of Test Cricket goes back - and I maintain, only back, to England - and specifically, to Bodyline.
      Any doubts, read the history of this conundrum.
      The ‘Motherland’ was about to send us adrift.
      The Poms need a lesson is Aussieness. They haven’t ‘got’ us even yet.

      PS We’ll take care of NZ when the ball is big and thrown, not bowled.

      Reply

    • Matthew says:

      10:29am | 19/12/10

      Well I like your articles Anthony. Whether they are on the money or not is a matter of individual opinion but what is important is that they generate discussion and clearly they are doing that…...

      Whilst i’ve loved seeing the Aussies fight back in this test (well Johnson and Hussey fight back…) what is disappointing is that this will no doubt keep Ricky Ponting in a job for a further period and thats a shame.

      What is also interesting to me is how arrogant Mitchell Johnson is. It’s well known that the Aussies have been seen as an arrogant bunch in recent times but Mitchell giving Jimmy Anderson a constant gob full through the series even when the Aussies were being flogged just shows the thought process behind the player. One would think that you would be a bit humble and respectful if you were in that position but no…bowl off the pitch and what do you do to follow it up? Give the batsman a massive spray. This reminds me of Brett Lee in his early days until he figured it out and not only became a better bowler but better bloke.

      Reply

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      09:26am | 02/11/12

      I and my guys have been analyzing the good advice from your site and unexpectedly I got a horrible feeling I had not expressed respect to the website owner for those strategies. Most of the women were definitely totally very interested to read through them and now have absolutely been having fun with them. We appreciate you turning out to be indeed kind and also for picking out variety of brilliant resources most people are really eager to learn about. My personal sincere apologies for not expressing appreciation to earlier.

      Reply
 
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