My expectation was that I would be writing about a humbling defeat for England today, but they were not even able to get the game into Day 3. But I can not say I am very impressed with the attitude of either team.
Boof and Smudge
I don’t think we should have to put up with arrogance just because a team wins. I could not believe what I was reading when I saw Darren Lehmann moaning about the abuse that innocent, poor old Steve Smith has to cop from England fans. Smith, with the superior intellect to Monty Panesar.
Lehaman says that England fans – who he rather rudely referred to as ‘pork chops’ – should be better than that. Correct me if I am wrong, but it was not England who got caught with the sandpaper. The Aussies like to talk about Mike Atherton in 1994 – perhaps with some justification, but that was very different to the pre-planned nature of the sandpaper incident, and by the way, we all know that other team members knew what was going on, but they just did not get caught.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c1w9n3q9evdo
Let’s be clear about this. England fans respect Smith’s ability – even if he is a challenging batter to watch – and are willing to accept that Smith, along with David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, served a punishment – even if it was a punishment that did not cause any of those players to miss an Ashes or World Cup.
However, we do not just turn round and pretend that the whole thing never occurred – any more than the Aussies like to point out English misdemenours. Smith and Lehmann should show some humility and stop looking for point scoring opportunities arising from the attrocious behaviour that went on under their leadership.
From our side of the world, it looked like the whole of Australia was full of anger after ‘sandpaper-gate’. The Australian team has often liked to tell everybody else where the line of fair-play lies. But it seems they stop worrying about such things when they win games of cricket.
England
This is not a balanced article. No. Because if the Aussies deserve some criticism for their attempt to pretend the sandpaper thing never happened, the English cricketers deserve to be roundly attacked for their attitude. They take arrogance to a new level.
Consider Zac Crawley, the undroppable opener. Here is a batter who has only played 1 game since September – and that was England’s warm up. No sh*t sherlock, but he looks out of form. Even Joe Root, rarely arrogant, strolled into the country just a couple of weeks ago – he looks out of form. Of course he does. Yet even after a terrible batting display and bowlers that looked tired after a very short first innings, this England team still won’t play warm-up games.
I am with Sir Geoffrey Boycott this time – it is a joke. And I am with Michael Vaughan – who wonders if the England fans will turn on this England team.
This England team keeps making the same mistakes. Even within a game, they make daft mistakes. Allow me to adapt a well-known phrase. To lose one wicket on the cover drive is unfortunate, but to lose 2 looks like carelessness. To lose 3 wickets on cover drives in 15 minutes?
That is arrogant and closed-minded. Frankly, I would be annoyed with my Stockport Georgians Under 11s for playing like they did – yet they still make out that they know what they are doing. Time to get into the real world.
Cricketed 