Playing the Game?: Cricket's Tarnished Ideals from Bodyline to the Present by Mark Peel

Author:Mark Peel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pitch Publishing
Published: 2018-09-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

‘Ugly Australians’

AS West Indian cricket plummeted into steep decline, Australia’s rose in ascendancy, as they won an unprecedented eight successive Ashes series between 1989 and 2002/03. Figuring that they played their best cricket by adopting a combative approach, they unsettled their opponents at every conceivable opportunity. Such ruthlessness won them few friends, but their growing ascendancy encouraged them to keep pushing the boundaries of acceptable conduct, an approach that others in time sought to emulate.

Although Ashes cricket throughout the 1980s lacked nothing in passion, the matches were generally played in a reasonable spirit, helped by harmonious relations off the field among many of the leading players. As England battled to save the third Test at Headingley in 1981, Ian Botham entertained the whole Australian team to a barbecue at his home. His generosity was reciprocated by Australian captain Kim Hughes and other senior members of his side when they appeared at a dinner dance for Bob Willis’s benefit on the night of their shock defeat in the fourth Test at Edgbaston.

During the Ashes series of 1985, which England won 3–1, Australian captain Allan Border established a close rapport with his opposite number, David Gower, and many of his team. One memorable picture of Gower fiddling with Border’s bat and chatting amicably with him during a break in play during the Old Trafford Test neatly encapsulated the spirit of that series. ‘Some, believe it or not, contended that this show of mutual affection illustrated a lamentable dearth of the requisite aggressive spirit expected of Ashes combatants,’ commented Gower.130

The goodwill prevailed through England’s triumphant tour to Australia in 1986/87, but as Border’s side began to emerge from the travails of that era, they presented a very different face to their opponents. Stung by criticism from Ian Chappell regarding his cordiality towards the England players, Border returned to England in 1989 a harder, meaner leader. Not only did he end the social pleasantries off the field, he actively encouraged a more intimidating atmosphere on the field of play, a trait that was to continue throughout his time as captain.

Whether referred to as banter, gamesmanship or mental disintegration, aggressive or insulting talk between opponents on the cricket field was nothing new; it could be traced back to W.G. Grace and beyond. Gubby Allen, so often depicted as the gentleman cricketer because of his refusal to bowl bodyline, accused his England colleague R.E.S. Wyatt of being yellow after knocking him senseless in a county match, and Bill Voce threatened Australian opener Vic Richardson with physical intimidation at the beginning of the bodyline tour. Bill O’Reilly, the great Australian leg-spinner of the 1930s, used to loudly curse opposing batsmen when the luck went their way, and Bradman’s relentless run-making made him the object of some barbed comments from frustrated opponents, most notably in the Sheffield Shield.

The renowned Australian cricket commentator Alan McGilvray, when bowling for New South Wales, taunted Bradman, then playing for South Australia, after Bradman had told him he was going to get a big score against him.

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