Australia

Dale Steyn: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Dale Steyn would rather not play craps in the car park.

What he said:

“It’s got nothing to do about I’ll see you in the car park and we’ll beat the crap out of each other.”

Dale Steyn has not forgotten his war of words with the Australian skipper Michael Clark during the Newlands test in March this year.

In Zimbabwe later this year, Steyn said:

“I haven’t really spoken to him [Clarke] much since then to be honest. I don’t take many things personally, but what he did say to me I did take personally. I know he apologised in the media and I should be playing this down.

But the day he comes and shakes my hand and says, ‘I really mean what I said,’ and behaves like the way he should, maybe then I will (forgive him). But for right now, he’s not here so I’ll wait until I get to Australia.”

Steyn is still upset with Clark for what he considers a personal sledge.

The South African pacer said:

“I don’t think I can mention it over the air now”.

He added:

“[That’s] why I said if I see him we’ll have a normal chat between the two of us. It’s got nothing to do about I’ll see you in the car park and we’ll beat the crap out of each other. It’s got nothing to do with that man, maybe I just said too much in Zimbabwe.

The issue got blown out completely, it was like two schoolgirls the way the media got hold of it. I felt like Clarkey had his opportunity to say something at the end of the Cape Town Test and obviously I wasn’t in the press conference there and the next opportunity I got was a couple of months later in Zimbabwe so I said what I felt.

It wouldn’t have been fair if I’d said something straight after, I would have been called a sore loser after losing the series or the match so I just kept my mouth closed until it was my turn to say something. I didn’t want it to start a massive thing. It did, doesn’t matter. He’s not playing now. He’s obviously injured. Hopefully he gets well, he’s a great player and I think there’s enough respect from both of us, we’ve played against each other for long enough now and it’s just kind of got blown out of the water. It’s a bit silly really in all honesty.”

On the Aussies’ aggressive on-field appproach:

“Aussies are that kind of side they’re always in your face.I think of all the sides that play Test cricket in the world, the Aussies are always well known for being in your face kind of cricketers, kind of bullying teams and stuff like that. I don’t play my cricket like that personally.

I may look like that when I’m on the field and everything like that but I am a fast bowler, that’s just what you’ve got to do at the end of the day. I don’t quite agree with the way some of the things are done I think there’s a line. And I try to stay close to that line but never over-stepping it and if I do over-step it, I’ll be the first guy to put my hand up and say I’m sorry and go and do whatever I can to fix that.

Australia have always been that kind of side, so it doesn’t surprise me when they come hard or when somebody you’ve been a team-mate with before doesn’t greet you at breakfast, that’s just the way it is.”

A cricket shot from Privatemusings, taken at the third day of the SCG Test between Australia and South Africa. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What Steyn really meant:

“It’s a gentleman’s game, chaps, and I’m a sensitive guy. I can carry a chip on my shoulder for, let’s say how long it’s been now? Eight months?”

What he definitely didn’t:

“I’d rather bowl to him in the car park when he’s without his protective gear. That’s what car parks are good for—ambush territory.”

Stuart Clark: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Stuart Clark cares for Test cricket.

What he said:

“The Test series is big but at the end of the day if they do well in the World Cup no one will care about the Test series over there.”

Stuart Clark articulates what every dyed-in-the-wool Indian cricket fan openly admits—that recency and ODI wins count more than any overseas Test results.

The former Australian pacer said:

“I’d suggest India are very, very concerned about the World Cup.That’s a big thing in their cricket calendar, one-day cricket and the World Cup.”

On India’s performance after the first two Tests in England:

“But as soon as they moved to a wicket that did a little bit the white flags went up.”

Clark does not believe that Indian spinners will make a huge difference in the series against Australia Down Under.

He said:

“If India are going to come out and bowl spinners at us I think we’ll come out and smash them everywhere. They’re going to Brisbane first. Other than Shane Warne, no spinner has ever really done a lot there and been overly successful. In Adelaide they’ll be OK, but Sydney the last couple of years has been quite pace-friendly – it’s been carrying through and seamed around everywhere.

They’ll play Ashwin – he’s a good bowler in Indian conditions but I can’t see him being overly successful here.”

What Clark really meant:

 “India are the ODI world champions after all. And their fans will not accept anything less than a stellar performance at the World Cup. The Test series? The guys were whitewashed 4-0 the last time around. Can they fare worse? Anything less would be a major improvement.”

What he definitely didn’t:

” But it’d be so nice to thoroughly demoralise the Indian batsmen going into the World Cup. Nothing like another whitewash to do the job.”

Aaron Finch: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Aaron Finch is almost eye-lined by a pyrotechnics eruption.

What he said:

“I might need to touch up my eyebrows.”

Australian T20 skipper Aaron Finch is understandably furious at nearly being singed by a coloured flame-thrower during the first T20 game against South Africa at the Adelaide Oval.

Finch said:

“It shocked me quite a bit. I sort of stood off, waiting for them to go off.And they didn’t. It wasn’t until I started to walk in. It gave me a bit of a fright.

I thought they must have pulled the pin on them for that time – and then bang. It was a shock, I can tell you. I might need to touch up my eyebrows.

I think it might have been last year or the year before when Dave Hussey almost got his head blown off. Probably a bit more care has to be taken towards the players and anyone who is nearby.”

Cricket Australia responded quickly:

“We have apologised to Aaron for the incident last night.We have clear operating procedures in place for the use of pyrotechnics at matches.

They include strict rules about safe operating distances with respect to players and fans.

Clearly there was a breach of that last night which we take very seriously and have addressed with the contractor concerned.”

What Finch really meant:

“I’m not flame-retardant especially not my eyebrows nor my hair.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Now, that was a fiery game of cricket, wasn’t it?”

Steve Waugh: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Steve Waugh tries hard to soften the blow.

What he said:

“The hard thing about Pakistan is that they throw up these cricketers that you’ve never seen before.”

Steve Waugh is hard-pressed to explain away Australia’s batting collapse against an inexperienced Pakistani bowling attack in the first Test at Dubai.

Waugh said:

“Their legspinner Yasir Shah looked a fantastic find, he bowled as good as anyone in the last couple of years in Test cricket and we hadn’t even seen him. They had an attack that had just eight Test matches between them yet they performed very well. So they are always a dangerous side.”

What he really meant:

“Australians pride themselves for their preparation. But it’s difficult to be prepared when you have no idea who’s going to show up. Better the devils we know than the devils we don’t, eh?”

What he definitely didn’t:

 “Now if only the Pakistanis would play the IPL…We’d have an idea of their talent base… All our batsmen and bowlers now play the IPL and then graduate onto Aussie honours.. What an idea!”

Geoff Marsh: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Geoff Marsh keeps it all in the family with a hat-trick of baggy green caps.

What he said:

“Speak to my wife, we should have kept going!“

Geoff Marsh is pleased as punch to present the baggy green cap to his second son, Mitch, who made his debut for Australia against Pakistan in the first Test at Dubai on the 22nd of October.

Marsh’s elder son, Shaun, was bestowed the honour by his father in 2011.

Marsh said:

“It was quite tough, really. It was a real honour to be asked to do it. It was just pleasing, more pleasing that he’s got the opportunity to play Test cricket.

I’m pleased for both my boys. They followed me around while I was playing Test cricket and coaching Australia. Deep down you could see it in their eyes they wanted to follow in those footsteps and now they’ve both been given that opportunity. Hopefully there’s a lot of cricket left in them.”

On Michael Clarke’s assertion that Mitch could be a future captain:

“It’s nice to hear the Australian captain say things like that.I said to Mitch you’ve just got to take every day in Test cricket one day at a time. Test cricket puts out a lot of challenges, you’ve got to meet those challenges and you only do that through good focus and concentration and working hard.

He’s only a young boy. He thinks about the game a lot. We’ll just wait and see. He’s got to get through a lot of hurdles. He’s only young, hopefully he can just perform well and consistent and see what happens after that.”

What Geoff Marsh really meant:

“It would have been even better if  the Australian side were simply a Marsh XI.”

What he definitely didn’t:

 “Hindsight is eleven-eleven.”

Ian Chappell: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

English: Image of Australian cricketer Ian Chappell. Courtesy of the National Archive of Australia. The NAA has given permission for the image to be used under the GDFL license. Confirmation of this permission has been sent to the OTRS system. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ian Chappell raises his index finger to doctored pitches and biased adjudicating.

What he said:

“The players need to be careful where tit-for-tat pitch preparation might lead.'”

Ian Chappell is not keen on cricketers’ insistence on having wickets that suit them in home series. The former Australian skipper was responding to Shane Watson’s desire for bouncy pitches in the upcoming series against India.

Shane Watson (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Watson said:

“We are hopeful that the groundsmen are going to make the grounds very conducive to what we do, because in India they certainly make sure the conditions are favourable to them.”

Chappell, writing in his column, commented:

“I was reminded of two things when I read that quote. The first was a story told by Tony Greig about playing first-class cricket in South Africa.

It was at a time when umpires were appointed by the local association and the standard had dipped alarmingly. Greig described how the Western Province players would tell their local umpires to ‘send off’ the Transvaal batsmen because that was the treatment they received when playing in Johannesburg. In the end the situation became so dire the players declared a moratorium and agreed to ‘walk’ when they knew they were out.

That situation didn’t last long and soon chaos reigned.

The other was a comment concerning players who decide an umpire is either weak or incompetent and the team agrees to ‘appeal for everything’. Those teams are often the first to complain when the umpiring in a match is below standard. Hence the often-heard and eminently true comment: ‘Beware you don’t get the umpiring you deserve.’

The same could apply to pitches if players are going to start demanding retribution from the home curators.”

Chappell added:

“I’d go one step further and say that as captain, if I’d asked any Australian curator for a certain type of pitch, the answer would have been: ‘Get stuffed. I’ll prepare the pitch, you play on it.'”

What he really meant:

“Tit-for-tat reactions will create a dysfunctional relationship and ruin the ethos of the sport. It also breeds one-dimensional cricketers who cannot adapt to different situations and conditions. It’s  not going to produce great cricketers, but home-grown bully boys.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“How about a tit for two tats instead? Also, you ought to keep in mind that if Team India fold in three days or less, Cricket Australia will lose out on all that gate money and television revenue.”

Michael Kasprowicz: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Michael Kasprowicz does know what pressure is.

What he said:

“What pressure does to you is make you doubt your skills.”

Former Australian fast bowler, Michael Kasprowicz, draws upon his cricketing acumen to chart up success in the business world. Kasprowicz is an MBA from the University of Queensland Business School in Brisbane and now Managing Director of advisory business, Venture India, which promotes business relations for Australian companies in India.

Kasprowicz said:

“I was first picked for Queensland at the age of 17, and had a cricketing career of 19 years. Throughout my career, I never looked for the easy option. I wanted to test myself out in something entirely different; hence I went and did the MBA.”

Kasprowicz adds:

“What I learnt from my career is something I’ll classify in my own 4 Ps—perceptions, dealing with pressure, appreciating that there’s pain and most importantly, possession, the thought that you are in charge of your own journey. In cricket, there are uncontrollables that can always influence decisions—the weather, the pitch, umpiring decisions. It doesn’t matter how well you prepare, quite often, they can dictate or change the result. That lesson in itself is the most important thing, because of the ownership of your journey, you’re not relying on anyone else. You can take control of what you’re doing.”

The pacer believes in adapting his skills to suit the conditions.

He said:

“In 2004, (when Australia won a Test series in India after 32 years), we sat down as a bowling group and decided that we had to change it around a bit. We could not be doing what we did at home and expect to do well as a unit. Businesses come to India and think what they’ve been doing normally would work here in India too. That’s not arrogance as much as it is naivety. You have to be flexible, adjustable and adaptable to the market here and also see what the consumers want.”

So how does Kasprowicz deal with losses?

He says:

“I’ll go back to my Ps, and this time deal with pressure. What pressure does to you is make you doubt your skills. When all of a sudden an organization or cricket association goes through a few losses, it’s almost like a major GFC (global financial crisis) where everyone starts doubting their skills and questions the way they’re doing it. From a sporting background, whenever you have a few losses, we have a performance review. It’s important to go back and draw the straw man again.

I know the Australians get a bad tag for being sledgers, but all that, when you break it down, is to make someone not think about the ball that’s coming down and to doubt their skills, that’s all there is. There are other ways to make them doubt their skills—through field placements or the Three Card Trick (keep a deep-square leg, making the batsman anticipate a short ball, when the bowler delivers a fuller ball). When you’re under pressure, when you’re having a few losses, trust your skills—the ones that got you there, and the ones you’re the best at, but also have the conviction to adjust those skills to suit the conditions.”

What he really meant:

“When you’re under pressure, you tend to doubt yourself and wonder if you should be doing things differently. If the skills are not ingrained, you tend to revert to older, more tried-and-tested methods instead of continuing with the newly learnt skills. That’s what pressure does, that’s what questioning yourself does to you.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Pressure causes some people to shut down. And brings out the best in others. How’s that for a cliché? Or would you rather prefer, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.Over to you, Ravi (Shastri). “

Darrell Hair: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Darrell Hair thinks its hairy that Saeed Ajmal could bowl at 45 degrees or more for so long.

What he said:

“Well, every man and his dog would have known that.” 

Darrell Hair is bemused with the recent crackdown on illegal bowling actions launched by the ICC.

The Australian umpire, who famously called Murali Muralitharan in 1995, said:

“Whatever they’re doing now, they’re doing 20 years too late. They had a chance in 1995 to clean things up and it’s taken them 19 years to finally come back and say they want chuckers out of the game.  I can’t believe that Saaed Ajmal has been able to bowl as long as he has, and they say he is bending his arm by 45 degrees [the legal limit is 15 degrees] or something. Well, every man and his dog would have known that.

He added:

“People say ‘you should be happy with the way things turned out’…with the chuckers being weeded out. But it doesn’t give me any personal satisfaction whatsoever. All I was doing at any time was just doing my job and I think I did it to the best of my ability. The fact was that no other ICC umpires were willing to have a go. Ross Emerson was very adamant about his thoughts about chuckers but they soon put him into the background. 

I suppose I was lucky I had a few games under my belt so they didn’t want to target me, but they certainly got him out of the way fairly swiftly. It’ll be interesting to see how many umpires are brave enough to get involved in it. I said it in the late ’90s that if something wasn’t done about it you’d have a generation of chuckers on your hands and now you have. They try to emulate Harbajan Singh and Saqlain Mushtaq and Murali and that’s the problem. The crackdown should have happened on those players and the ICC should have let it be known that it wasn’t acceptable.”

ICC general manager of cricket operations, Geoff Allardice, believes the game has reached a tipping point on this issue.

He said:

“The game had reached a tipping point on this issue, when many groups within the game felt that there were too many bowlers with suspect actions operating in international cricket.The most prominent of these groups was the ICC Cricket Committee at its meeting in June, when it observed the ICC’s reporting and testing procedures were not adequately scrutinising these bowlers. They weren’t the only ones talking about this issue, as similar views had been expressed by teams, players, umpires, referees and administrators.

Since that time the umpires have felt more confident to report their concerns with certain bowlers, and their concerns have been supported by the results of the testing of these reported bowlers.”

In India, the irrepressible Bishan Singh Bedi could not resist firing a few salvoes of his own at his favourite peeve.

He said:

“I would like to see what happens to Bhajji (Harbhajan Singh) and Pragyan Ojha, now that umpires are reporting bowlers for throwing and action is being taken against them.”

Bedi added:

“The rectification had to come from the establishment.It’s no doubt late, but better late than never.” 

On the timing of the clampdown:

“Timing doesn’t matter for goodness. It was ugly to watch chuckers floating around – someone throwing javelin, some shot put and others darts.” 

What Darrell Hair really meant:

 “If you know it, your best friend knows it.Besides, should the umpire be looking at the bowler’s arm or at the batsman? How do umpires measure the angle with the naked eye? Trained dogs, perhaps? Something like sniffer dogs, eh? Can we umpires have compasses please?”

What he definitely didn’t:

 “I knew it and I was labelled a dog for it, wasn’t I?

Brad Haddin: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Brad Haddin and his team-mates have  fast breakfasts. 

What he said:

“Guys are up there trying to eat their breakfasts quicker than each other now.”

Brad Haddin makes no apologies for his rabid behaviour towards  Pakistani batsman Ahmed Shehzad in a Twenty20 clash in Dubai. The Australian keeper bluntly told Shehzad to stay out of the path of a ball. This was in response to Shehzad handling a throw from an Australian fielder.

Haddin said:

“I don’t know why he touched the ball.It’s not his place to touch the ball when we’re fielding.”

Haddin added:

“We haven’t changed our style. We’re a very competitive group.”

What he really meant:

“We’re very competitive. We even race each other to the loo and back.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Now if we could only stop trying to get back to the pavilion faster than the previous guy…”

Ian Chappell: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Ian Chappell can walk, chew gum, gorge on spicy dishes and dispatch spin bowlers with appropriate disdain.

What he said:

“If you can walk and chew gum at the same time, then you can eat spicy food and also play spin bowling. The trick is to acquire a taste for the former and be taught the latter correctly at a young age.”

Former Australia skipper Ian Chappell is not convinced by Justin Langer’s specious explanation that playing spin is like eating chilli. One has to develop an appetite for it at an impressionable age to relish it.

Chappell writes:

“I acquired a taste for spicy food at 19 but learned to play spin bowling from about eight. I retain my enjoyment of spicy food to this day and those lessons I was taught as a youngster stood me in good stead as my career progressed, culminating in a few months at finishing school – a tour of India.

To me, it is at a young age that the real problem lies with modern Australian batsmen, and it is here that the roots of their disconnect with playing good spin bowling lie: the coaches overlook the correct footwork fundamentals.

The first things I was told about playing spin bowling were among the most important:

1) Don’t worry about the wicketkeeper when you leave your crease, because if you do it means you are thinking about missing the ball.

2) You might as well be stumped by three yards rather than three inches.

To make a real difference to a spin bowler’s length you have to advance a decent distance, and coming out of your crease only a little generally improves the delivery.”

He added:

“Playing spin bowling well is a state of mind. To succeed, a batsman has to be decisive, look to dominate, have a plan and not fear the turning delivery. Once I learned on the 1969 tour of India that because of the slower nature of the pitches you had a fraction more time than you first thought, and that when the ball turned a long way it provided opportunities for the batsman as well as the bowler, I never again worried about prodigious spin. I was often dismissed but I never again feared the turning ball; I looked upon it as a challenge to be enjoyed.”

What he really meant:

“Eating spicy food requires mouth-work and ability to roll one’s tongue. Playing spin bowling requires footwork and a sharp eye. You can do both because they exercise different body parts. Now, did you get my analogy?”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Spicy chewing gum, anyone?”