Beasley Hutton wrote:
mikeh wrote: Had a scan through the independent review today. It is confronting and quite damning of the culture of the mens elite game in Australia and argues that the ball tampering incident was an inevitable consequence of the "win at all costs' mentality that has seeped into Australian cricket since the Argus report which was a total over reaction to a couple of ashes losses to England. One section from the report which caught my eye was the following:
In its race to corporatise, centralise and improve team performance over the past seven years, Cricket Australia's leadership lost sight of the fact that sport is not a business, and that cricket in particular is judged by the way in which its participants abide by the spirit of cricket as much as by how often they win or lose.
and
"The leadership of CA should also accept responsibility for its inadvertent [but foreseeable] failure to create and support a culture in which the will-to-win was balanced by an equal commitment to moral courage and ethical restraint.
My question is then, despite this, why did CA chairman David Peever seek relection and was unopposed a few weeks ago even though he has presided over this mess? CEO Sutherland has resigned but only because he has been there for so long and he has been replaced by a man who was integral in the bitter pay dispute with the players last year. Today the CA were all saying the right stuff but there doesnt seem to be any appetite to make a clean break with the past and appoint new people to implement the recommendations of the report.
The 3 players who have received harsh bans for their actions ( quite rightly) have copped it in the neck but everyone knows that workplace culture starts from the top and there seems to be very little consequences for the people who were driving this "win at all costs" mentality.
I would like to see someone like Mark Taylor as CA chairman. He is already on the board, as an ex Australian captain has an initimate knowledge of the pressures that cricketers face and he seems to be respected by everyone. Actions speak louder than words and I am not confident that CA are really committed to change at the top level, instead preferring to put all the pressure on players to abide by a pact of behaviour.
Also I want to acknowledge swan42 who gets a lot of crap from others on this forum but has been making the point about the Australian cricket teams behaviour for a few years now and his views have been pretty much backed up by this report.
Its a pity 42 cant also see the dreadfully poor behaviour from his beloved Aussie Tennis players in Tomic, Krygios et al Mike!!
Thanks mikeh for your comments.
BH please name the et al that you are referring to. Let's start with the fundamental difference that excluding the Davis Cup and Hopman Cup the players are not representing Australia as opposed to the AUSTRALIAN cricket team. Tomic is currently not being selected by the Australian Davis Cup captain, so he is being sanctioned for his actions. Similarly, Kyrgios has been sanctioned by the ITF and/or ATP for his actions. How many Australian Cricketers have been sanctioned for their sledging and actions on the ground apart from those involved in the ball tampering incident?
BH also a masterful attempt to try to divert from the thrust of the report: i.e. the behaviour and culture of the Australian Cricket team and Board. Perhaps you can offer your services to the Liberal Party in the wake of their Wentworth by-election debacle.