TOPIC:

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 re-election 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 CEO Sutherland has resigned but only because he has been there for so long and he has been replaced by a man who was integral in the bitter pay dispute with the players last year.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.

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!!

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.

Mikeh it didn't take this review for most folk to realise the Aussie test team are a bunch of overpaid arrogant prima donnas.....the way Warner yaps away in the field at the opposition bats or Starc and Hazlewood glare at the batsmen when they bowl all pretty obvious on the TV......as it was when Warnie et al played....just when u lose it looks even worse.

I agree Taylor needs to step up in the lead role....but I will be disappointed if the band for those 3 get reduced.....Will make Aussie cricket look weak, they made a stand which hopefully will be followed by other nations when cheating occurs....for too long players have found ways to stretch the rules....just play the bloody game....

Did anyone see the interview that Leigh Sales did with Peever last night? He clearly demonstated the arrogance that CA have been accused of by refusing to answer the specific questions that Sales directed at him. His basic approach to the whole report was that "we have been caught out not doing the right thing and now that we are aware of this nobody needs to resign and we will work towards a more positive future" Zero accountability and maximum spin. Imagine a senior bank executive telling the Royal Commission that he was aware that dead people were being charged fees by the bank, but its all OK now because its been made public and they won't do it again so no point in dwelling on the past because the bank is in a good position overall.

This was the sort of line that Peever was taking in the interview and I have little confidence that with him in charge there will be any meaningful change as a result of this report.

There has been bad behaviour in Australian cricket since I was kid, the early 1980s, and nothing has ever been done about it. All that happens is that one badly behaved playe retires to be replaced by the next one and the next one; mostly, sad to say, the problems have emenated out of NSW and WA.

There is no doubt in my mind, that, part of the reason GS Chappell retirred was because of the bad behaviour of some of his players, annoyed at the ACB's unwillingness to do anything about it to bring them into line.

Is that the same G.S Chappell that demanded his younger brother bowl underarm to win a On Day Clash vs NZ AR?

Did anyone here the ACA announcement today.The Australian Cricketers Association has asked for the lifting of the bans on Steve Smith,Warner +Bancroft. Blaming the cheating on the win at all cost culture of CA.
Did CA ask Bancroft to doctor the ball.Apsolute Bullshit.If India smash us this summer,to bad.The bans stand and I'm sure CA's sponsors think the same.South Africa beat us fair and square in that test series.There simply a better balanced side.

gtr: next thing you know they will call for a strike of players.

Greg Chappell is in charge of the youth system that cant develop a decent batsman and has been there for years, sooner they flick him the better