Drawing the battlelines: The culture wars in Australian cricket

There are culture wars being fought in Australian cricket, and only a victory in the second Test for Pat Cummins’ men will prevent tension from rising further.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is on the line and careers hang in the balance – but the contest against India in Adelaide is not the only battle the team and support staff find itself in.

Justin Langer, Adam Gilchrist, Pat Cummins and Andrew McDonald.Credit: Artwork: Nathan Perri. Photos: Getty Images, AP

There is angst in NSW, the state that produces the most national players. Former players, some close to ousted former coach Justin Langer, finally have an underperforming team to critique, while there are sections of the public who take glee in defeat in sinking the boots into Cummins, whom they brand “Captain Woke” for his views on Australia Day and climate change.

Australia’s heavy loss to India in Perth has created fertile ground for critics of Cricket Australia and the national men’s team.

Since it became clear midway through the first Test that Australia were doomed, there have been suggestions of a dressing-room rift, fears conveyed over the systems and structure in the domestic game, and the customary calls for mass change after defeat. Not all are overreactions.

At a glance, the furore over white-ball specialist Adam Zampa’s selection for NSW’s Sheffield Shield team seems a world away from the main action.

Whether there was a directive from CA to pick Zampa, a view robustly prosecuted by former Test seamer and now NSW selector and board member Stuart Clark but denied by the governing body, the controversy has highlighted a clash of ideologies inside the men’s game.

The hierarchy of Cummins, coach Andrew McDonald and selection chair George Bailey represent a new way in Australian cricket in which players – in this case an experienced group – have a greater say over the day-to-day running of the side than previous generations.

Though Bailey, who was contacted for comment, is not the first person in that role to wear the team tracksuit or watch from the dressing room, his close relationship has been a sticking point through his three years in the top job. The inference is he does not have the objectivity to make the tough call.

Bailey last defended his approach last December, saying: “My only observation would be if someone can show me how being distant and unaware of what the players are going through and what the plans are with the team and the coaching staff and how that’s more beneficial, I’d be all ears.”

The point was most spectacularly made by former speedster Mitchell Johnson in his spat with David Warner last summer, but also a view shared privately by some on NSW’s selection panel, for whom Zampa’s Shield selection was the latest source of concern.

Some in NSW had wanted Steve Smith to play more than just one Shield game before the Tests against India, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter but speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Smith is one of several stars whose preparation for the India series has been questioned by a number of former players, including Michael Clarke and Ian Healy. It is an area in which McDonald and his coaching staff will continue to feel the heat should the team turn in another stinker in the pink-ball Test.

Many of Langer’s former teammates who were unhappy with how CA handled his coaching exit also sit in commentary boxes passing judgment over the man who replaced their mate and the players who had wanted change.

Already, there are figures in the industry, some close to players, who believe the critique of the current team from former players is fiercer than ever. The term “pile-on” has featured regularly.

Josh Hazlewood’s manager Neil Maxwell, who also manages Cummins, this week hit out at Fox Sports for a segment, chaired by Test great Adam Gilchrist, where Hazlewood’s comments were used to suggest a divide in the team.

Darren Lehmann – a friend of Langer’s, a member of the golden generation and a former national coach to many of the current players – said past players were entitled to have an opinion in the media.

“If you’re working for print, radio, TV, you get paid for comment – you can’t just not have a comment,” Lehmann said. “They shouldn’t take it to heart. It doesn’t mean they don’t care about them. The past players care for the current players deeply, but they have to have a comment – that’s what they’re getting paid to do.

“Where current players, if they do everything right with all the money they’re earning on the back of past players standing up for their rights years ago, it’s now standing them in good stead to not work again.”

Teammates Steve Smith and Pat Cummins at Test training in Adelaide.Credit: Getty Images

Then there are Australia’s Test cricket fans, who tend to hold more conservative views than the younger market CA is trying to win.

Many would rather see Cummins devote his attention to rescuing his team with wickets instead of his views on climate change and Australia Day, though the World Cup and world Test championship-winning captain has proven his ability to do both.

It sets the scene for one of the most important Tests Australia has played on home soil for many years.

Consequences are serious in Australian cricket when the men’s team lose at home. In the past 16 years, Australia has lost two in a row on these shores four times.

Brett Lee and the late Andrew Symonds did not wear the baggy green again after the 2008 Boxing Day Test defeat to South Africa. Test legend Matthew Hayden retired at the end of that series defeat. Two years later, Ricky Ponting quit as captain and there was a review into Australian cricket, which brought in a new coach and selection panel. There were five changes after the Hobart debacle of 2016 against South Africa.

“We cannot lose Adelaide,” Healy said. “The knives will sharpen big time if that happens.”

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