Footage of Aussie coach Jason Gillespie shames a cricket nation
Footage of Aussie cricket great Jason Gillespie’s classy act is spreading across the internet after the coach exposed his own players.
Cricket
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cricket. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Jason Gillespie’s classy act is spreading across cyberspace after the Australian coach exposed a shameful detail about the Pakistan team.
Gillespie has been given one of the toughest jobs in cricket after being appointed Test coach of the struggling nation — and a video that emerged this week shows how much work the former South Australian coach has ahead of him.
Watch every ball of Australia v Pakistan ODI Series LIVE & exclusive to FOX CRICKET, available on Kayo. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer.
It has been a disastrous period for Pakistan after miserable flops at the ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup.
In red ball cricket, they were swept 3-0 in Australia last summer and lost their first ever Test series at home against Bangladesh in September.
The home Test series against England stands at 1-1 heading into the Third Test, which begins Thursday.
Gillespie won’t be in charge of the white ball team, which is coached by South African cricket great Gary Kirsten, when they arrive in Australia next week ahead of an ODI and T20 series, beginning at the MCG on November 4.
The team will arrive in Australia after repeated claims some players in the squad have been “playing for themselves”.
The attitude problems were unwittingly exposed by Gillespie’s small act in the nets this week when he was seen picking up bottles left by players following a practice session in Rawalpindi.
Cricket fans have taken to social media to say the footage shows an attitude problem inside the national team.
One cricket content account on Twitter shared the video with 270,000 views, captioning it: “Gillespie picked up the empty bottles left by the Pakistani players after the practice session.
“It’s just a small thing, but it shows the mentality of our players. Cleaning up after oneself seems to be considered a menial task. Learn some basic manners.”
Another fan commented: “Wow... hopefully they will learn from this act of grace shown by their coach. Hats off to mr gillespie”.
One Pakistan fan posted: “This is one of the main reasons why Aussies are better than us”.
Tagging the official Pakistan Cricket Board account, a pessimistic fan posted: “But we will not learn. Pakistan Cricket Board, please teach players some manners”.
One fan wrote: “This video should highlight the fact that the players who trained have not got the basic decency to clean up after themselves, instead of praising Gillespie for doing it, which everybody understands is very nice of him”.
Gillespie knew what he was getting into when he accepted the job.
The 49-year-old has previously coached domestic teams in India, England and Australia, including the Adelaide Strikers, but admitted recently this was his biggest assignment yet.
“It’s a completely different environment,” he told Al Jazeera earlier this month.
“For a start, it’s a Test coaching gig as opposed to domestic cricket. I’ve coached a lot in the United Kingdom and coached a lot in Australia, I’ve done a little bit in India with the Indian Premier League and in Zimbabwe, so this is a new challenge.
“I’m doing a lot of observing and listening to try to understand and add some value in the right way.
“I was conscious of not just coming in, being brazen and saying, ‘I know everything – do this, do this and this’.
“I wanted to come in and listen, learn and get a feel for what Pakistan cricket is about. It’s been a good learning curve.”
He has previously highlighted the team’s standards of fitness and physical preparation.
“It’s an area that certainly needs to improve in order to give ourselves the best chance,” he said.
“Whether you’re a domestic player or an international player, it is your responsibility to be as fit, robust and as strong as you can possibly be to handle the rigours of international cricket. It is as simple as that. It’s part of your job. We’ve got to keep pushing these standards and challenging our players to continue to improve.
“As head coaches, me and Gary, believe that when players arrive in the international side, we shouldn’t be talking about fitness. It should be a given. It’s like getting up and brushing your teeth. Maintain it, develop it and improve it.
“In our sport, we always talk about going to training and improving our batting, bowling, fielding – fitness is exactly the same. We need to make sure from the domestic level up to the national side that fitness is understood and respected as something that is vitally important.”
It has been a time of upheaval for Pakistan cricket with the team going through seven coaches since November, 2022.
Former Pakistan — and Australia — coach Mickey Arthur summed it up this year, saying: “Different coaches bring different ideas and have different roles for the players.
“It leads to uncertainty, inconsistency and forces players to start playing for themselves.”
Originally published as Footage of Aussie coach Jason Gillespie shames a cricket nation
WBBL Top 30: Where do the world’s best rank?
The 10th edition of the WBBL starting this weekend will be littered with international and domestic stars, but not all of them make LACHLAN MCKIRDY’s top 30, such is the depth.
Why Warner’s Test return offer is no laughing matter
Australia never knew it at the time but David Warner left a batting wasteland behind him. His offer to return for the India series lays the situation bare, with more pain to come.