Darren Lehmann is the class clown the Australian team so desperately needed

THE aim of Australia coach Darren Lehmann to "make cricket fun again" was a shrewd move, writes former captain Ian Chappell.

Darren Lehmann shares a laugh with Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

THE aim of Australian team coach Darren Lehmann to "make cricket fun again" was a shrewd move. The winning sides are generally easy to spot; they're the guys enjoying the game.

Just like every circus has a clown and old-time rulers employed a court jester, a good cricket team needs a joker. A genuine character can keep a team laughing and loose off the field and playing in a relaxed frame of mind on it. However, there are a couple of traits a joker must have; he has to be genuine and it helps if he's a decent player.

Most people quickly see through someone trying too hard to be funny. While every one laughs with the team joker when he's playing well, they'll soon be sniggering at him if he's not really up to the grade.

Cricket teams are together a long time, whether it be on tour or in a home series. Things can get testy when you spend so much time together and not always just when you're losing. If there's someone around to pull a practical joke or 'take the Mickey', it helps lighten the mood and bring everyone back to earth.

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It often reaches the point where you either want to punch the joker or you burst out laughing and as cricketers aren't generally fighters, the latter usually occurs. That's when everyone realises they've been taking cricket too seriously and in the end it's only a small part of your life.

This is a point Lehmann has been quick to make; he wants the players to enjoy their cricket but to also understand there's more to life than sport.

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Lehmann's approach is a deviation from past Australian sides in that he, the coach, has initiated the fun and laughter. By doing so he's drawn out the characters in the team and encouraged them to express themselves. This is an important aspect of good sides; they play as a team but they still act as individuals.

In general, successful Australian sides naturally had a 'character' who occasionally slipped over into the 'pest' category.

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There have been the more obvious ones; Doug Walters in the sides I captained, Merv Hughes under Allan Border, Glenn McGrath performed the role in Mark Taylor's team and surprisingly, Bill Lawry when Richie Benaud was at the helm.

Yes, the batsman once dubbed "the corpse with pads on", was one of the better and braver practical jokers; Lawry saved his best pranks for the captain.

In 1961, with the help of pace man Frank Misson, Lawry decided to hammer ten centimetre roofing nails through Benaud's favourite shoes. This caused great mirth when the skipper, who religiously stepped into his shoes as his last act of dressing, attempted to walk to the door.

Hughes, who often oscillated between character and pest, became so frustrated with Greg Matthews constant requests for the twelfth man, he took out the off-spinner's cricket bag and dumped it beside the pitch.

In 1972 Walters, who'd been dropped from the team, played a role in a famous Australian victory. At the team dinner before the Oval Test he imitated manager Ray Steele by donning glasses, putting cotton wool on his head (to simulate a bald pate) and read from a newspaper. Steele had read and then rebuked us following our loss at Old Trafford. "Aussies take it lying down," read Walters, then in a perfect imitation of the manager, he took off the glasses, slammed his fist on the table and yelled, "pig's bloody arse they do."

This brought uproarious laughter to the room and a more relaxed mood. The next six days we played good hard cricket and won the most important Test of that team's era.

Whether it's reciting the joke of the day or hammering nails into the captain's shoes, any mood is better than a tension filled dressing room full of animosity in the wake of 'homework gate' in India.

A more relaxed Australian team has played good aggressive cricket against England and rightfully celebrated their victories. Lehmann is on the right track; the summer isn't over for the Australian players and they'll need to be in a good frame of mind for a tough tour of South Africa.