Young players denied old ways to unwind, leading to a generation of caged-in cricketers
The days of cricketers unwinding from a hard day at the Test with a couple of cold ones in a local bar are gone, players now incresingly constrained by a cricket bubble that brings damaging pressures.
Cricket
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There’s been plenty of cricket coaches who’ve told players it was time for bed but there was also a night in Adelaide when the reverse happened.
Walking up Hindley St on Wednesday I passed the hotel which was often the home base for the Australian team including one late night many years ago when a group of touring journalists enjoyed a quiet drink with the colourful off-spinner Colin Miller.
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By his own admission, Miller was a hopeless sleeper, particularly if he went to bed early.
As the clock ticked past 11pm Australian coach John Buchanan walked past and said “it’s getting late’’ to which Miller replied “it is … actually, it’s time you went to bed.’’
Buchanan smiled and duly headed off, leaving Miller to be himself, have a couple for the road and finally head off to his room.
In a way it was shrewd coaching because Miller, a nomadic free spirit who travelled the globe and visited dozens of countries, was never meant to be a caged-in cricketer.
He put in though. Sometimes he would be spotted in the gym before breakfast but he had his own unique way of doing things and an excellent Test record proved the worth of his methods.
Life has changed for the new generation of cricketers. Modern professional standards decrees most modern cricketers would not be seen within cooee of a bar during a Test and you couldn’t blame them.
Miller and co played in the pre-mobile phone era where, if a bowler got whacked around at the Adelaide Oval, he would not have to worry about someone posting a happy snap from the night before saying “not surprised given how late he was up.’’
Recently retired selector Greg Chappell has viewed the changes in cricket culture from close range for half century and accepts the world has changed.
But as the game confronts its mental health crisis he hopes young cricketers can find a way to unwind despite the fact they cannot de-stress in some ways like they used to.
“There wasn’t the glare of publicity (in Chappell’s era),’’ he recently told SEN. “There were not mobile phones everywhere, we could get away from time to time and just go out and have a few quiet beers or a meal somewhere and just forget that you were international cricketers for a while.
“It’s a different era, we were part-time cricketers, it wasn’t our living – we had a real job and we played cricket for fun.
“We could just walk away and have a quiet night out and not have people saying “what are you doing having a couple of beers during a Test match?’’
Late in his career Jason Gillespie was asked by a journalist whether he could interview him over a coffee and he replied “I don’t drink coffee … I’d rather have a beer.’’
The journalist wrote the story and tried to do the right thing by Gillespie saying “he said over coffee’’ only to have Gillespie later to say to him “I’ll say it again … I don’t drink coffee … I’d rather have a beer.’’
Originally published as Young players denied old ways to unwind, leading to a generation of caged-in cricketers