Cricket World Cup: Australians “all about hanging tough together” in trenches for fierce verbal battle

Sometimes you have to hang tough when the heat is coming and for the Australian cricketers, on the eve of the World Cup, there is a special tightness about the group for what lies ahead, writes Peter Lalor.

Has the Australian cricket team been in marriage counselling? It sure looks and sounds like it. Players are using a new language, expressing a kinder, gentler side.

Small fissures among players leading up to the catastrophe in Cape Town became enormous cracks in its aftermath. Suspicions and lingering resentments lingered long. An event like that would put any group under strain. There were issues behind the scenes in the fraught months that followed, but what’s become clear watching and listening to the squad since they gathered in Brisbane is that something’s changed.

Cricket Australia called it a reintegration process when they brought back Steve Smith and David Warner. Leadership consultant Tim Ford worked with the group. Feelings were explored. Separately Warner contacted each of his teammates individually and apologised to them for his role in the sandpaper scandal. He had been the lightning rod for anger over the incident, but he asked for forgiveness as his return from the ban approached.

Both were quiet around at first but are finding their voice since.

Cricket players spend ridiculous amounts of time away from their own beds and trying amounts of time stuck together with little to do. Aside from training and playing there is the mind numbing expanses in foreign hotels, on buses, in airports and rented rooms.

Its easier when you’re winning and performing, but never easy.

The worst thing anyone can do is allow their form to inform their moods. A run of poor performances place pressures on an individual facing a fall from the team, the squad and the contract list. Players are in competition with their teammates. One day you’re playing, then you’re carrying the drinks, running gloves to the batsman who has replace you, wrestling your poor form and bad luck in the nets with exile awaiting.

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Steve Smith smashed a timely century on the eve of the World Cup.

You cannot, however, no matter how bad things are going, let your mood show. One of the worst things you can be labelled is “a bad tourist”. It’s the office equivalent of “high maintenance”. Plenty have had their cards marked for sulking through a series and being a negative influence on the mood of the group.

Other things can drag a player down too. Trouble at — and from — home can take all shapes. Stressed partners. Children acting out. Sick parents. Dying dogs.

United front: Australia's David Warner (right) celebrates with teammates after taking a catch to dismiss England's Jonny Bairstow in their World Cup warm up match against England.

One player missed the team bus on his first tour when his son became upset that he didn’t have time to talk to him about something important. He had to choose between punctuality and the distress of his only child. He chose the latter. He never toured again, it wasn’t the only reason but it was noted on his record. The environment is strict and being late is a sin. Missing the bus is a crime.

When you are winning and everyone is going well it’s easy. Harmony comes naturally. The discord begins when things turn. What should be the best time of your life becomes the worst.

There’s a new awareness in this Australian group about the strain of touring.

Steve Smith was booed in a manner few have been before him during the first official practice match against England in Southampton. It was to be expected but seeing a man booed from the ground after making what was a remarkable century was ugly. He was called a cheat. So too was Warner.

Nathan Lyon was asked about it after the match.

Australia’s Steve Smith has struck form at the right time.

David Warner is coming off a bumper IPL campaign.

“Obviously you always feel for them but it’s part of the game isn’t it? We were expecting it,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s just Steve and David. I think when you’re in a team environment away from home and away from your loved ones and family et cetera, I think the word ‘care’ doesn’t get thrown around enough.

“I think if you can actually care about your teammates and staff members, I think it’s very important. At the end of the day we’re humans. Like, we all want to be loved but it just doesn’t happen like that some days so it’s just all about hanging tough together. We know that the crowds are going to be ruthless over here.”

It was curious to hear Lyon talk in such terms. He’s old school. Sportsmen generally are. He’s rural, not exactly a new age sort of guy. But the words echo something Justin Langer said when the side was in London.

“What we’ve got to understand is that they’re human beings as well,” the coach said. “There’s not too many I’ve met in my life who like being booed or heckled or disliked so … they’re human beings. We’re going to have to care for them, we’re going to have to put an arm around them and make sure they’re going OK.”

Ricky Ponting noted the feeling among this group when he joined them a week after they had arrived in London. It was a far cry from what he’d found when he was with them 12 months earlier.

“I’ve only been here a couple of days but you can just tell there’s a lot of laughter, a lot of banter, there’s a lot of noise (in the change rooms) which means the boys are generally happy,” he said.

“You generally get scared around teams when things are quiet and individuals are quiet, but I certainly haven’t seen that.

“Everyone is pretty upbeat at the moment, understanding they’ve got a couple of months together and hopefully the best months of their lives together.

“Even the first night I got here there was a real effort for everyone to get together down in the bar and have a chat and be together more often than just sitting back in your room.”