Thought of the Day: A clash of cultures requires more than one culture

Dean Jones isn't known as a man of subtleties.  During his playing days, "Deano" was a member of a 'new generation' of cricketers who captured the Australian cricket-followers interest as a member of the 1987 World Cup winning team and as a dasher between wickets.  He also scored a few runs in Chennai.

Jones spends his days as a cricket coach and commentator these days, and it is in the latter profession that he has made a score of late.

In his latest piece for "The Age", Jones writes of the on-going animosity between the South African and Australian teams since the period of South Africa's re-entry to International Cricket, drawing comparisons with the Australian teams respectful relationships with other opponents such as the West Indies and India.

And herein lies Jones' dash; the level of respect exists as both teams recognise each others different cultures and respect them, whereas South Africa had none.

That's not to say there wasn't a culture within the post-apartheid South African team, just one that the players weren't supposed to represent, and like the awkward kid at school; they were trying a little too hard to impress everyone else with the culture they decided they wanted to represent.

The Star Wars kid may or may-not have been their cultural advisor.

Jones gives telling examples of the crowds using 'sheep' jokes (implying relationships between Australians and sheep) with them, assuming a familiarity that wasn't there, as well as pointing live guns at the opposition; seeming once more like that awkward kid wanting to be seen as 'cool' or respected, without any knowledge of how.

This isn't to say that there isn't a culture within the South African team now.  The Proteas are now the undisputed Number One test team in the world and are a true representation of their country's diversity. They have had a balanced side for a number of years and seem free of the anxiety or wanting to fit in or be respected.

Lets hope the South Africans have also learned that Sheep jokes should be aimed at Kiwis too.

Thought of the Day: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Cricketer

Shane Watson has a lot to thank Andrew Flintoff for.

Flintoff was Man of the Series in the 2005 Ashes, no mean feat considering the contributions of his teammates with the bat (e.g. Pietersen, Trescothick) and ball (e.g. Jones, Harmison, Hoggard). His contributions with bat and ball, however, were often at crucial times and his ability to inspire teammates with these efforts were key to England winning.

Thus, Cricket Australia decided it needed an all-rounder in its own team to replicate the success of England.  Interesting in that it didn't look to rid itself of some of the players that were past their prime, or start developing new players, but that's another story.

The stand-out candidate for the all-rounder position at the time was Shane Watson, who had debuted 6 months prior in Sydney as a bowling all-rounder.  Watsons' highlight from his first test would have to be either his first wicket (Younis Khan LBW) or falling over during his first over.

His efforts against a mediocre Pakistan were satisfactory, though not enough to earn a place in England.

The only other all-rounders in consideration were Andrew McDonald, who didn't have Watsons abilities with the bat, and Andrew Symonds, whose medium pace wasn't threatening enough and whose part-time spin was already being misrepresented by a fleet of others.

Not naming names.

His next chance came courtesy of Flintoff in the 2009 Ashes, after the English bowler worked out that Phillip Hughes (the incumbent Australian opener) couldn't play the short ball, leaving Australia in desperate need of an opener.

With no other batsman available, Watson was asked to open the batting, as well as help out with the bowling.  Being a good cricketer with good technique, Watson did well in the role; leaving balls outside off and driving and pulling anything too straight or short.  His shot-limitations didn't seem to limit his success and he cemented his place at the top without ever making a big score.

"Thanks!"

In fact, his inability to make a big score, or even a hundred, became a national focus point.  I will never forget the day that he did make the milestone (again, against a mediocre Pakistan team) and the public celebrations of it.  I was walking down Collins Street in Melbourne and people were running into pubs and restaurants to find a television to witness the moment. 

I had never seen so much celebration regarding an Australians test century before.  Times were obviously tough.

Since then, Watson went on to win the Alan Border medal for best player of the season, and has been one of the best in the team since; when fit to play.

And herein lies the issue: Watson has been a very good player in a very poor team and so has been asked to, and has volunteered to, play out-of position and as often as possible.  This has resulted in considerable injuries and disruption to the team.

Flintoffs own career was ultimately ended by injuries, though these were more caused by the spinal issues that fast bowlers face.  While Flintoff did play in some unsuccessful teams initially, he was a crucial part of several Ashes-winning sides that lifted the profile of his sport and the morale of his team.

So while Watson may have Flintoff to thank for convincing Cricket Australia to include him in the side, he may want to ask Andrew if he can give CA a call to convince them to manage his workload better.

Question of the Day: What makes for smalltalk in Cloud city?

During the brilliant rolling storyline that is Episode IV, Luke Skywalkers friends find themselves in Cloud City after becoming separated from the rest of the Rebellion.  The Empire work this out pretty quickly and Vadar manipulates the Administrator of the City to use their presence to entrap Luke himself.

A different way of manipulating the Administrator.

"Pretty quickly" is a relatively indeterminable timeframe though in Star Wars terms, as Lukes friends seem to be in Cloud City long enough to (randomly) have a costume change, get shot, hang out in a cool apartment and notice if one of the party has gone missing. 

While Leia seems a pretty cool customer throughout the series, she even gets agitated enough about C3POs disappearance to comment about it.  One can only assume that this means they have been in the city for a period of longer than 2 hours and possibly as much or more than a day.

So why did they wait so long to talk to the City's Administrator about any issues he may have with the Empire?  Surely people on the run from the Empire that are leaders of an active Rebellion against it would have brought the subject up on arriving in Cloud City?  Rather than spending their arrival in a Mexican stand-off with the Administrator, then getting schmoozed by him, shouldn't they have said something along the lines of: "Hey, thanks for letting us land, we're on the run from the Empire - if that's an issue we'll just take off"?

The "you truly belong here amongst the clouds" line distracts every time

The only time that they raise the subject is when the Administrator is taking them out for a few drinks when it comes out in passing conversation, which really begs the question: what are people talking about on Cloud City that is so fascinating?

Sign of the times: Editorial standards are slipping

Image taken from www.theage.com.au on 7/09/2012. 
Not shown: a young girl in China, rescuers, her bike or a bus.
Shown: The President of the USA and his family.

Thought of the Day: The Stuart Law rule of improvement

Remember Stuart Law?  He was one of Australia's best batsmen in the mid-to-late nineties but only played the one test (one innings, 54 not out) due to the strength of the squad that was being built into a winning dynamo by Steve Waugh.

I was thinking of poor Stuart the other day after pouring over the results of the recent Australia A series against England, as this was a team he would have walked into, but Australia simply doesn't have players of his ilk waiting to get into the team anymore.  In fact, they don't have players of his ilk IN the team anymore.

not naming names

During Stuarts time, Australia won almost every Test they played, even winning 16 in a row at one stage.  Ricky Ponting was once asked in an interview how his team could possibly improve and he responded by talking about some sort of minutiae.

Its possible, though, that new players should have been included during this successful period to not only develop skills and experience, but also gain inclusion into that culture of winning, thereby letting the Stuarts of the future thrive - or at least develop a batting average.

Thought of the day: Hughes for T20

Looking up the score in the Australia A v England Lions game, I noticed Phil Hughes had been given a bat. And by that, I mean he was the fourth batsman in, they didn't actually give him a bat.

That would have been brilliant though.

Facing possibly the second-best bowling line-up England (& Wales & Ireland) could muster, Hughes did well in scoring a quick 50.

This made me think; the lad obviously has an eye and can score quickly with unorthodox strokes, so long as he isn't facing the short ball, so why not get him to play Twenty20?

Has he told the ACB he is a test player? Shouldn't that be for the ACB to decide? Shouldn't we be trying to win and promote any success in this era of poor average Australian cricket?

Just a thought.

Thought of the day: Possibly not the best time for Melbourne to release personalised Footy's