| Series | Countries | Live Scores | Fixtures | Results | News |
Features
|
Photos | Video & Audio | Blogs | Statistics | Archive | Games | Mobile | ||||||||||||||||||||
India v Australia / News
|
Australia in India 2012-13
Watson leaves tour after Australia axe four
March 11, 2013
Australia's tour of India went into crisis mode on Monday with the team management axeing four players, including vice-captain Shane Watson, from the third Test in Mohali for ignoring team orders following the defeat in Hyderabad. The other players are James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and Usman Khawaja. Hours after that announcement by the coach Mickey Arthur came news that Watson was heading home, though Cricket Australia insisted it was connected with the birth of his first child.
The baby was due shortly after the end of the Indian tour and Watson had already been granted leave to fly home early if required. A Cricket Australia spokesman said that process had been "accelerated" due to a change at home and that it was yet to be confirmed whether Watson would return to the tour ahead of the fourth Test, which starts in Delhi on Friday next week.
The four players were told by Arthur of the unprecedented decision on Monday morning. After the Hyderabad loss, inside three and a half days, Arthur asked every member of the squad to let him know three points on how their individual performances and those of the team could be improved.
The players were informed of the task on Tuesday night and were asked to ensure it was done by Saturday evening. Every other player completed the requirements, either by emailing or texting Arthur their points or by slipping a note under his door. However, as of Monday morning the four players had neglected to comply. Arthur, captain Michael Clarke and team manager Gavin Dovey met and discussed how to handle the situation and decided that it needed to be a "line-in-the-sand moment".
"After Hyderabad the whole team was really hurting, we were discussing ways of getting back into the series," Arthur said. "We were particularly aware of where we were as a team and how we were going to get back. I asked the players at the end of the game to give me an individual presentation. I wanted three points from each of them technically, mentally and team as to how we were going to get back over the next couple of games, how we were going to get ourselves back into the series.
"Unfortunately four players didn't comply with that. We pride ourselves on attitude. We have given the players a huge amount of latitude to get culture and attitude right. We believe that those behaviours with what we want to do with this team, how we want to take this team to be the best in the world, teams that are the best in the world have best attitudes and best behaviour patterns and a good, hard, ruthless culture. I believe those four players unfortunately did not meet my requirements so those four are not available for selection for this Test match.
"That's a line-in-the-sand moment. We have given these guys absolute clarity. We have given this team a huge amount of time to buy in with what we want to do for the Australian cricket team. We have given a vision to these guys that is spelt out. We've given an expectation that is spelt out and although this incident might seem very small in isolation this is a line-in-the-sand moment for us as a unit in our quest to become the best in the world.
Australia's Test squad |
"I think the best thing that these three days off have given me is reflection time, to reflect on how well have I been going in my job, like I expect everyone else to do when you're 2-0 down in the series. Myself and Pup came to the conclusion that we have been so focused on winning cricket games that maybe some people have been cutting corners. Perhaps there have been some soft options taken.
"We decided that we needed to really get that in line."
One of the most surprising aspects of the decision is that it was not necessarily related to previous indiscretions by the players involved. Although there have been ongoing questions about Khawaja's attitude, Arthur said Watson, as one of the senior members of the side, was usually extremely professional with his preparation. But on this occasion, given the nature of the loss in Hyderabad, the team management was not prepared to accept such laxity.
"I have never ever doubted, not for one moment, the drive of Shane Watson," Arthur said. "Not for one moment. Shane Watson prepares well. He's very professional and he goes about his business in a very professional way. I've not ever been in a position to doubt Shane Watson the person or Shane Watson the cricketer. Usman Khawaja is different. This will be the catalyst I think for Usman Khawaja to realise we're pretty serious in the Australian cricket team.
"It's extremely tough to sit here and make that decision. I wish it wasn't the vice-captain, I wish it wasn't Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson, they are leaders within the team and are very professional with the way they go about their business. But this was a moment where we had to make a statement irrespective of who the players were.
"I wanted to make 100% sure that it wasn't stuck in the outbox and under the door, and it wasn't. Shane was going to talk to me today about it, as was James Pattinson apparently. Mitchell and Usman forgot about it. But I wanted it by Saturday night. As severe as a consequence it is, if we remove the names, it sends a proper statement of what we want to do with this cricket team.
| "That's a line-in-the-sand moment. We have given these guys absolute clarity. We have given this team a huge amount of time to buy in with what we want to do for the Australian cricket team" | |||
"They could do it in any way. It could be in writing and putting something on email, it could have been sending an SMS followed up by an email. I wanted to make sure the players went back and reflected and looked themselves in the mirror and said 'this is what I want to do to take this team forward. This is how I want to change this series and this is my positive contribution to the attitudes that we want to create in this cricket team'.
"I wanted three things - a lot of guys came to my room and did a presentation, a few guys have written fantastic emails, some guys put notes under my door, it was their preference. As a leadership group, myself, Michael Clarke and Gavin Dovey made these decisions together. We as leaders feel we need to project a united front and we need to be ruthless if we want to achieve our objectives."
The players were informed of the decisions individually on Monday morning before the news was broken to the rest of the playing group prior to training. Arthur said it was a very difficult decision.
"They are absolutely gutted, as I was having to deliver a message like that," he said. "We were all gutted by it, but this is the expectation if you want to play cricket for Australia."
The decision leaves Australia with only 13 players available for the third Test, which starts on Thursday. However, Matthew Wade may yet be ruled out due to injury, which would leave only 12 available when Brad Haddin joins the group. The unavailability of the quartet is only for the Mohali Test; they will again be considered for selection for the fourth and final Test in Delhi.
Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here
Feeds: Brydon Coverdale
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
| ||||||
| Comments have now been closed for this article |
||||||
TopE-mail
Feedback
Print
Brydon Coverdale
Assistant Editor Possibly the only person to win a headline-writing award for a title with the word "heifers" in it, Brydon decided agricultural journalism wasn't for him when he took up his position with ESPNcricinfo in Melbourne. His cricketing career peaked with an unbeaten 85 in the seconds for a small team in rural Victoria on a day when they could not scrounge up 11 players and Brydon, tragically, ran out of partners to help him reach his century. He is also a compulsive TV game-show contestant and has appeared on half a dozen shows in Australia.
Tour Results
Sponsored Links
ICICI Bank M2I. Register Now and Get A Gift Offer.
Safe & simple online money transfer. Apply Now!
Buy Wisden 2013 & get a FREE Playfair
Available now at Cricshop
As much as anything this brings into question the role of the coach in cricket, is he there to coach, or is that the job of the bowling and batting coaches, if he is, maybe he should have been the one presenting the players with reports about the various ways they could improve. Or is he there to manager the team, is he the boss? Is he there to make the decisions? Not selection decisions, that's what selectors are for right? And surely not strategic decisions, that's the role of the captain. Personally, I think it's another example of how Australian cricket has lost its way, sure it'll come back again, but the strength it had with regards to crowds, tv rights and sponsorships seem to be slipping away, little by little. The requirement for the many layers of held positions in Australian cricket to justify themselves means they're losing sight of the big picture, to play cricket, to allow the public to enjoy the endeavour of the players and sustain the sport with their support.
Feedback and introspection are absolutely necessary when it comes to improving an individual's performance. The point, however, is that since this is an emotional issue, every person has his/her methods of expressing them. It is the coach's duty to make sure they express their ideas. Mickey Arthur/ Michael Clarke could have had separate interviews with them and the problem would not have escalated like this. I believe it is the responsibility of the management to ensure that they use methods of feedback which are applicable to everyone ( in this case, only 3/4 th of the team were ready with the ppts) and penalize them in a way that does not resemble a dictatorship.
This has to be one of those inspiring decisions that will bring Australian cricket back on track. This may not happen in this series but it will have a positive impact in the long run. Cricketers need to know that they aren't playing just because they like it. Once selected it's their duty to represent their country at the best of their abilities and contribute to create a positive culture in whatever way they can. These cricketers are adults and not kids and they need to act like adults too. Good decision by Mickey Arthur and Michael Clarke.
Are the Australian cricketers expected to work on their batting, bowling, fielding, wicketkeeping before the 3rd Test, or are they supposed to make ppt presentations? Is this cricket or a business meeting? Even if cricketers are expected to make a presentation, why would anyone who was not in the playing XI in the 2nd Test even need to make a presentation of the loss? Are these cricketers meant for advisory work, or is this the work of the management, including the coach?
Pattinson was the best player in team and was doing his job, so he may have taken this lightly. Johnson and Khawaja haven't played yet, so "how can you improve your performance" may not have made sense to them. And someone who hasn't played advising about how to improve the team also feels odd. Let me play first, then I will tell you about my performance. If they did late night parties or didn't show up for practice, this would be justifiable. This is too harsh, even for hard nosed Aussies.
I'm 100% behind Mickey and Pup. There has been a total lack of commitment to the team. It is a team game and not an individual. The captain and coach ask you to do something, you do it or get out. Plenty more in Oz want a chance to make the team.
I think that a lot of people are underplaying what these players did. It's not just writing an email and it's not just silly homework as some are calling it. As Arthur said, the purpose was to get each player to genuinely reflect on what they were doing as individuals and as a team and what they could do to improve their performance. That's not silly at all, but to say things like Pattinson should be exempt because he took some wickets is silly. Is he part of the team or not? Did the team just get hammered or not? That said, I can't help thinking that to suspend these players for the next game is an over-reaction. By all means give the players a stern talking to and more if it's deemed appropriate but this suspension seems extreme under the circumstances. Obviously I'm not privy to what goes on in the Australian dressing room but my instincts say that this will not have a positive influence. It may not tear the team apart but I don't see it bringing them together.
The only comparison that comes close to this as far as an Australian is concerned (and maybe only the Aussie readers will understand this) is that back in the late 1980s the then coach of the West Coast Eagles (John Todd) demanded a written report from the players on why they lost a match against Brisbane Bears in Brisbane . This report was to be handed in as they got off the plane in Perth. Several of the players chose not to write at all thinking it puerile whilst some of the others wrote deliberate rubbish. The fallout of this exercise deeply divided the playing group into those that took this seriously and the others that treated it as a joke (and who obviously didn't endear themselves to the coach). This whole exercise ultimately cost the coach his job (because in the eyes of management he didn't have the support of the playing group) and the majority of those that didn't write their report ended up leaving the club. It will be interesting to see if this pans out in a similar way.
When would the coaches understand that at this level it is the individual player's choice, inspite of all the well meaning strategies behind the scene. Instead of writing in what I feel on a piece of paper, an easier way to kick up the psyche and raise the motivation levels would have een to call a team meeting together and get everyone to give their thoughts. This will result in quite a lot of good and bad happening, but it will achieve one thing - Galvanization of the team in to one unit again. Probably a Performance Psychologist would have mentioned this...pity there are very few High Performance Coaches with Performance Psychology combination in the circuit!
Can we add a new column in the player stats: homework completion rate?