A nasty edge to the Ashes
A serious but friendly rivalry between England and Australia has been the cornerstone for the popularity of the Ashes over the years
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
A serious but friendly rivalry between England and Australia has been the cornerstone for the popularity of the Ashes over the years. But Peter Hanlon writes in the Age that things are becoming less friendly by the day - and the media is as much to blame as anyone.
Australians and English have always enjoyed a peculiar love-hate relationship, yet the emphasis has been on 'enjoyed'. A month-long visit to Britain has embedded a worrying thought: for as long as England has played Australia at sport we've joked how much one hates losing to the other. Now, it seems de rigeur to simply hate each other.
That the cricketers have not been on their best behaviour has been well documented, but the action in the stands, commentary boxes and newspaper columns has been revealing. To a degree we've had it coming; Australians have not always been the most humble winners and England was justifiably jubilant at finally pulling the thorn from its foot four years ago. But this time, it feels different. There is a nastier edge to the goading.
Kevin Mitchell in the Guardian notes that even Australia's coach Tim Nielsen is getting seriously testy.
His response to legitimate inquiries about Johnson revealed more than he was trying to hide. The gist of it was, if we wanted to write the bowler off, fine; what did we know? If they did not believe in Johnson, they might as well just open the newspapers the next morning and pick the team from that. It was a poor response.
One man who doesn't do 'nasty' is Ben Hilfenhaus, who Chloe Saltau describes in the Sydney Morning Herald as "too young to remember Terry Alderman and too bashful to indulge in comparisons with him".
Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here