Big-bellied sportsmen in Australia on the wane

The news of Mark Cosgrove losing his contract with South Australia is part of a continuing trend in Australian sport of overweight players coming under the scanner. Robert Craddock has more in the Courier Mail.

Over the years people have related to big sportsmen because their physical state stirs up so many emotions. In some ways they are courageous because they are trend buckers, in other ways selfish because the only beep test they are interested in is the one which alerts them that their steak roll is ready. But in many ways they just seem more normal than the chiselled clones around them. One little porky, Sri Lankan cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga, was so unfit that once during a Test in Colombo he failed to come out after lunch and lead his side in the field.