The frill-free Australian politicians

Twice in one day during this Test I saw John Howard, former Prime Minister of Australia, walking around. Once I came across him just outside the press box, as he was making his way to the broadcast booths. I initially couldn’t comprehend him being there so I thought he was a former Australian captain whose name I couldn’t remember. Only after he had gone past me did I realise.

I saw him again a little later in the day coming out of the Bradman stands at the SCG, bantering readily with fans. This is why I had trouble recognising him initially, I thought: he didn’t have an entourage with him of security, sycophants and all other kinds who usually hang around important people. He was just walking around, a man in a suit enjoying a day of cricket.

Kevin Rudd, the incumbent, has also been around. He made some hot dogs for the Jane McGrath Foundation, sat in the commentary box for a while (apparently he even predicted a 37-run win for Australia early in the Test). Earlier in the summer the defence minister was seen sitting in the stands unperturbed, watching Australia and West Indies battle it out. In New Zealand earlier, the Prime Minister spent around half an hour in the commentary box just chatting cricket.

No special arrangements seemed to have been made for Howard. If there was security I didn’t see or feel it. The roads weren’t closed down for Rudd’s arrival and mobile phones not taken in by stadium security. No sniffer dogs were sniffing. The Test started on time, as didn’t a Twenty20 in the Middle East last year because of a late arriving Royal.

I am not used to politicians and ministers, former and present, being so accessible and so unfussed. To talk to or approach the PM in Pakistan would take days and weeks. Here I could’ve asked Howard what he thought of Umar Akmal as he went past and probably Mr Rudd as well. When the head of state attends a match in Pakistan or India – always an ODI or a T20I – we all groan and moan, annoyed in advance at the logistical chaos and pandemonium about to unfold. When he or she does arrive, you spot them as a faraway dot somewhere, amid a sea of security and other important types, waving royally at no one in particular.

The Presidential spokesman in Pakistan has appealed for calm and patience after Pakistan’s 36-run Sydney loss. Perhaps the advice should’ve been given to the batsmen as they began their chase.