Trouble and strife on tour
In his new autobiography True Colours , Adam Gilchrist, publicly acknowledges the damage caused on the 2005 Ashes tour by a rift between the players' wives and girlfriends
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
In his new autobiography True Colours, Adam Gilchrist, publicly acknowledges the damage caused on the 2005 Ashes tour by a rift between the players' wives and girlfriends. Robert Craddock in the Courier-Mail thinks about how Australia might handle the return tour to England next year.
When the rift was detailed some time ago, Ricky Ponting described it as "absolute rubbish". It was a poor choice of words because it happened and he knew it. It is an issue Ponting must address before next year's Ashes tour or risk the tour becoming the same fractured fiasco it was in 2005.
Will Ponting prove a sensitive new-age captain who declares everyone is welcome all the time next year as was the case in England in 2005? Or will he adopt an Allan Border-style approach and declare an emerging team must have bonding time early in the tour and place wives and families off limits for a few weeks or more?
It is an issue that could make or break the tour. If Ponting goes the Border way he better put his flak jacket on. It is 19 years since Border banned wives from parts of the 1989 Ashes tour and at least one angry wife still chips him about the decision.
Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here