WAGs issue flashing ahead of the Ashes
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
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Robert Craddock looks at whether wives and girlfriends will be travelling with the Australian team for the Ashes. In his column in the Courier-Mail he also writes about how the exposure of the WAGs increases when the side struggles.
When you are winning no one cares. When you lose everything bar your aftershave gets heavily scrutinised. You sweat over every decision and one of those sounds small but it's a big decision coming up soon – how much access will Australia give players' wives on this year's Ashes tour? It is the most delicate of issues because there was a major catfight on the 2005 Ashes tour which destabilised the side, not simply for the tour but the year after it.
Craddock writes that the squad environment has changed over the past year.
Australia have chosen 15 different Test teams in a row. Players are on edge and so are their wives. Insecurity is rampant. The new age cricketing wife or girlfriend tends to be a brassy sort of gal who can't wait to tell the Allan Border Medal interviewer who designed her dress and her hanky – both of which happened to be the same size.
Peter English is former Australasia editor of ESPNcricinfo