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Stop being chummy, you chummers

By Will 2 years ago, at the end of June Leave a comment on this post

From Lawrence Booth’s Spin column this morning:

The seeds of England’s affable uselessness (”It’s OK to be beaten by
Mahela Jayawardene and chums: they’re a good bunch of blokes”) were
sown on the last tour of Sri Lanka in 2003-04. Nasser Hussain spotted
the danger: “I had watched how matey some of our players were with
Murali, particularly Freddie Flintoff,” he wrote in his
autobiography, “and I became concerned that this was having an
adverse effect on the side.” Hussain’s decision to get nasty as
Murali walked out to bat in the second Test at Kandy came about
because “I wanted him to feel he was in a hostile environment, not a
friendly one.”

This is not to suggest that England start calling a member of the
opposition a cheat, as Hussain did. It is merely to illustrate that -
in the absence of a hard-nosed leader - England have lost their bite.
The Spin observed the off-field interaction between the English and
the Sri Lankans in this summer’s Test series very closely and it kept
reaching the same conclusion: Flintoff needs to add steel to his
repertoire, otherwise he will always hover in a lower captaincy
league than Hussain and Michael Vaughan.

Spot on. Mateyness has no place, especially when we’re losing so spectacularly. They all need a royal kick up the backside.

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5 Responses to “Stop being chummy, you chummers”

  • Alan R wrote:
    June 27th, 2006 at 12.03 pm

    I disagree. Nobody’s accusing the Sri Lankans of being too chummy with the English. Unless it’s totally fake, chumminess is a 2-way street. It’s only the losing side that gets criticized for it. Was England too chummy with the Aussies last year?

    England needs to give fewer extras, bowl fewer short balls when the batsmen are obviously hoping for more of them, and to have some of their top batsmen turn 30’s into 50’s and 70’s into hundreds. If they do that they can go ahead and give their defeated opponents backrubs after the match if they want.

  • Stu wrote:
    June 28th, 2006 at 12.57 am

    You’re exactly right AlanR. Last year, Australians were copping criticism back home, for losing their hard edge and being to matesy with the English. It’s all about who is winning. Fintoff’s sportsmanship was applauded in last year’s Ashes, now, the shoes on the other foot, and look what happens.

    There is a way you know, to be intimidating, and win, and still be a good bloke. Flintoff was as intimidating as hell last year, because he was bowling fast, moving the ball all over the place and taking wickets, not because he was saying nasty things…

  • Jim wrote:
    June 28th, 2006 at 2.10 am

    However, one of the reasons Fletcher and Vaughan attributed to England beating Australia, was our willingness not to be intimidated. I think the phrase was “get in their space.” By cutting out the matey-ness we set ourselves up mentally to win, and took the Aussies head on. The mental aspect of the game is at the heart of Test cricket these days, nit just bat and ball skills whether we like it or not.

    I think we’ve lost some of the aggressive edge, and it’s reflected in the results. A bit more ruthless-ness in attitude would have finished off Sri Lanka at Lord’s for starters.

  • Stu wrote:
    June 28th, 2006 at 2.18 am

    I think you can be “Chummy” without being “submissive” and “Intimidating” without being “abusive”. Granted we don’t often see this combination, but when we do, it’s usually from someone we all respect and continue to long after they’re gone - even though we hate it when they play against our side - e.g. Flintoff for Aussies, Maybe McGrath for the English (lately anyway, earlier on, he was both intimidating and abusive I would have to concede).

  • Scott wrote:
    June 28th, 2006 at 9.07 pm

    Warne is as chummy as you can get, even to the point where he can’t stop shagging Englishwomen, and yet he still was hard-assed enough on the field.


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