- Australians don't mind losing; they can't stand not trying to win
AS A new season starts, it is time to talk about the country this Australian team represents. It is a land in which a prime minister sits in a cafe without bodyguards, a land in which nippers plunge into breakers twice their size, a place in which firefighters subdue angry flames, taxi passengers sit alongside cabbies, in which the nation's leading run scorer could change places with a garbo, and doctors from Melbourne regularly go to Galle to assist victims of the tsunami.
Meanwhile, a woman from Gawler fills vast containers and sends them to AIDS victims in Africa, schoolchildren dig into their pockets to give hope to desperate Zimbabweans. It is a nation of SBS and shows featuring Muslim comedians.
As far as sport is concerned, it is a land that encourages a one-legged lad from Somalia to take up rugby league coaching and allows him to assist an under-16 team, a youngster from Ghana trains with his clubmates on the beach, a teenage settler from Ethiopia organises an international football tournament in Richmond from Boxing Day, in which disabled competitors stun sceptics with their intensity. It is a land that stops for a horse race and sheds tears when a great champion wins for the third time. It is a place where a wild-haired pole vaulter keeps a nation agog by clearing with his third leap.
It is a country that wins gold in an ice-skating race because everyone else falls over and then roars with laughter. It is a place that goes for gold. As a pal's mite once put it: "Dad, you've got to go for the win!"
As far as cricket is concerned, it is a land in which Victor Trumper's cortege is followed by a vast throng, a Muslim trains as a pilot, listens to 50 Cent and opens the batting for his state, the son of a Portuguese football player takes wickets for his state, and the son of a Czech goalkeeper takes wickets for his country. In Australia, an Aboriginal jailbird can straighten out his life, open the batting at a carnival and start a football team for female ankle-biters. It is a nation in which Kerry can spin yarns about his past, and Jim can talk about bottles of red, and everyone likes them for it.
It is a country in which a Test cricketer can emerge from White Cliffs or Dungog or Narromine, a land of fast bowlers, leg spinners, hard-hitting opening batsmen, a place of attack that stretches towards aggression. It is a land in which a former labourer can become an admired pace bowler and then a selector, fifth grade plays as hard as first grade and, at practice, people bat in order of arrival. Most of all it is the country that rose to Sachin Tendulkar when he walked to the crease at the SCG. Tendulkar almost stopped in his tracks. He had not realised such a nation existed. For visitors, it is easily missed.
As far as this Australian team is concerned, it is a place where an opening batsman fresh to India becomes curious about a laughter club, and a former captain opens a home for children in distress. It is a place in which a youngster raised in Mowbray can go to South Africa, criticise the way black people are treated, become a fine batsman and eventually captain his country. It is a land in which that same man could admit he had been a drinker and fighter, and mend his ways, and years later another player could confess that he had to get back on track.
That is the Australia that must take the field against New Zealand. Condemning former captains for voicing their opinions is not going to get the job done. Nor is grizzling about fiery opponents or running to the umpires. Nor is trying to defend the indefensible or bowling part-timers or setting spread fields or ignoring the over rate until it is too late or portraying critics as disloyal or arguing everyone must play and think the Aussie way. Daniel Vettori, like Anil Kumble a fierce competitor without a single blot in his copybook, is leading a side representing a friend, neighbour and ally. His youthful team will fight with every power at its disposal. The captain himself is a straightforward man and mighty cricketer. New Zealand ought to be accorded the utmost respect.
And then they ought to be taken apart with a ruthlessness that owes nothing to bragging or whining. Australia have taken their eye off the ball. Ricky Ponting and company need to stop looking askance and start giving the nation the team it yearns and deserves.[/b]
