THE CRICKET WEEKEND.

THE CRICKET WEEKEND. The recent test against Pakistan at Optus reminded me of some cricket watching days with some mates in the 1980s. What follows is a composite of several such weekends at the WACA. Bill, Fred Kevin and Norm are not their real names. I am not really in this story, though some of the things that happened, happened to me.

Bill, Kevin, Fred and Norm lived in Donnybrook. Bill was a Donnybrook businessman who owned several shops in the town. Kevin was a farmer, Fred worked in the building industry and Norm was on the staff at the Donnybrook District High School. In the very late 1970s and early 1980s, after the Packer Revolution, they would travel to Perth on a weekend in January for One Day International Cricket matches featuring Australia and some international side. In those days it was usually the West Indies.

They took turns each year to drive their car to Perth for the cricket weekend. This year it was Bill’s turn. Leaving Donnybrook around 7-00am on Sunday, they would arrive at the Shaftsbury Hotel around 9-30am. The Shaftsbury Hotel was a large, old style Perth pub that in recent years had modernized some of its many rooms in the style of motel accommodation. They always booked a family room which consisted of a large bedroom with a double and single bed. An archway linked to another room that had two single beds. Each year they took turns to have the double bed. This year it was Norm’s turn.

They had arranged for a 10-00am check in and hurried to their room to unpack their cases and hang the slacks, sports coats and shirts they intended to wear to a Northbridge bar and eatery later that night. As he unpacked his case, Keven exclaimed, “Oh, no. I’ve left my wallet at home.” Kevin was a farmer in Donnybrook. His dutiful wife always carefully folded his clothes and packed his case. Obviously, she assumed Kevin would look after his own wallet.

“Not to worry, “said Bill.” Here’s fifty dollars for the day at the cricket. We can work something out afterwards.” They hurried down the stairs and caught a taxi to the WACA where the game was scheduled to start at 10-30am.

Bill knew the bar manager of the Inverarity Stand. At about 10-20am he would knock and the rear door and he and his mates would be ushered into the empty bar before the main doors opened. They always occupied a table behind a huge glass window right at the front of the Inverarity Stand; a prime position which afforded a splendid view of the match.

Of course, besides watching the cricket, Bill, Kevin, Fred and Norm indulged in that other national pastime, beer drinking. They were very good at it. They started buying jugs of beer as soon as the bar opened at 10-30am.  As one jug emptied one of the boys would be off to buy another one.

On one cricket weekend, they pondered whether they should stop drinking for a while. Eventually, Fred said, “Well let’s have jug while we think about it.” They did have another jug, after which, they decided to keep drinking.

On another occasion, they had actually decided to have a one-hour break in their drinking. They were just finishing their last drinks when two other fellows from Donnybrook came to their table.                   "G’day. How’re you goin’. Looks like you blokes need a couple of jugs.” With that the newcomers plonked two full jugs on the table and the drinking carried on.

Understandably, when the ODI finished at around 5-30pm, the four fellows from Donnybrook were decidedly merry. In an attempt to return to sobriety, they walked from the WACA back to the Shaftsbury.  Next to the hotel was paved laneway that eventually became the enclosed Shaftsbury Arcade that went through to Beaufort Street and to what in those days was the Canterbury Court Ballroom.

On the other side of the laneway was a two-storey block of flats. This laneway had a certain Neapolitan look about it as four clothes lines, often containing brightly coloured towels, sheets, shirts and ladies’ lingerie extended across the laneway from the top storey. Quite often, after a windy night, items of clothing finished up on the pavement. There must have been a lot of young ladies living in those flats because the Donnybrook boys were often delighted to spy sexy briefs and lacy coloured bras on that laneway pavement.

They sat around the table in the room, drinking stubbies they had purchased from the bottle shop, talking about where in Northbridge they would go for a meal. They reminded Bill that they did not want a repeat of last year’s night out. On that night, upon entering a noisy Northbridge bar Bill had seen a lady he knew. So enthusiastically did he lock her in a fond embrace that the lady screamed in agony. Bill had fractured one of her ribs. They spent the next three hours with the very upset lady in the Royal Perth Hospital Emergency waiting rooms. Bill was lucky the lady did not want to make a big thing out of it. As she got into the taxi to take her home an apologetic Bill gave her fifty dollars to pay for the fare and any painkillers she may need. It was obvious she would need a lot of painkillers.

They had all showered and were just about to call a taxi when Norm, who had a history of migraine problems, said that he did not think he would go. “My head is starting to throb and I just know that it is going to get a lot worse. All I want to do is lie down in the dark, “he told his mates.                          “Oh, that’s not good, Norm,” said Fred. “Can’t you take an aspirin or something?”                                   “I’ve already done that, “replied Norm, “But it doesn’t really do much good with migraine. You blokes will probably want to have a few drinks when you come home so, I will sleep in one of the beds in the other room.” Then he turned to the wallet less Kevin and said, “I’m not going out, you can take my money. Here’s $150. You can pay me back on Wednesday night at the footy club.                            “Gee, Thanks, Norm. I’ll do that for sure. You take care of yourself.”

Soon afterwards, Bill, Kevin and Fred went down to their taxi and their pleasant evening in Northbridge. Norm settled into his bed and turned off all the lights.  He did not go to sleep because the back of his head was being belted every five seconds by a bloke with a wooden mallet.

Norm was staring at the green. glowing face of the bedside clock when he heard a knock at the door. It was 8-30pm. Norm lay still and did not make a sound. Ten seconds later the knock came back, this time followed by a female voice saying, “Hi! It’s Cherie from Ace Escorts. I’m your eight thirty appointment.”

Norm did not move. He knew what was happening. Bill, a known trickster, had set him up. Above the two public phones in the hotel lobby were advertisements for taxis, cafes, restaurants and escorts agencies. Bill had rung an agency for an 8-30pm appointment to visit Norm.

Norm listened as the knocking and the female voice grew more insistent. He had that hammer belting the base of his skull. He had no money. He also knew if he opened the door to explain the situation the escort girl’s minder would be nearby and would quickly dish out some harsh physical punishment. Eventually, the knocking stopped. The girl’s voice stopped. Norm just lay there while the hammer kept pounding at the back of his skull.

The next morning everyone was moving very slowly. Drinking strong coffee, sitting with their heads in their hands. All except Norm. The migraine had finally stopped. He’d had an alcohol-free night and was feeling fine. Nobody mentioned anything about any escort services, but Norm had noted a mischievous smile move across Bill’s face when their eyes met across the coffee cups.

There was one humorous interlude. Fred suddenly put down his coffee cup and said, “I forgot to call Shirley. I told her I would ring on Saturday night, but I didn’t” He looked at his companions and asked, “Do you think I should call her now?”                                                                                                                                                                            “Sounds "Sounds like a good idea,” said Bill. “I mean, Shirley could be worried.”  Fred moved over to the phone.

“Hello, Shirley. Sorry I didn’t call last night                                                                                             “You did,” was Shirley’s frosty reply.

Bill and Kevin could not hear Shirley’s reply, but they were laughing out loud. After a very brief conversation with his wife, Kevin hung up and was told that he had called Shirley in a one sided and slurred conversation when they returned from Northbridge.

They decided that they would have “brunch” at Mandurah on the way home and began, very slowly, getting ready to leave.  Norm was dressed and ready first.  He said, “Look, time is getting on. You blokes leave out what clothes you are wearing home. Pack your cases and I’ll take them down to the car so we can have a quicker getaway.” They all agreed that this was a good idea and Norm was soon taking cases downstairs to the car.

The trip home was uneventful. They talked about the cricket, the weather, the evening in Northbridge. Nobody talked about any escort girls. They had lunch in Mandurah.

Arriving in Donnybrook, Bill dropped the other three at the car park near the railway station where they had left their cars. As Norm shook hands and said goodbye to Bill, he saw again that mischievous grin. As Norm walked over to his own car, he wondered what sort of a grin Bill would be wearing when his wife opened his travel case and confronted him about the lacy pink brassieres on top of the case of clothes.

 

 

                                                                                           

Dr Carmen Lawrence's review of teaching in government schools in Western Australia.

Former WA Premier Carmen Lawrence recently handed down the final report of a year-long review into the state’s public education system. The report was commissioned by the WA State School Teachers Union. It's chief finding is that teacher shortages will increase unless there is a drastic reduction in teacher workloads.

Teacher workloads have increased over the years as more children with special needs moved into mainstream classrooms. At the same time, accountability pressures have also  increased. Many teachers feel overloaded  and stressed. Many are resigning or taking early retirements. The report says that work overload and lack of resources, "Has lowered morale, increased burnout, and created an environment in which teachers feel undervalued and disrespected. Many teachers, particularly in disadvantaged schools, are paying a high personal price for staying in the profession."

No doubt most teachers and principals in government schools will heartily agree with Dr Lawrence's Report about the many problems confronting them in their schools each day. The report highlights a decline in real funding and the increasingly complex task that teaching has become.  Dr Lawrence was a highly effective Minister of Education before she became Premier of Western Australia. Her report  indicates that these problems can be addressed by a more  equitable distribution of resources to government schools, especially those with the greatest needs. We have heard this song before.

Four years ago, another distinguised educator and academic, Dr Pasi Salberg, highlighted the inequitable gap in school resourcing. He also reminded us of Albert Einstein's warning "that problems will never be solved by employing the same type of thinking that caused the problems in the first place." Which may explain why the problems in education have not gone away.                                       They have grown worse.

In 2019, Professor Pasi Sahlberg, suggested three things needed to be done to close the ever-widening education gap between high and low achieving schools. This education gap was identified by David Gonski in 2009. His Gonski Report of 2010 allocated extra funding to schools in need. Since then, several national reports show that spending on private schools has increased five fold compared with spending on government schools. That is, more  resources were given to schools that were already already well resourced. Government schools still require adequate resourcing. The education gap grew wider.

Professor Sahlberg is a Professor of Education at the Gonski Institute at the University of NSW in Sydney. Before that, he was the Director of Education in  Finland, which is ranked as one of the highest  achieving countries in Education in the world.

The three things Professor Sahlberg suggested four years ago were: Remove the inequitable resourcing of schools. Secondly, make Health and Wellbeing a major priority of education. He pointed out that  ‘A student suffering anxiety disorders, depression, hunger, sleep deprivation or suicidal tendencies is not likely to be successful at school.’  Classroom teachers and principals deal with these children every day….while doing everything else they are expected to do.

Finally, Professor Sahlberg said, “Avoid Quick Fixes”. As a Principal, I saw many Quick Fixes applied to schools from the late 1980s onwards. A Quick Fix is something that  a politician or government  does to make them look good in the eyes of the voters, whether it is good for children in schools or not. NAPLAN was a well-intentioned Quick Fix that had diabolical consequences. As a diagnostic tool it was useles because the results came out more than six months after the tests. Instead, it became a tool, or perhaps, a weapon, for school and teacher accountability. Schools began  competing against each other. Some teachers began competing against each other. Most damaging of all,  NAPLAN results, expectations  and accountability measures all put pressure on  early childhood teachers.They were encouraged or instructed to drop the play based, creative activities and strategies of Regio Emila and Montessori and pressured into introducing formal instruction in literacy and numercacy into their classrooms. I know of more than one early childhood teacher who resigned because formal education of four and five year olds was not what they signed up for. These days, Kindergarten and Pre-Primary have become the new Year One and Year two. In Finland, there is no universal standardised testing and formal education does not start until children are aged seven.

Before that, in the late 1990s, another quick fix was the downsizing of the central office of the educatuon department. Among other things, schools were forced to take on the data processing role previously performed by head office. Since then, schools have become mini  education departments. Teachers and principals are incresaingly bogged down with data collection and processing and increased accountability procedures that deflect them from their main focus...teaching the child sitting at the desk.  

Politicians, policy makers and bureaucrats should all remember that if their policies do not improve the performance of the child sitting at the desk, then nothing in education will change. Not for the better, at any rate. In fact, as Einstein pointed out, and we have all noted, it gets worse.

I am sure Dr Lawrence’s Report highlights many Quick Fixes. These all looked good to some people at the time but have been detrimental to the education and welfare of students and to school staff trying to educate them. At present, hard working teachers teachers and principals are like poorly equipped soldiers, fighting with obsolete  weapons and inferior ammunition, who are  constantly berated by remote generals for not winning the battle.

It is not the teachers and principals who need fixing. It is the system!

 

Bairstow, the spirit of cricket and moral high ground hypocrites.

 

Bairstow and The Spirit of Cricket: Taking the moral high ground, hypocritically. The Third  Ashes Test is  under way at Headingly. When Pat Cummins walked out for the coin toss he was booed. When Steven Smith walked out to bat in his 100^th Test he was booed. When wicketkeeper Alex Carey walked out to bat he was booed. This unsporting reception to Australian players who had done nothing other than walk onto the arena was largely due  to the manufactured hysteria stirred up by England captain Ben Stokes, Stuart Broad and a frenzied English media over what has become the controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow in England’s second innings at Lords.

It could prove to be a very torrid Ashes contest from here on. A shame really, because the first two tests at Edgbaston and Lords were see sawing contests played aggressivelyby two good teams but in good sporting spirit. However, in the Lords Test, Jonny Bairstow walked out of  his crease while  a short pitched ball travelled passed his wickets to Alex Carey, the Australian wicketkeeper. Carey caught the ball and immediately threw down wandering Bairstow’s wicket. The umpires were still in place. They had not called Over. The ball was very much alive. English Captain, Ben Stokes was batting at the other end at the time of this dismissal. Apart from asking and being told by the umpires that they had not called Over, Ben Stokes did nothing. The Third Umpire gave the only decision that could be given. Out! Stumped! Well and truly. And fairly!

Bairstow had tried to dismiss Australian batsman, Marnus Labuschagne, in a similar fashion in the Australia’s first innings. He missed the stumps. This was probably a good thing, because if had he hit them, it is obvious from the  comments that they subsequently made, that Stokes and  Broad would not have appealed for a stumping. They would have insisted that Labuschagne stay on batting.                   At least, that is what they now  say they would do.

Three hours after the Bairstow stumping and as Captain of the team that had just lost two Test matches in a row, Ben Stokes said the Bairstow stumping dismissal was against the spirit of cricket. He said it was  not something he would have done. He said that it violated the spirit of the game. This was sheer self-righteous hypocrisy. There is plenty of video evidence of England teams dismissing batsmen in similar circumstances with fieldsmen rejoicing and congratulating the wicketkeeper or the nearby fielder for being so astute.

Stokes’ is a magnificent cricketer but sanctimonious comments deflected attention away from his side’s two successive Test defeats and away from Bairstow’s stupidity in ignoring a fundamental law of cricket that the batsman must stay behind the crease until the ball is dead. So far, Jonny Bairstow has made  no public comments on his dismissal. Perhaps, he understands that he was dismissed fairly after a monumental brain fade and that the consequent self- righteous uproar is just hypocritical grandstanding. According to the laws of cricket the ball is not dead until the two batsmen and the fielding side have demonstrated to the umpire at the bowlers end that the play from a particular delivery has ended,  then the ball is dead. That is, when there is no further action after the ball has been bowled, hit and fielded and  all player  activity from that delivery has ceased.

Clearly the ball was not dead. Carey threw it towards the stumps immediately after he caught it. The fact that Bairstow thought it was dead is inconsequential. As a batsman, he has to stay behind his crease until HE KNOWS the ball is dead. It does not matter what Bairstow was thinking, if he was actually thinking at all.

When Broad arrived at the wicket to bat, he told Alex Carey that  the stumping was “the worst thing I have ever seen in cricket.” He told Carey that all he would be remembered for was the Bairstow stumping. On the other hand, there are many Australian cricket followers who will only remember Broad, who is a wonderful bowler,  for giving a very thick edged catch to first slip and refusing to walk when the umpire, who must have been asleep, said it was not out. Video shows it was a clear catch. The spirit of cricket?

By taking the moral high ground, as defenders of the spirit of cricket, Stokes, the England team, the English media and the frenzied fans are skating on thin ice. They are demonstrating the truism about stone throwing and people in glass houses. Here are just some examples of where England has behaved in a manner which, they now say condescendingly, is against the spirit of the game of cricket:-

Bodyline bowling. In Australia in 1932/3 England, captained by Douglas Jardine, unleashed a form of leg theory bowling that was aimed solely at curbing the batting brilliance of Don Bradman who had scored over 900 hundred runs in the five tests  in the 1930 Ashes tour of England.

Bodyline bowling required the bowler to bowl directly at the body and head of the batsmen. There were no field restrictions.  As many as eight or nine fieldsmen lurked in the leg side field to catch any hook shots or shots deflected from the bat of a man trying to protect his head, hands and body from a cricket ball rocketing towards him at ninety miles an hour.

Naturally, Australia protested to the MCC over this form of “unfair” cricket. The Australian captain, Bill Woodfull, collapsed after being hit above the heart and was taken from the field for medical attention. In the dressing room he told the  manager of the English team and a former test cricketer, Sir Pelham Warner, “There are teams on the field, but only one of them is playing cricket.”

The  MCC were very upset at being told by the Australian Cricket Board Of Control that their players were “unfair”. That Bodyline was against the spirit of the game. The MCC replied that Bodyline was fair and if Australia did not like it they would cancel the rest of the tour.      At the same time the MCC, indeed all of England, lavished praise on Jardine and the express fast bowler, Harold Larwood, for beating of Australia and curbing the batting genius of Bradman. The tour continued but ill feelings lingered on from both sides of the Bodyline monster.

Not all Englishmen agreed with Jardine’s win at all costs approach. Several players in Jardine’s team did not agree with Bodyline. Fast bowler, Gubby Allen, refused to bowl to stacked leg fields. He was an amateur cricketer and, as such, could not be forced by Jardine to bowl Bodyline. Larwood was a professional cricketer  and was required to do as his captain ordered. Walter Hammond, a great batsman and medium pace bowler, also refused to bowl Bodyline  and said he would retire from cricket if Bodyline continued.

As for Bradman, the run making genius. Bodyline certainly restricted his scoring. With  the leg side packed, Bradman resorted to moving backwards to the leg side and hitting the ball into the empty off side field. He used a variety of orthodox strokes and some that resembled tennis shots. Some Anti-Bradman critics said it was cowardly to move backwards against the  bodyline attack.  Bradman replied that he thought a batsman was supposed to make runs and not stand his ground  to  be repeatedly hit by the cricket ball. Bradman averaged 54 for the series, which was well below his previous test average of over 100. However, for any normal cricketer, 54 is an excellent average. Such was his batting genius that an average of 54 for Bradman was considered  a failure. 54 was the highest average of any cricketer in both teams for that Bodyline series.

Bradman was ill for the first test and did not play in it. In the four remaining Bodyline tests, Bradman scored more runs than any other batsmen, on either side, made in the five tests, except for Englishmen, Hammond and Sutcliffe.  In their five test these two champions  exceeded Bradman’s series aggregate by less than 80 runs. f course, Sutcliffe and Hammond never had to face Bodyline bowling.

After the Bodyline series, Jardine and Larwood returned to England as heroes,  conquerors of Bradman and Australia. The MCC continued to insist that  Bodyline bowling was legitimate cricket. However, in the next English summer, a touring West Indian team started bowling Bodyline against the English batsmen. The MCC soon changed its tu.ne It said Bodyline bowling could not continue. As a result, it ruled that fielding teams could only place two fielders behind square leg, thus reducing the number of fielders on the leg side and seriously weakening a full out short pitched attack on the batsman’s body. Bradman was master of the hook shot. His unorthodox grip caused him to roll the bat as he hit the ball so that it went along the ground and not up in the air.

Broad Not walking. Clearly caught in the slips, in a crucial Test in the 2013 Ashes series, Stuart Broad stood his ground when the sleeping umpire did not uphold the Australian appeal. Australia had used up all of its DRS appeals. The DRS video showed clearly that Broad had given a very thick edge to Michael Clark at first slip. Broad is the man who is now  saying he would never break the spirit of the game or try to win at all costs. In this instance he did play to win at all costs.  Broad after that incident said that “these things won’t be remembered…we do have a win at all costs mentality” It is for that 2013 refusal to walk that all Australians will remember Broad. It makes his current, high moral ground, spirit of the game,  holier than thou approach, so shamefully  hypocritical.

Ball tampering. All cricketers try to keep one side of the ball shiny on one side and rough on the other. However, there are ways and means of doing so. Using sandpaper, as Australia once did,  is manifestly a definite no, no. To its credit, Australia banned three test cricketers for the Sandpaper fiasco, which left all Australian cricket lovers embarrassed and ashamed.

Players in other nations have not been so harshly dealt with, including those spirit of the game, moral high ground seeking England players, Marcus Trescothick, former England batsmen, said that in the 2005 Ashes series his job was to fill his pocket with mint lollies. During the game he used his mint flavoured saliva to enhance the shine on the ball.                                              No charges were ever brought against Trescothick. When he was England’s Captain, Mike Atherton carried rough sand in his pocket to rough up the ball. Stuart Broad was accused of roughing up the ball by using his spiked boots top stop it. Even England bowling legend, James Anderson, was once in trouble for picking at the seam of the ball, again, a definite no. no.

Specialist substitute fielders. Cricket teams consist of 11 players with an 11th player named who can be a substitute fielder if the fielding team suffers an injury. The substitute can not bat or bowl. In 2005 England decided to enhance the subsitute rule in the Ashes series against Australia. As well as the 11 players and the 12th Man, they chose three very fit, youthful and excellent fieldsmen to travel with the England test team. Frequently during test matches the English bowlers and other players would leave the field of play to have a rest, a shower, a rub down,  or whatever. These brilliant young fielders would take heir places. The spirit of the game? It meant that the Australian 11 was actually playing against a team consisting of 14 or 15 players. Certainly well outside the spirit of the game.

Jelly Bean Gate. At Trent Bridge in 2007, England was playing against India when jellybeans appeared on the pitch. India was batting. The jelly beans were removed by the Indian batsmen. Shortly afterwards, however, even more jellybeans were seen on the pitch. The Indian batsmen alerted the umpires and these jellybeans were also removed. Like small pebbles, the jellybeans could have affected the movement of the ball off the wicket. In 2018, former England batsman, Ian Bell, was revealed as the jelly bean throwing culprit. England subsequently said they were never trying to affect the ball movement off the pitch. They  did it merely to “lighten the mood of the match.” No action was ever taken against Ian Bell.

Batsman run out after mid pitch collision. In a 2008 ODI between  England and New Zealand, NZ batsman  Elliot was running for a single when he collided with England bowler Sidebottom in mid pitch. Both fell to the ground. Ian Bell threw the ball to Kevin Pietersen who promptly whipped off the bails as the England team gleefully appealed for a run out. Considering the circumstances of the situation,  the umpires talked to the England Captain, Paul Collingwood, to see if he wanted to withdraw the appeal. Collingwood said he did not and Elliot was dismissed, Run Out. To show that sometimes what goes around, comes around, England lost that match.

Bairstow attempts a “Carey stumping”. In the recent second test at Lords, wicketkeeper Bairstow attempted to stump Marnus Labuschagne who was batting outside his crease. Bairstow missed  the stumps. After Bairstow himself was dismissed in this way, Stuart Broad said after the match that it was “different”. Yes, apparently, it is OK to dismiss Australian batsmen this way but it is clearly morally wrong to do the same to an England batsman.

The 1956 Fusarium pitch fix. In 1956, Australia beat England at lords in the second test. Fast bowlers, Lindwall and Miller, had the measure of the England batsmen. After the match England Captain, Peter May, told Neil Harvey, “Well, you won’t see a pitch like that again.’

 Soon afterwards, English demon fast bowler, Frank Tyson, was dropped for the next test match at Headingly. Australian captain, Ian Johnson, said Peter May had told Tyson, “We won’t be needing you for a while, Frank.” Obviously England was changing tactics…and pitch preparation.

That Headingly pitch was a spinners’ dream and a batsman’s nightmare. The pitch was crumbling badly on the first day. England spinner, Jim Laker, took 19 of the 20 Australian wickets to fall in the match. Australia was easily defeated. Considering that the oval was verdantly lush, legendary Australian commentator, Alan McGilvray, asked the Headingly  groundsman why the grass on the pitch was dead. McGilvray told his radio listeners in Australia that the groundsman blamed it on a new “weedkiller” he had used on the pitch. He said it was called Fusarium. It might just have been an early version of Roundup because it certainly killed the turf on the pitch.

Perhaps the same thing is happening all over again. Before the  2023 Ashes series started, Ben Stokes asked groundsmen to produce flat, lifeless  wickets. This was done. However, Stokes, at two test down in a five test series,  now needs wickets that will be more lively, to give a result. This Headingly pitch showed itself to be very lively and wonderfully suited to the five fast bowlers that are now in the England team. including Woods who is probably the fastest bowlers in the world. The England tactics have changed dramatically and so has the nature of the test pitch.

 The Moral high Ground. Clearly, England have long cricket history of winning at all costs which prevents it from ever claiming the moral high ground. Especially over the routine stumping of Jonny Bairstow. They should be talking to Bairstow instead of denigrating Australia’s sporting reputation. Most disappointing of all is this bleating and self-righteous humbug,  fomented mainly by Stokes, Broad and the London media, has aroused such animosity towards the Australian team that even family members and children are being abused. Surely, that is not in the spirit of cricket.

Ben Stokes had his chance to cool down this volatile and potentially dangerous situation when he was asked about the likelihood of a feral, raucous, abusive Headingly crowd. Instead, of saying that we should all move on, as Joe Root has urged, Stokes  fanned the flames. He talked about having the benefits of a Home Ground advantage and having  crowd support for his team. He added that he could not tell spectators how to behave. Perhaps that is true. However, Stokes wants to win. It was not to his advantage to say that spectators have a right to enthusiastically support their home side but that vulgar, abusive insults and physical threats to players and their families are certainly not in the spirit of the game. Stokes deliberately chose not to do so. The English crowd is entitled to cheer for its team and to boo the opposition. However, Stokes’ sad non-response is a subtle hint for the crowd to go feral and that is definitely not in the spirit of cricket.

However, when stumps were drawn at the end of the fantastic first day in this third Test at Headingly, and the players slowly walked  off the field, former England captain, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow walked over to Patrick Cummins and shook hands. It was a wonderful sight to see and it epitomises the true spirit of the game.

Looking forward to Day Two at Headingly and the rest of this very engrossing Ashes contest