Taking our bats and going home

The other day I was sitting at work reading through the national papers and was excited by the upcoming Bigbash Twenty20 tournament and the prospect of seeing my favourite and I'm sure a lot of others favourite cricketer in Shane Warne turn out for the Melbourne Stars.

It got me thinking about our current cricket side and what is missing when it comes to recapturing the hopes and dreams of today's australian public when they turn over to watch our boys compete against the best cricket nations on the planet.

The truth is that cricket is fast becoming the game that everyone is turning away from and it may have more to do with the attitudes and image of the players than the evolution of the game from what it was twenty years ago. It seems that cricket Australia is not only losing the interest of the younger generation, but that of our older and wiser generation. A generation that could tell us stories of how they had family barbecues where cricket was the number one backyard sport and a WII was something you did after you'd had three cans of VB.

When I suggested to my dad the other day that we switch on the cricket and watch the Aussies battle the Kiwis I was horrified to hear him say "I hope the Aussies get flogged, their nothing but a bunch of pretentious sooks". I immediately jumped to the defense of the green and gold and as I was flicking through the Telegraph  came across an article on the ousting of Simon Katich and the excommunication of Darryl Hare and thought, maybe he has a point.

My heroes growing up came in the form of a chubby David Boon, a determined Dean Jones and a no nonsense larrikan in the form of Mervin Hughes. Now I'm bombarded by advertisements for vitamins from Ricky, KFC from Clarke and shaving cream from who knows who else. The trouble is the character and cheekiness have gone out the window for a serious business based approach and correct me if i'm wrong but the fun seems to have disappeared as well.

I hope that Michael Clarke can build a team built on not only competitiveness, but humility and friendship. No one wants to see infighting and the string of ads aimed at the viewers do nothing except confirm the public's belief that cricket Australia wants nothing more than to line its own pockets and look after their own interests.

The upcoming test of Australia vs India will more than likely show that our cricketers need to get back to our roots and focus on the things that are important. They need to show the world and more importantly the Australian public, that we are a nation of great competitors and not just a bunch of spoiled brats.


Tell us what you think. Has Australia lost it's personality?