Ashes 2021. Will it go ahead or will it be cancelled? This is a question that is haunting the Australian Cricket Board over the last few months. Cricket Australia will lose 200mil dollars if the Ashes is cancelled. That is a loss that will take sometime to overcome. CA and ECB are involved in intense behind the door discussion to ease the path for the English players to be able to travel to Australia. A full strength English squad. Now, some of the Australian players have got into the act. It is time Australian cricketers must stop their lecture.
Insensitive comments
“There’ll be a squad of England players coming here and the First Test will be starting on December 8,” Paine said.
“The Ashes are going ahead. The First Test is on December 8th – whether Joe is here or not. They all want to come, there‘s no doubt about that. It’ll be worked out above us and then they’ll have a choice whether to get on that plane or not.
“No one is forcing any England player to come. That’s the beauty of the world we live in – you have a choice. If you don’t want to come, don’t come.”
These are the words of the loud mouthed skipper Tim Paine. This is not only arrogant but downright disrespectful to the England players. Paine does not seem to realise that England have been on the road during this pandemic for much longer than Australia have ever been.
Yes this is the fact. England have been involved in 18 tests spanning across 4 countries in 2 continents. How many tests have Australia and in particular Tim Paine been involved in? Just 4. All of them against India and at home. Tim Paine is yet to travel out of Australia since the onset of the pandemic. He is not part of the limited overs squad either and is not invited by any franchise to play for them in any of the innumerable leagues around the world.
Time Paine was brought into the side as captain to provide some sense of calm to the proceedings. However, he seems to be going the other way. Remember his rants to Ashwin during the Sydney test? “Can’t wait to get you to Gabba, Ash”. Ultimately, he was left with egg on his face in that India won at the Gabba handsomely. He would do well to stop talking and understand the situation and the pressure the English players are under. Some bit of empathy will do well.
Malcolm Conn writes in The Dailymail,
It is not unusual for England’s cricketers to suffer severe bouts of Departure Lounge Syndrome on Ashes tours.
It often starts after a first Test flogging in hot and steamy Brisbane then drags on through the weeks of a five-Test roasting.
The hangdog look, the whinging about the beer being too cold and the weather too hot, the pitches too hard and the Kookaburra balls too soft.
All of these in response to what Pietersen and Vaughan tweeted for the Ashes be cancelled.
“Read reports today that England cricketers may not be able to have family members with them down under this winter, quite simply if they can’t they should call the Ashes off,” Vaughan wrote.
“4 months away from your family is totally unacceptable.”
“Any ENG player that pulls out of this Ashes, if they seriously can’t see their families for FOUR MONTHS, has my full backing,” Pietersen wrote.
England does not have any cause to be apologetic about
England can be proud of themselves. They have conducted themselves really well over these last 20 months. Rotating their players and sometimes controversially too and have ensured that they get the spend time with their families. Yes, they did cancel a series in Pakistan but that was not because of Covid. It was security related and any team would have done the same.
What needs to be done is a sense of calm must prevail and let the respective boards negotiate. There is far too much hysteria at the moment. ECB on their part must talk to their players and get confirmation as to who is willing to travel and select them to travel. Surely, ECB will want Root to travel because he is the captain and the most important batsman. Already England are without the services of Stokes, Archer & Stone. They cannot afford to lose Joe.
For Joe to be in a good place mentally, he must know and know now who are the players he will be taking with him. Once they are selected, they must give 100% to the cause. There isn’t two ways about it. The task in Australia is going to be extremely difficult. England do not have the resources to dethrone Australia whose bowling is far superior to that of England. Now, the pressure will increase tremendously because of the English’s players refusal to tour.
Let us hope that better sense prevails.