Wah, Waugh!

Prem Panicker

The incident is shocking -- but hardly surprising.

It is common knowledge that Australian cricketers are not exactly known for their reticence -- on the contrary, they have quick, cutting tongues and a certain contempt for the opposition.

By way of extenuation, the best you could say is that this business of shooting from the lip is not confined to the Aussies -- if that is any consolation.

But even by the standards of what has become acceptable from a cricketer, Steve Waugh’s performance today, at the end of his team’s eight wicket win over South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground was a stunner.

At the post-match press conference, journalists were quizzing Protean skipper Shaun Pollock about the fate of Steve Elworthy, who had been felled by a vicious bouncer from Glenn McGrath during the South African innings.

"He has gone to hospital and had the first scan (a CaT scan to determine internal head injuries) and it's come back clear..." Pollock responded.

At which Waugh, seated alongside, turned with a smile to Australian Cricket Board media manager Brian Murgatroyd and in a stage whisper, said, “I bet you they didn’t find a brain either.”

Firstly, to speak when your opposing captain is answering questions smacks of a certain lack of respect -- unlooked for, and unwelcome, in Steve Waugh who makes such a fuss about the traditions of the game.

But what is worse is the comment itself. A fellow cricketer takes the kind of blow on the head that can cripple, even kill -- to come up with such a facetious remark when that player’s well-being is being discussed argues insensitivity of the highest order, coupled with arrogance.

Equally arrogant was his behaviour when it came to his own turn to answer questions: “You can write what you want, mate,” the Australian captain reportedly said, before walking off.

Why this behaviour? Of late, against the backdrop of three successive defeats at the start of the ongoing VB series, cricket reporters and even former Australian players have been suggesting that maybe it is time Steve Waugh thought of quitting the one-day game, and concentrating only on Tests. Also, the team’s famous rotation policy has come under fire.

These things happen to a losing team -- questions regarding form and policy are debated with much heat. But surely Australia and its captain have tasted victory often enough to take the occasional defeats, and consequent criticism, in their stride without letting the uglier side of their personalities surface?

And yet, the ugly side was just what was on view this day.

And it begs the question -- was this the same Steve Waugh who had so much to say about Indian captain Sourav Ganguly’s lack of respect? The same Steve Waugh who suggested that Ganguly was raw and calloused, that he did not know about the traditions of the game, and was too arrogant to realize the need to respect the opposition?

Those remarks have since become a buzzword. The international media has, since that tour of India by Australia early last year, found itself unable to speak of Ganguly without gratuitously remarking on his arrogance, his lack of respect, his ‘maharajah’ manners; without snide comments about his ‘privileged upbringing’.

A refrain that, unfortunately, has also been picked up by large sections of the Indian media. Commenting about Ganguly’s form or lack thereof, or even about his captaincy, is perfectly on. But not the other.

And it was Waugh who precipitated the ceaseless barrage, with his initial comments about Ganguly.

Waugh’s remarks sound hollow today, don’t they? As does so much of the hype lavished on him -- the blue-collar hero of the people compared to the arrogant autocrat that is Ganguly?

Sourav Ganguly has been accused of plenty -- but even his worst enemy will concede that he is incapable of such open contempt, such callousness, towards a fellow professional in pain.

And the supreme irony lies in this -- Waugh might well have made the remark in a spirit of admittedly misplaced levity; his real failure lies in the fact that he did not have the grace to instantly apologise, and express his concern for the stricken player.

I'll tell you what -- I’ll take Ganguly’s “arrogance”, any day, to this.

  Name:  

  Email:

  Your Views