Management Musings

As the aftermath of the ball tampering saga  continues, today marked the day that the lead protagonists of the episode, Steve Smith, Cameron Bancroft and David Warner, all made public statements for the first time after the day it all began. Over the course of the past few days, the outrage from Australia has been vocal and sustained, by all accounts. I can't imagine the Prime Minster of India taking upon himself to make a public statement over a ball tampering/ cheating incident on a cricket field! The Prime Minister of Australia, however, did. He was among the first to react and even used his office status to push Cricket Australia into action, not that they needed any pushing, of course. I made a reference to the Aussie way of cricket in my previous blog post and had highlighted the blurring of "the line", wherever it may exist, for them. Soon after, the ball tampering scene exploded and while I have no sympathy for either Smith, Bancroft or Warner, the reactions do...

Those following the South Africa v/s Australia test series , would have heard about the now infamous incident involving Quinton de Kock and David Warner. De Kock is alleged to have said something unmentionable about Warner's wife to him, which resulted in the latter's angry reaction and having to be physically separated from the former. The Australian players have been remarkably direct in their support for David Warner's reaction to the slur. In their view, De Kock crossed "the line" when getting personal and bringing family into sledging. The South African cricket team coach, Otis Gibson, was almost poetic in his response . Sharada Ugra commented on the Aussie way with sledging and  I could not agree more with her. From the time that I can remember, the most famous sledges, on-field "banter", flare-ups, etc. have involved Australian players. Michael Slater having a go at Rahul Dravid in a test match in India, Stephen Waugh's sledges to Ambrose ...