TIME TO INTROSPECT?

We've been a disliked team for a number of years: Katich

by Cricbuzz Staff • Published on

"We were caught for blatantly cheating and we have to rectify that as quickly as possible and earn back the respect" - Katich © Getty

Michael Clarke's comments on the state of Australian cricket have drawn critical reaction from former Test opener Simon Katich. Clarke had said that the Australian men's team needed to "stop worrying about being liked and start worrying about being respected", and find a workable formula to return to winning ways after having been swamped in a muddle of on and off-field distractions aplenty since early this year.

"Australian cricket, I think, needs to stop worrying about being liked and start worrying about being respected," Clarke said on Macquarie Sports Radio yesterday. "Play tough Australian cricket. Whether we like it or not, that's in our blood. If you try and walk away from it, we might be the most-liked team in the world, but we're not going to win s***. We won't win a game."

Katich, however, felt that Clarke had "missed the point" with his comments, saying that the cricketers in the country needed to learn from the mistakes made earlier this year and find a middle-ground. Following the ball-tampering scandal earlier in the year and the bans of three cricketers as a result, including the captain who was stripped off his leadership position, a cultural review was conducted with the aim for an overhaul in how they went about their business. The findings of the review was that in years leading up to the scandal, the men's team had developed a 'win without counting the cost mentality'.

"Once again we find someone missing the point," Katich told Whateley on SEN radio today on Wednesday (November 28). "What's been forgotten in this is we blatantly cheated and there's a reason we're at this point now. We were caught for blatantly cheating and we have to rectify that as quickly as possible and earn back the respect not just of the cricketing public in Australia but worldwide and our behaviour's a big part of that.

"Michael's obviously made his comments but missing the point - how often have we seen an Australian captain get stripped of the captaincy for blatant cheating?" Katich said. "It's never happened before... it brought shame on the nation. We've been a disliked team for a number of years through that on-field behaviour and it obviously came to a head in Cape Town. It's a tough battle for this team taking on the burden of what's come before them. They can still play the Australian way in terms of playing competitive and playing fairly, but not going over the top and going across the rules like they did in Cape Town."

"That's been missed in this, that's never happened in Australian cricket before. The players understand, the three players that have been banned understand the enormity of it because they've lived through this period. This is where those on the periphery need to be mindful that what happened should never have happened in Australian cricket and it did and we were guilty of blatant cheating... that needs to be reminded to a few of these guys commenting on it."

Amidst calls of lifting the bans on the trio of Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, so that they could participate in domestic cricket this summer, Katich firmly believed otherwise. Cricket Australia eventually rejected the Australian Cricketers' Association's proposal for a downgrade in punishments or lifting the suspensions. The duo of Warner and Smith, though, were at the nets at a training session with the men's team at the Sydney Cricket Ground, facing speedsters Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins who are preparing for their four-match Test series against India due to begin on December 06.

© Cricbuzz

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