It is difficult for the English all-rounder Moeen Ali to feel sympathy for Australia’s banned cricketers as e thinks that the whole team is “rude”. Earlier this year, the Australian cricket faced a huge backlash when captain Steve Smith, his deputy David Warner and the opener Cameron Bancroft were found guilty of ball-tampering and hence received some serious punishments from Cricket Australia (CA).
Most of the people from the cricketing fraternity gave a loud reaction after the scandal. While most of the people were anger on the players, some of the people from the fraternity also felt pleasurable after the misfortune occurred to the Australian team as the media pundits suggested that Australia had brought themselves undone with the aggressive way they played the game.
During a recent interview with The Times, Ali said, “Everyone you speak to … they are the only team I’ve played against my whole life that I’ve actually disliked. Not because its Australia and they are the old enemies but because of the way they carry on and (their) disrespect of people and players. I’m someone who generally feels sorry for people when things go wrong but it’s difficult to feel sorry for them.”
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He further added, “The first game I ever played against them, in Sydney, just before the 2015 World Cup, they were not just going hard at you, they were almost abusing you. That was the first time it hit me. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, but the more I played against them they were just as bad, the Ashes here (in 2015) they were worse, actually. Not intimidating, just rude.”
Australia’s series against South Africa in which the ball-tampering incident took place, also consisted some heated moments between the players, with one altercation between Warner and Proteas wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock spilling over off the field.
Tim Paine, who replaced Smith as Test captain, said that they are approaching to change the team culture. However, he also clarified that it doesn’t mean that they will not be playing the game hard.
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New coach Justin Langer, who leads the team on his first Test tour later this month against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, also said he felt there was a place for on-field banter or sledging.
Langer asserted, “We’ve always played hard, some of the best banter is amongst each other to try to get the opposition thinking of other things. I think we modify our behaviors a bit so it’s not angry, or over-aggressive, but it’s aggressive in the mindset we play with the bat and ball.”
