No its not the same thing tig_prmz…..you guys were gloating about Slater getting injured and saying he deserved it. For it to be the same thing, Johnson would have had to of broken Anderson's jaw with a bouncer and then have me come on here laughing about it saying he deserved it because he should have moved his head out of the road. See the difference?
What I am applauding is the Aussie's approach to the series which in a lot of ways has taken leaf's out of the English playbook. I'll never forget the series in 05 when we sent a supremely confident side to England that was easily the best on the planet, brimming with legends and making cocky predictions of a 5-0 whitewash on English soil as they hadnt lost a series in 17 or so years. The English decided that they had had enough and manned up. They didnt take crap of us, in fact they gave better than they got, won the mind games, won the battles and the war. They won the urn back in emphatic fashion....and rubbed it in for weeks afterwards.
Inevitably they awoke the demon in the Aussies which resulted in the most demoralising series defeat in memory on the return trip to our shores. That 5-0 whitewash in 07 was brutal. We smashed them with the bat, scared them with the ball, crucified them with mindgames and just crushed their spirits.
It was now their turn to re-evaluate their apporach and they did so and have now won three series on the trot. This is test cricket. It is not the bubble gum, family friendly, pg friendly version of the game where everyone is friends that you seem so fond of. Test cricket is the hardest form of the game as it not only requires a great skill set, but is also a test of endurance and mental toughness. You are not just playing the 11 blokes facing you, but also the weather, time, strategies and most importantly yourself.
This Australian side is not overly talented and they are not overly experienced. They had to change their mindset and that appears to have happened. It is now them who are not taking crap off the superior side. It is now them who are the underdogs with their backs to the wall. Anderson, Broad, Peiterson, Swan et al. have become master sledgers and give it to our blokes in spades. They win the mind games as well as the cricket. What I saw in this test was a group of blokes who said if we go down we'll do it swinging and this approach seems to have rattled the poms. We saw Johnno bowl a ferocious spell on day 2 that struck fear into the English, we saw Warner and Clarke get in behind short pitched bowling and flog it to the boundary and most importantly, we saw our team give the poms a taste of their own medicine in the mind games department.
Anderson whinged to the umps about the Aussie's talk and considering he is a world class stirrer in his own right had a hide to do so. Clarke has basically said to him "if thats how you want it, I have a bloke at the other end, bowling 150k/hr who wants to tear your head off ....and I am green lighting him". It was awesome stuff...and it worked. This series is far from over, the poms are a great team. However we have struck the first blow and with the whole country behind them, this team will not take a backward step this series. I didnt think this would be the case and is the reason I am so pleasantly surprised.
Its game on and will be a terrifically absorbing contest. If the English retain the ashes, they will know they have been in a war to do so and thats all that we ask of our national side. Likewise, if we win, it will be a victory akin to their heroics of 05.
Bit long winded for sure, but to answer your question, no there is no double standards in my post :smiley: