Bring Douggie Walters Back!

As kids growing up in suburban Western Australia there were only two seasons, football and cricket.

 Our Dad, a “10-pound Pom”, was quite the cricket purist and would take my younger brother Glen and I to the WACA ground for Sheffield Shield and test matches. Dad would set up his chair on the grassy knoll under the scoreboard at the WACA and Glen and I would run amok without the aid of mobile phones.

One of the main features of the WACA in those days was the nets where the teams would practice. They were sizeable, which allowed kids to stand directly behind the batsman and the parents would stand behind the kids.

From that position, you could get the true sense of how fast the bowlers delivered the ball. I still remember my 10-year-old self, saying to Glen, “Geez even Ashley Mallet is fast!” (Ashley Mallet was a fine South Australian off-spinner.)

The other significant memory of the nets was the good-natured banter between the international players. You were only 20-30 metres from some of the greatest players in history and it inspired Glen and me to make a pact that we would captain and vice-captain Australia one day, Chappell-style. Clearly, this was a stretch but we all need goals!

It would have been easy to have a local West Australian as my cricket hero as there were so many to choose from.

Dennis Lillee was probably the most obvious, given he was universally admired for his talent and had that X-factor in charisma. He was the Mick Jagger of cricket and as Keith Richards once said of Mick, “he could entertain a coffee table!”. Dennis was just like that, especially at the MCG.

As much as I loved Dennis, my hero was a short, unobtrusive NSW all-rounder, Doug Walters OBE. He made runs, saved runs in the field, and took wickets always when the team needed it.

He looked quite bored the rest of the time! He famously whilst waiting to bat, would play cards and smoke “rollies” then upon the call, “you’re on Douggie” would step out onto the world stage and do whatever was required for his country.

In the 1974/75 Ashes Series 2^nd test at the WACA, we witnessed Douggie hit a century between tea and stumps and subsequently embed our love of him forever.

The ground was so packed that they let us kids sit behind the boundary rope which was a first. Douggie was on 97 runs with one ball to go for the day and as if sensing the theatre, England spearhead Bob Willis bowled a bouncer which was eloquently hooked for 6 straight over the heads of a thousand barefooted WA kids in singlets and black footy shorts!

We all sprinted towards the great man like teenage girls chasing the Beatles. Douggie calmly jogged off unaffected and wondered what all the fuss was about! Below is the video of this amazing performance. Note how Douggie nonchalantly “swats” a brutal Willis delivery for 6, then in the same motion turns to head for the changerooms thinking “My work here is done. Kill for a beer.”

It was Doug’s humility and self-deprecating humour that made him the star he was. I personally don’t see a lot of that these days in world sport which can be put down to the money involved but you don’t see that from athletes like Roger Federer or Ash Barty do you? It can be done.

There’s been a lot of anger placed on the Australian T20 side this week post their exit from the T20 World Cup and rightly so.

Glenn Maxfield’s comments after the game really sum up the state of world cricket as a whole and how the Australian players treat it.

He said, and I’m paraphrasing, “Cricket never stops so you don‘t get time to dwell. Maybe when you retire you think back to it would have been nice to win that but it doesn’t mean anything.”

Too much cricket and too much money. His comments reek of entitlement and lack of care but it’s indicative of what this team has delivered culturally probably since Ricky Ponting was replaced by Michael Clarke.

Once T20 became the phenomenon it is, players could see dollar signs especially in India for the IPL. For example, the current Australian captain’s net worth exceeds $60m.

(Yeah but the players should earn whatever they can mate?)

Absolutely, but not at the expense of the baggy green and what it means to cricket lovers.  Moving on to the next commitment without reviewing and learning is the issue.

What was learned from sandpaper-gate? A disciplinarian in Langer was brought in to start earning respect back, then when the trophies were once again being awarded it was time to undermine him and drop the standards.

Unlike AFL for instance, cricket doesn’t have a correlation between the salary increases and the quality or standard of the sport.

Even the staunchest of old footy lovers would admit that the speed and athleticism of AFL today is extraordinary and that it would be very difficult for players of older eras to get a kick in the current environment.

Cricket, however, is different. Players from the 70’s could absolutely play in this era and dominate. Lloyd, Marshall, Holding, Richards, Greenidge, Garner and Roberts from the West Indies alone could scare the bejeezus out of today’s opposition.

Before Packer came along these players incomes were subsidised by working part-time for cigarette, alcohol and sports companies. Admittedly the schedule was nothing like it is today but that was great!

You could focus on a series. Now you don’t know where they’re playing and for what?

One of the arguments our current cricketers put forward to justify the extraordinary terms and conditions of their salaries, was the amount of time they spend away from home.

Firstly, much of that time is spent playing 20/20 cricket in the sub- continent with no resistance on their part because there are millions to be made. Secondly the ACB has allowed player’s wives and partners to accompany them on tours, something never accessible for past national teams.

So, if the travel absences are so critical to these pay demands, I thought I’d do a quick comparison with other skilled Australians representing our country away from their families.

Exhibit A – SAS Trooper               versus                        Exhibit B – David Warner