South Africa vs Australia: Visitors' strategy of 'mental disintegration' backfired in disastrous tour

The takedown was brutal. When it happened, Australia, one of the proudest cricketing nations, suffered not only a series loss but also the absolute destruction of their national image and culture. Yes, Australian captains have left the scene in tears in the past, most notably Kim Hughes after a string of losses to England and West Indies. But this was perhaps the first time that their team was caught cheating and the skipper had to depart in disgrace. Hence it was no surprise that a miffed Cricket Australia (CA) came down hard on Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner. The Cape Town Test ball-tampering scandal was the tipping point as the team swiftly disintegrated mentally. Consequently, what had earlier promised to be a great series was reduced to a pathetically lop-sided one. [caption id=“attachment_4418255” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The Australian players wear a forlorn look after the 3-1 series loss. Reuters[/caption] Ironically it was the Australians who had first coined the term ‘mental disintegration’ under combative former skipper Allan Border. He had stated that pacer Carl Rackemann had used it in the dressing room as a strategy to ruthlessly demolish England in the Ashes series. However, nobody brought it forcefully to the fore better that another Aussie skipper Steve Waugh, who is his book The Meaning of Luck: Stories of Learning, Leadership and Love, described how they used the concept to flatten a South African team that challenged their status as the world’s number one cricket team. “… we were keen not just to put them in their place but to have them leave Australia with some mental scarring for future battles,” he wrote. “In my mind, the ideal way to do this was to target the leader of their pack. This is often the captain, for he is the pulse of the team. The attitude and character of the unit are a reflection of his values.” Waugh, who used intimidation and mental disintegration as part of his strategy, explained that he was inspired by the powerful West Indies team who went after opposition captains. He, however, decided to go after a promising young South African paceman, Nantie Hayward. The blond-headed Hayward had impressed with his pace and fire and generally walked with a swagger. But Waugh wanted to see if he could take what he dished out. “My instructions to Brett (Lee) were simple: ‘Give him a couple of short ones to see if he likes it.’ …Brett’s first bouncer was perfectly executed, and it certainly gained Hayward’s attention. “The second was just as fiery, and it had the No 11 backpedalling away to square-leg to ensure his well-being. I now had two options as captain. Should I instruct Brett to bowl at the stumps and take an easy wicket, or should I inflict further mental interrogation on their bowling spearhead by requesting a bit more ‘chin music’? “I knew the whole South African team would be watching, as they were getting ready to come out and field at the fall of the innings’ final wicket. To me, this was a golden opportunity to confirm our status as the dominant team in this series and issue a clear statement of intent, so I told Brett to direct the next bumper a couple of feet outside the batsman’s leg stump. “The result was almost comical, as Hayward, fearing for his safety, retreated off the mown pitch and ended up metres away on the adjoining strip. The point had been made. Through the grille of his helmet, I saw a man totally rattled… “Hayward only bowled in one more innings in the series, taking 2-109 in our 10-wicket victory in Melbourne and not playing in Sydney. He hardly appeared in Test cricket again. We won all three Tests by big margins and then went to South Africa and won decisively on their turf.” For close to two decades, the Aussies embraced a culture of swearing, abusing, mouthing profanities and intimidating opponents, to facilitate ‘mental disintegration’. Many a times they were so crude that they looked like actors in a vulgar parody of the game of cricket.

Former New Zealand skipper Martin Crowe described this attitude best: “In England, chatter (sledging) has always been a mix of wit, whinge and worry; in Australia, slang, sex and sledge. The Australian way under a hot sun is to let rip with colourful language, a release of culture and climate. When the heat gets under an Aussie’s collar, when he faces pressure or the prospect of defeat, he releases the pain. Too often, it becomes crudely personal. And that is when cricket’s spirit and integrity are lost.”

Why the ICC or Cricket Australia never saw it that way was a puzzle. It was not as if the Aussie strategy was a secret. In fact they openly flaunted it. Skipper Ricky Ponting was quoted as explaining his Ashes strategy thus: “Mental disintegration. That’s what it’s all about, really, trying to keep England under pressure from ball one of the series until the series ends. That’s what our whole cricket theme is based on.” Yet the game’s administrators couldn’t see it. It is poetic justice that the team as a whole now stands belittled and demolished — a state of mind that they wished for their opponents! Skipper Smith, vice captain Warner and Bancroft looked more ‘disintegrated’ than any of their opponents during their recent interaction with the media. In South Africa their team looked just as wiped out. The Aussie humiliation was not merely the overwhelming Test mach losses, but the realisation that two decades of disgraceful, unrepentant gamesmanship have only brought them universal contempt. The spirit of the game demanded that players respect one another and their opponents. The Aussies had no time for that. What poetic justice therefore that the ugly Aussies have now been hoisted with their own petard!