Michael Clarke has found a high-profile ally in Matthew Hayden, who has urged Australias cricketers to play tough cricket rather than worry about their brand, a term the uncompromising former opener says is coined by a bunch of suits.
Fire up: Opening great Matthew Hayden (left) wants his former partner's Australia side to play tough.Credit:James Brickwood
And Hayden added that in his experience the moment a team questioned whether it had overstepped the mark was the moment it lost its edge.
You play the game in a spirit thats a competitive spirit and you dont play because you want to have a masters in being a good bloke, Hayden said.
Clarke came under fire for having a shot at Australias decision to play the game less aggressively and in a more gentleman-like manner as the national side battles to win back public respect after the Cape Town sandpaper affair.
Advertisement
The former Australian skipper told Macquarie Sports Radio on Tuesday: Play tough Australian cricket. Whether we like it or not, thats in our blood. If you try and walk away from it, we might be the most liked team in the world, were not going to win shit. We wont win a game. Boys and girls want to win.
Clarke on Wednesday night took to Twitter to have a crack back at broadcaster Gerard Wheatley and slammed him as a headline chasing coward after being described as "nonsensical" and "oblivious" by the Melbourne radio host.
Simon Katich, who played the game tough and once tried to throttle Clarke by the neck in the SCG sheds after a Test win in 2009, hit back on SEN radio when he said: Once again we find someone missing the point. Whats been forgotten in all of this is we blatantly cheated.
The point is, we were caught for blatantly cheating and we have to rectify that as soon as possible to earn back the respect of the cricketing public in Australia and worldwide. Weve been a disliked team for a number of years through that on-field behaviour and it obviously came to a head in Cape Town. They can still play the Australian way in terms of playing competitive and playing fairly, but not going over the top.
Hayden, the great opener who once labelled Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh an obnoxious weed, said before the Bradman Foundation Gala Dinner at the SCG, where he was inducted as an honouree: I know what our truth is as Australian cricketers. We play our best cricket when youre fighting. Now the word fight evokes fist fights, verbal diarrhoea and racial and religious taunts. Its nothing about that.
Its about a body language and its about the fact that as Australians when you walk across that line and you play at the SCG, this is our country, our turf. And on our watch we want to try and win. And I think thats really what Michael would be trying to say – that its about that competitive edge.
I do know if we lose that, and even our great era of Australian cricket when we lost that edge – and Im thinking back post the Test match against India here – and everyone was a bit punched by that incident and a bit worried about were we overstepping the mark? and should we be playing the game in this sort of spirit? we just started to play poorly. And I dont think thats right.
My expectations as a fan, forget a former player, is that our athletes be they male or female in any code is look to win the game or look to win their event. I think thats the mindset that we need to play our best in any code.
That word brand is a scary thing because it represents all manner of evils and its a very corporate word and I think cricket is a game.
Matthew Hayden
When asked about improving crickets brand, Hayden said: That word brand is a scary thing because it represents all manner of evils and its a very corporate word and I think cricket is a game.
Theres a whole bunch of suits that will carry on about the fact theyve branded cricket as such, but as a playing group, the code is what the word is, to play the game hard and fair. Thats Australian cricket and you see it in club cricket, you see it in kids games on the weekend, you play the game in a spirit thats a competitive spirit and you dont play because you want to have a masters in being a good bloke.
Christian covers rugby league for The Sydney Morning Herald.
Most Viewed in Sport
[contf] [contfnew] 
Australian Breaking News Headlines
[contfnewc] [contfnewc]
