0Steve Smith - inombolo yehlabathi 1 umlomo, ukuba inani 1 batsman

Sivuyisana noSteve Smith othathe isikhundla se- “Glen McGrath” ngokuqonda esidlangalaleni i-hubris yase-Australia.. Masivume ukuba McGrath, umntu phezu 500 iilokhwe zovavanyo, kunye nelungu elihlanganayo lelinye lawona macala makhulu ngalo lonke ixesha, unokuxolelwa ngokucinga ukuba icala lakhe lingaba mhlophe eNgilane, nangona ukuyithetha ngokuvakalayo kuyithuka kwaye ingelonxalenye yomoya wentlonelo apho kufanele ukuba kuthethwe khona ikhilikithi. Steve Smith nangona kunjalo, Indoda eyayinovelwano okokugqibela xa yayindwendwela eNgilane kwaye yanovelwano kwakhona kuthotho lwangoku (ukuba siyawakhuphela ngaphandle amakhulu akhe aphindwe kabini eyenziwe kwifleti akukho nto enkosi).

If you haven’t seen Steve’s pre-Ashes pre­dic­tions, nantsi le vidiyo ubunandiphe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v = 90y8CPjE1a8

Eng­land have won 5 lo wokugqibela 7 uthotho nothuthu, kwaye zonke 4 uthotho ekhaya ukususela 2005 (and that against a vastly super­i­or Aus­trali­an side to the cur­rent line-up). In that con­text, no mat­ter how good your cur­rent form, you will always look like an arrog­ant berk for shout­ing your mouth off, espe­cially if you are yet to make any kind off impres­sion in the con­di­tions in which the series will be played.

This kind of rude unsport­ing “pub­lic sledging” is why here in Eng­land we so love to see Aus­tralia lose. Not just lose to Eng­land, but lose to any­one. Once upon a time the West Indies were dom­in­ant, but their decline quickly brought sym­pathy and a hope that they will soon return to being truly com­pet­it­ive at the top level. The Aus­trali­ans can expect no such sym­pathy until they show a great­er respect for others.

So — Steve Smith — here’s hop­ing you learn from this low point of your career, and as the Aus­tralia cap­tain in wait­ing, show a new atti­tude from Aus­trali­an crick­et more in keep­ing with the spir­it of the game. If you need any advice just pop across the water and pay a vis­it to Brendan McCul­lum who will no doubt be delighted to show you how it is done.