(Daily Telegraph Australia) Australia captain Ricky Ponting will this week tell his players to clean up their act, admitting they “overstepped the mark” and were “embarrassed” by their antics in the WACA Test.
The West Indies yesterday fired a parting shot at Mitchell Johnson and Shane Watson, who, along with wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, were fined for incidents in a spiteful match.
Ponting will address the bad behaviour at the first team meeting in Melbourne this week as the team prepares for the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan. “I’m not proud of the fact (and) I’m sure the players aren’t proud of the fact either that we’ve had three guys reported in the one game,” Ponting said.
“This week when we get down to Melbourne as a group together – it will happen in our first team meeting – we will go over some of the events of this week. I know all the guys are a bit embarrassed, probably, and know they’ve overstepped the mark.”
Australia wrapped up the final West Indian wicket yesterday to win the final Test by 35 runs, but the return of the “ugly Australians” was a hot topic.
Watson was fined 15 per cent of his match fee for conduct contrary to the spirit of the game for his send-off of West Indies captain Chris Gayle on Saturday.
Haddin (25 per cent) and Johnson (10 per cent) were fined for their run-in with Windies spinner Sulieman Benn, who was banned for two one-day matches.
Australia will head to Melbourne today with a 2-0 series victory, but concern is growing that bad behaviour is turning off their own fans.
Watson’s tasteless celebration when he roared in the face of Gayle drew condemnation from everyone from former captain Mark Taylor down to talkback radio callers.
Gayle said he took no serious offence at Watson’s actions but still had a pointed swipe at the all-rounder’s conduct.
“Shane is that sort of person – I didn’t expect anything better,” Gayle said. “That is typically Watson. He is a passionate person. He expresses himself and sometimes he may overdo it.”
Gayle added that Johnson should have been suspended for initiating physical contact with Benn on day two.
“If you watch the tape, Johnson was the first one to make contact,” Gayle said.
“You shouldn’t have to tolerate that sort of thing out on the field.
“If they were going to deal with one of the players (Benn), they should have dealt with them all the same way.”
Ponting said that as captain he takes some responsibility for his side’s behaviour. “But when things happen in the spur of the moment like that it’s not as if I can interject or stop it as it’s happening either,” he said.
“Particularly the one with Johnson and Haddin, when I’m in the changerooms and they’re out in the middle, there’s not much you can do. All you can do is talk to them about it, let them know that it’s not acceptable and hope they learn from their mistakes along the way.
“Look at the three guys, they’re all relatively young guys in international cricket. But if they didn’t know before, they know the mark they’ve overstepped and it’s up to them and me, and everyone in the side, to make sure that doesn’t happen again. Reports are something we’ve been strict on the last couple of years, that’s amongst the player group ourselves.”
