Gavaskar has crossed the line says McGrath

Even if we ignore the fact that Sunil Gavaskar invoked the name of the late David Hookes to support his argument about the behaviour of the Australian cricket team. Let’s just say that was unwise.

But it should not be allowed to obscure his central point which is that the Australians are reviled wherever the game is played because of their uniformly appalling on-field behaviour. They have taken a gentleman’s game and, in the course of three decades, turned it into a game for bogans and boors, where sledging is the norm, civility the exception. That’s the nub of the issue and it took a man of Gavaskar’s standing in the game to say it, and have people sit up and take notice. And yet, as invariably happens when someone dares slag off Our Boys, the person responsible for the criticism gets pilloried and a section of flunkies in the media rush to the Australian team’s defence.

From then, all the way through to McGrath and Warne, the Australians have developed this unappealing habit of not just trying to beat the opposition, but browbeat them as well. They are the original schoolyard bullies. And like all bullies, they hate it when someone has the temerity to stand up to them. The portly former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga was one who was not going to be intimidated by the Australians’ tactics, and he didn’t he cop some stick from Ian Healy and others for refusing to roll over meekly. South African captain Graeme Smith was another who was not going to be swayed by the bullying.

Glenn McGrath and Brad Hodge have joined the Australian backlash over Sunil Gavaskar's linking of David Hookes' death to poor on-field behaviour. McGrath said Gavaskar "crossed the line" while Hodge was "pretty disappointed" his former coach, who died in 2004, had been brought into the argument.

Gavaskar warned the Australians could get "whacked" in a bar if they operated the same way off the field as they did on it and his comments followed Ricky Ponting's complaint Gavaskar acted badly during his playing days. Allan Border and Darren Lehmann were also upset by Gavaskar's response.