Seems Aussie fans prefer ritual slaughter after all.

Despite the suspicion that the fans were tired of our dominance.

Missing ingredient is ritual slaughterRichard Hinds
February 14, 2009







Illustration by Edd Aragon


NEAR the start of this long and now fading cricket season, as the first cracks in the Australian team became evident, a usually astute observer of sport wrote that the public had continued to attend matches in record numbers despite their team's dominance making so many recent series predictable and one-sided.
The word "despite" jumped off the page like a frog from a hotplate - anyone mistaking this for the recipes section should be advised that, technically, the frog should be quite dead before you put it on the hotplate - because it seemed to misunderstand the psyche of the Australian cricket crowd. Or at least of those whose recent attendance accounted for the swollen gate figures.
Saying that Australians supported their team despite its dominance was like saying Jennifer Hawkins had managed to attain celebrity status despite her appearance. That South Sydney have managed to survive in the NRL despite Russell Crowe's cash. That Underbelly is popular despite the criminals. That pubs remain popular despite the beer.
Perhaps those purists who craved the kind of tough - too tough, as it turned out - contests Australia got in India and against South Africa over the past few months, had found yet another whitewash of the West Indies or Pakistan tedious. Perhaps they took up their place in the Members' pavilion despite the likelihood of another ritual slaughter.
This group also included the buttoned-down traditionalists who were somewhat affronted by the sometimes unsavoury methods used by the mega-successful Australian team. The hard-nosed aggression of Glenn McGrath, the split personality of Matthew Hayden (foul-mouthed sledger one minute, man of God the next) and, well, just the very Warne-ness of Shane Warne.
However, to the vast majority of ticket-buying, green-and-gold shirt-wearing, flag-waving Australians, there has been no despite about this Australian cricket team. Only a resounding "because". They loved them because they were so good. They loved them because they dominated their opposition. They loved them because they made matches predictable and one-sided.
The certainties of life were these: death, taxes and someone in a baggy green cap standing on a dressing room table belting out Beneath The Southern Cross (without first being belted out by a teammate). And if, like the 2005 Ashes series, they did not win? They would wreak their horrible revenge.



Predictable as it had been, given the virtually simultaneous retirement of so many all-time greats, it was the loss of this certainty - even more than bungled selections, the public meltdown of Andrew Symonds, the serially furrowed brow of Ricky Ponting, the futile search for the Warne-apparent, the occasional dressing room fracas, the shooting star that was (and perhaps will be again) Dave Warner, and Channel Nine's latest batch of instant "memorabilia" (is there are a marginally significant bat, ball or snippet of apparel that Tony Greig has not yet put behind glass?) - that was the summer's enduring legacy.
Sometime between the abject defeat in India and South Africa's noble obstinacy, we entered into a new cricket world. A place where Australian wickets tumble in succession and there is no trademark Gilchrist cameo or bloodyminded Langer dig to stem the flow. Where the revelation of the season (J.P. Duminy) hails from Strandfontein not Strathfield. Where the worthy battlers in losing sides are Aussie worthies Michael Clarke and Mitchell Johnson. Where the frustrating tailend partnerships and intimidating bowling are inflicted on, not by, the Australians.
So, despite all this, will those who flocked to watch Australia crush their opposition still wave the flag? The relatively paltry attendances for one-day matches in Melbourne and Sydney suggest not - even if the low numbers can be partly attributed to the growth of Twenty20. Despite 20 years of almost unbroken dominance, you don't shell out your hard-earned to lose to New Zealand.
Now in South Africa will come the almost forgotten pleasure of playing the underdog. Seeing if a team that includes a greenhorn opener, no frontline spinner, an unproven all-rounder, a lively but potentially vulnerable pace attack and a captain whose temperament is being fiercely examined can pull off an upset. Then the Ashes against opponents which should be even more difficult to beat at home after their capitulation in the West Indies - assuming they have any pride.
Compelling times for Australian cricket. But, despite that, don't expect as many to be compelled to watch them.