Darren Lehmann believes that Aussie aggression is wrongly potrayed by Media
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Former Australia coach Darren Lehmann has stated that the on-field behavior of the Australian cricketers is not as bad as it has been portrayed by the media. He also added that Justin Langer and Tim Paine are trying to rebuild the team completely due to the absence of Steve Smith and David Warner.
Darren Lehmann served his tenure as the Australian coach from 2013 to 2018 - a period that saw some incredible highs compounded by some insane lows - but decided to hang up his boots after the ball tampering incident in Cape Town Test against South Africa. This came after he was cleared by Cricket Australia’s internal investigation which banned the trio of Steve Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft. The incident put the team culture under scanner and that has been severely criticised by media all around the globe.
However, opening up on the issue, Lehmann stated that the Australian players are not as bad as portrayed by the media. He said that the players always played in the spirit of the game and reflected a lot of aggression, which has been exaggerated in a way that they are perceived in a wrong light.
“When I played, there was a lot worse sledging going on in those days and years before. You want to promote the game fairly and play hard but fair on the field,” Lehmann was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
“There was a lot of talk about the Australian team being over-aggressive and there were some incidents in some games that they probably pushed it too far. They got dealt with accordingly from the ICC and match referee when they crossed that line but the Australians play that way in essence a lot of the time. They're not as bad as portrayed in the media.”
Following Lehmann’s resignation as Australian team’s head coach, Justin Langer was announced as the new coach of the team. And Lehmann believes that his former teammate Langer and the in-charge skipper Tim Paine are really capable of their new job.
"It (playing like New Zealand) will certainly help win the fans back over, and that's important because we want kids playing the great game of cricket. But you also need to win, win a certain way.
"That's a fine balance, because as Australians we want to see the Australian cricket team winning - I do, I'm a fan now sitting on this side. I want to see them win, play well, play fair but you've still got to have that right balance and that's the real tricky art Justin and Tim are going to face this summer," the 48-year-old said.
In the recent series against England and the T20 tri-series involving Pakistan and Zimbabwe, Australia genuinely missed their star duo - Smith and Warner. While not much can be done about that, Lehmann reflected a slight positive response to this by saying that Australia have got the reserves who are capable enough to replace the missing stalwarts.
“Obviously, Warner and Smith are great players, they've made a lot of runs for Australia over their careers, and Bancroft was starting to come good in the last series. But our depth, it just gives another player an opportunity, a young kid coming through.The bowling is never going to be an issue.
“When you've got (Mitchell) Starc, (Josh) Hazlewood, (Pat) Cummins, (Nathan) Lyon, (James) Pattinson, you're 20 wickets aren't going to be an issue. You've just got to keep them (fast bowlers) on the park fit and playing.And runs in Australia, I think we'll bat quite well in Australia. A lot of people are writing us off in Australia. I'm not. I think we'll bat OK. The conditions suit the way we play and bat and the young guys will stand up,” concluded Lehmann.
