shut it

Just recently i found out one more difference between the great cricket players and the good ones. The great ones don't talk nonsense. Ever. Case in point, Brett Lee, Hoggard and Flintoff. These three are some of the best players in the world today, although I'm not sure if Hoggard's still active or not. They've all done good work for their country, have stepped up to the plate and taken responsibility when it was required, especially Lee and Flintoff. But none of these are "great" players, and Hoggard will never be. And these three also happen to be 3 of my most favorite players. But all 3 have said things about their captains, Hoggard most recently, that's pissed me off. Michael Vaughn retired from cricket recently and obviously all the current players gushed about him as he was one of their most successful captains. Part of the gushing by Hoggard was that he compared Vaughn's captaincy with that of Nasser Hussain and maintained he preferred playing under Vaughn because he was such a nice guy on the field. Well fuck you Hoggard. We all remember what pathetic whiners English cricketers were in the nineties. And what pathetic losers they were, blaming everything else for their miserable performance except their lack of ability.

I always liked Hussain and when he took over the captaincy he knew he had to whip this sorry team into a fighting unit, and you can't do that by being a "nice guy" and holding hands and spouting soothing words and being sensitive to one's feelings. For the first time EVER, Hussain's England looked like they meant business. He picked youngsters like Hoggard and Flintoff and egged them on to the job along with his veteran bowlers Gough and Caddick. So he was a bit harsh on the field when you bowled rubbish, was he? Maybe that's why you learned the discipline required to win the ashes. Maybe that's why you guys suddenly went from complete losers to one of the most exciting Test teams to follow, you lousy uneducated trout!

Then there's the other 2 mighty intellects, Lee and Flintoff. Both said similar things when comparing their former captains to their current ones. They preferred playing under the current captain because under the current captain they had "more responsibility and a clear idea of what was required of them". Well whoop de do! Have you two stopped to consider that under your previous captains (Steve Waugh and Nasser Hussain) you guys were fresh lilies with little idea of how to take a wicket? To hear Flintoff and Lee talk, you'd think they appeared on the international scene as the accomplished players they are today. Whereas we who have viewed the game from a more objective point remember that Lee could just bowl fast and Flintoff could just bowl short of a length at medium pace. And it was through being under great captains like Waugh and Hussain that they blossomed. So that by the time they came under Ponting and Vaughn they ahd honed their craft to the point that the captain could give them proper responsibility and tell them exactly what was expected of them.

Bloody idiots. You never hear McGrath talking about oh how wonderful it was under Taylor, do you? Or Warne?

Fucking retards. Just shut it!