Daniel Brettig, courtesy of ESPNcricinfo, 17 August 2016, where the title is “Clueless Australia need a cultural shift”
In 1969, when choosing the Australian touring team for India, the selectors omitted a young Greg Chappell to the surprise of many. When pressed for a reason why, the selection chairman Sir Donald Bradman is said to have replied: “We don’t want him going to India and getting sick.” Though Bill Lawry’s team went on to win a fractious and tightly contested series, Bradman’s comment endured as a summation of Australian attitudes to Asia for years afterwards. It was the place you went to to get sick, to have your batting average halved by wily spinners and trigger-happy umpires, and to have your back broken by pitches designed to break fast bowlers’ hearts. Tim May, the former Test spin bowler, penned a satirical book called Mayhem, that focused on digestive misadventures as the hallmark of trips to the subcontinent.
Hero Herath celebrates —Pic AFP