Now here at the Cricket Observer I have only just been getting into this tweeting ‘thing’ after being shown the ability to stay up to date with score lines and emerging news at a moments notice. As well as a new way to keep in touch with readers of the blog who wish to be followers. And if Bumble can do it then I feel like I’m missing out on the opportunity.
Cricket is game especially when batting where one must find a way to stay amused, some cricketers in the old days used tricks, pranks, gags or just some lively banter about weight issues, girl friends or little jibes at technique. All done while sitting on the balcony waiting for your turn to stroll out onto the field. It seems that these idle moments have been given the perfect solution, Twittering. All cricketers are doing it now, and some to great effect with Graeme Swann taking up cult status with his constant streams of useless, and witty banter about teammates. Yet as this new domain opens up of course there is always going to be issues, the most recent being Dimitri Mascarenhas, the Hampshire all-rounder who has played sporadically for England’s T20 and One-day sides over the last year, can expect a knock on the door from the ECB in the coming days after his recent twitter about national selector Geoff Miller. Describing him as a “kn*b” and “a pr*ck”
One post sent from the Twitter account @DimiMascarenhas read: "Geoff miller is a complete kn*b. He had no clue what he is doing. Fing pr*ck."
This after only just recently seeing the headlines when Pieterson recently described himself being dropped from the one-day squad as a “f*ck up” The governing body would most likely look more harshly on an outburst directed so personally at a selector than the post from Pietersen. This coupled with last months outburst from Under-19 international Azeem Rafiq who was banned from all cricket for a month and fined £500 for a tweet where he described John Abrahams, its elite player development manager; as a “useless w*nker” and England are not the only team with these issues the earliest problems with social networks was Phillip Hughes discussing his non-selection from the test side for the Test match at Lords during last years Ashes Series. What is that makes not just athletes but people behave differently on social networks?
You would never, well I’d hope not, yell this sort of language out at your coach in a public place during a nets session, say while children are watching. So what then gives you the ok to do such a thing via a multimedia stream. All this shows is a bratish and cocooned lifestyle that some of today’s cricketers are living in where they feel that they know all, and nobody else knows any better. Pietersen has only just recently in a county match made his first century in 18 months, and had shown in the Lords Test match against Pakistan that his head is just not in his game at the moment, to come out brand his non-selection as a “f*ck up” only makes him look foolish when England go on to beat Pakistan in the first of the T20’s without him in a comfortable manner. And Dimi has no leg to stand on, literally for his outburst. As a player that started the county season with a serious ankle injury due to chasing IPL riches and really has not made much of an impact in the young up and coming squad of Hampshire; even struggling to find himself a place in the T20 Finals Day, so where he thinks that by abusing a selector is going to help his already slim chances I will never know.
Twittering is sure to help bring some players ‘to life’ and give the followers a chance to see what some of the worlds best players are up to on a daily basis and for this reason it’s a great idea to further push cricket into the future. But discussing what players views are on coaches and selections, items that are strictly for the selection table or locker-room and should not be open to a wider audience. Cricket does not need to be a the soap opera that footballers lives have turned into, being used to slap up a few minor celebrities on a glossy page. Let’s keep the tweets either mindless locker-room banter or discussions on what training is like and I’m sure all will be fine for both selectors and those wishing to be selected.
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