[bazzap]

I love this. Some bloke sent it to The Guardian not long before last night's press conference

Cricket has turned from a sport to a ritual in Australia. The team song with the wattle, visiting the graveyards in France, and of course the Legend Of the Baggy Green. This coincided with a time that the team were all but invincible, so, practices became sanctified, and indelibly associated with outcomes.


So when Michael Clarke tried to head off before singing the song he was nearly throttled. The Baggy Green became a sacred item - literally; Steve Waugh wore one that was battered beyond recognition. It was a holy relic. The G was referred to as ‘sacred turf’.


That’s right cricket became, to all extents and purposes, a cult. Or a religion, if you prefer.


Trouble is that if rituals are transgressed condemnation is wild and fierce. To Australians cheating at cricket became blasphemous. The only fitting punishment for such impiety becomes excommunication.


It was easier when cricket was cricket. Not forced to do double duty in binding a fragile society, forever unsure of its place in the world, together. Smith, Warner and Bancroft are now going to be taken to a place outside the city walls and ritually stoned.