The toxic side to the 'Australian Way': a chat with Jarrod Kimber

In this episode, we chat with journalist, blogger, author, podcaster, vlogger – or in short, the Mark Waugh of cricket coverage – Jarrod Kimber.

We focus on a piece Jarrod wrote last year titled 'The Ugly Australian: the evolution of a cricket species'. He talks about his formative experiences with sledging and hyper-aggression at the club level and how his views on behavior and moral codes have changed over time. No other team treats cricket as a team sport like Australia does, says Jarrod, but they also stretch the limits of what team-mates must do.

Talking Points:

• The island that is Australian cricket - with moral codes and 'good bloke, bad bloke' conventions that combine into the 'Australian Way'
• Club cricket in Australia in the 1980s and 1990s - when the game was sometimes a violent, contact sport
• The atmosphere at Australian cricket grounds in the pre-2000s
• The culture of Australian cricket that built up to Sandpapergate
• The two sides to Allan Border's legendary quip to Dean Jones in the furnace of Madras in 1986: 'let's get a tough Queenslander out here'
• Cameron Bancroft and the demands of young players fitting in
• The ruthless punishments handed out post Sandpapergate
• How David Warner would have been seen in the Australia of the 1980s
• The drinking culture in Australian cricket
• The vastly different culture around Australian women's cricket
  

Participants:

Jarrod Kimber (@ajarrodkimber), Patreon 

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Related:

Reverse-swing: cricket's ball-tampering in plain sight - Jarrod Kimber, ESPNcricinfo

The problem with the Australian Line of Control - Sharda Ugra, ESPNcricinfo

Crossing the Line - Gideon Haigh's book post Sandpapergate

Steve Smith's Men - Geoff Lemon's book post Sandpapergate

Man, Manlier, Manliest - Geoff Lemon, The Cricket Monthly

When a tie was a victory for Border's battlers - 81allout podcast with Michael Sexton

Kumar Sangakkara welcoming Shaun Pollock to the crease in the league game of the 2003 World Cup

Warwick Armstrong keeps Frank Woolley waiting - Arunabha Sengupta, Cricketcountry.com

Justin Langer's bail-nudging incident in Sri Lanka - YouTube video

Brad Haddin dislodging the bails before the ball hit the stumps - YouTube video