There was a distinct lack of carry-on and a whiff of actual humility among Australia’s players during the Ashes opener at the Gabba
With a federal
election on the horizon, Australia can soon expect media wonks to comb the language patterns of party communications, parsing the signs, slogans and subliminal messages for revelatory insights into our leaders. Even though, as Richard Flanagan writes, “words are mostly used to keep us asleep, not to wake us”, this work usually tells us something about how campaigns and their leaders like to be seen.
If the specialists ran Pat Cummins’ words through the software, one word would stand above all else: “calm”. It was the first word he used to describe himself after becoming captain. Speaking about Cummins a week earlier, teammate James Pattinson used the same word. Explaining his response to Joe Root and Dawid Malan’s threatening partnership last week, Cummins said the team was “calm…[with] no panic”. Nathan Lyon twice said Cummins was calm through the first Test. So did Mike Hussey, noting the “calm feel around the team.” Coach Justin Langer called out his calmness, too.