If Facebook is anything to go by - and who would dare suggest it isn't? - Nathan Hauritz is something of a demigod in Wales, where the women want, and I quote, "to have his babies". And yet, he is still relatively unknown and unloved everywhere else, particularly in Australia.
Having landed almost accidentally in the Australian side, having been largely ignored in pre-Ashes promotional events and, after being slammed by the British media as basically a loser ("Is that all you've got, Australia?" is a headline that sticks in my mind) you would think the equal leading wicket taker in the 2009 Ashes series thus far might have changed a few non-Welsh minds by now.
But from what I can make out, response to him is still lukewarm in Australia and he has gone largely unnoticed here in the UK. Had Mike Hussey, Simon Katich or even the tepid Mitchell Johnson dislocated their finger trying to heroically stop a speeding cricket ball it would have dominated back pages certainly in Oz, but Hauritz barely rates a mention. The guy continued to play, after a quick trip to hospital, and even went on to take 3 wickets in the test in what must have been excruciating pain. And yet, someone on one of the 8 anti-Hauritz groups on facebook still referred to him as "weak"!
Why is this? Is it because he is not a womanising pisshead? Is it because his wife is not a supermodel, but looks like the girl-next-door (and let's face it, she probably was)? Could it be because he doesn't look like Mitchell Johnson?
I suspect, in fact, that we are so used to sportsmen getting drunk, stealing boats, fighting in bars and shagging everything that moves that when an average looking guy with raw talent and a quiet self-confidence, who has no interest in "extra-curricular" activities, appears we barely even see him. He may not be Andrew Symonds and he certainly isn't Shane Warne, at least not yet, but I for one hope this series is not the last we see of this young man however uninteresting he may be.
Ritzy? Well, maybe not so much. But Nathan is doing pretty damn good.
1 thoughts on this post:
*groans* Yes to every word. It is great to see that someone actually wrote down my thoughts... word-by-word.
Good blog, this. Very good blog. Cheers.
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