By An overdue glance at the inbox. Ollie Major is taking issue with my line from 12:07, suggesting that Joe Root might be saying “Don’t hack me off, lads.”
“I am a big fan of the OBO,” Ollie says, “but I thought this was an ill judged attempt at a joke – you’re usually better than this!
“Team culture is a desperate critical Ashes losing issue and I’m not sure making light of it is really the way to go? There has definitely been a bit an issue with the press and the ex-player cohort being out of touch with the wider mood in this situation, and I think we need to back Root in efforts to get to grips with it.
“Just because Root has a mild way of speaking ( I suspect ‘hacked off’ covers for absolutely spitting feathers) shouldn’t make it a source of humour.”
Almost anything can be a source of humour, can’t it? I wasn’t remotely meaning that team culture doesn’t matter, or that Root was wrong to say he was hacked off. On the contrary, it was the right move at the right time, and as you say his mild manner gives it extra force.
My remark was a throwaway one in the OBO tradition of trying to have some fun with a subject that is, after all, only a game. And I’m surprised to hear you say that the press and the pundits have been out of touch with the public on this. There’s been plenty of shade thrown at the shenanigans in the papers I read, as well as from Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson yesterday.
Originally published on www.theguardian.com — View original