Strange incident that shows Australia have gone 'tame'

Australia’s shift in behaviour has come to the fore in an innocuous incident on day three in Adelaide.

Australia’s cricketers, once tagged as a “pack of dogs”, are now much tamer, and the perfect example came after lunch on Saturday during the first Test against India.

India opener KL Rahul defended a Nathan Lyon delivery and the ball dribbled to the batsman’s feet.

Rahul picked the ball up and tossed it back to Lyon, just before Aussie skipper Tim Paine was about to grab it.

Paine and Lyon looked surprised, given Rahul could technically have been given out ‘handled ball’, had the Australians appealed under a rarely enforced law.

But the Australians simply raised their eyebrows and continued on with the game.

“I don’t think he (Paine) was happy with that but I don’t think the Australians will be appealing in the current environment,” Ricky Ponting said in commentary for Channel 7.

What they would have done in the past

The reaction is a stark contrast to events in a 2014 Test in South Africa which led Faf du Plessis to describe Australia’s fielders as “like a pack of dogs”.

Du Plessis’ comments came after he was batting and innocently picked up the ball to return it to Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson.

Du Plessis insisted he was not aware he could have been given out ‘handled ball’ if Australia appealed – the Aussies didn’t, but made their displeasure known.

“A lot of the boys said it’s not time for him to be fielding,” Johnson said during that Test.

“That’s our job – we’re out there to field.”

Du Plessis maintained he “was just being a nice guy picking the ball up”.

“But they run like a pack of dogs around you when you get close to that ball,” du Plessis said.

Australia’s fielders, led by the now-suspended David Warner, responded by barking at du Plessis when the South African next batted.

The-then Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland excused the barking as “just typical childish cricketers”.

“He (du Plessis) asked for that with his comments a few days earlier,” Sutherland said at the time.

“Some people might not see the humour in that but I did.”