Players prefer to stay silent as regulations tighten

Steve Waugh - and a bodyguard to watch his every word © Getty Images

Careless talk may no longer cost lives, as the wartime poster used to caution, but an ill-timed aside can land the offender in hot water with the authorities, and Steve Waugh has admitted that players now have to watch everything they say in public.

A combination of zealous administrators and increasing rules and regulations over conduct have led to every utterance being scrutinised. The most recent player hauled over the coals was Murray Goodwin, Western Australia's former Zimbabwe international.

In a press interview ahead of the Perth Test, Goodwin said, among many other things, that Zimbabwe's black players were being given preference by selectors because of their colour. "It sounds really racist," he said, "but in actual fact it's the truth and that's a sad state of affairs because these guys don't have to perform as well as the European guys to get a game."

Goodwin was immediately charged by the Western Australia Cricket Association for making comments detrimental to the game. He now faces a suspension and/or a fine if he is deemed to have brought the game into disrepute.

Speaking on the eve of the second Test at Sydney, Waugh told reporters that it was increasingly hard for players to stay out of trouble. "If you do something not 100 per cent correct in the eyes of everyone, you're considered a rebel," he said. "But then on the other side of that is they say there's no characters left in the game any more, so you can't win either way.

"It's the same when you answer questions. There's some topics that are touchy and sometimes you want to give an honest answer but you know if you do you're going to be in trouble."

But Waugh added that the tighter rules made life harder for the media rather than the players. "I don't think we're getting too worried about it, I think you guys [the reporters] would be getting worried about it because you've got to report on the game and you want to bring up issues and you want answers. But sometimes you can't give them so it's probably more of an issue for you guys."