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When the Pakistan cricket side turned up with gifts for Australia on Christmas Day, it seemed odd that teams about to go into a Boxing Day battle could be so intimate.
Could you imagine Allan Border doing it for Mike Gatting?
But that’s life in modern cricket. Covid togetherness and the Indian Premier League, which has no Pakistan players, has changed everything.
Barriers have been broken down and friendships formed across national lines.
Frenemies have replaced enemies.
It’s happened before, though. Through the years there have been occasions of players from rival nations surviving the hothouse of international cricket to become friends.
Here’s a selection of some of the most noted, and unexpected.
RICHARD HADLEE (NEW ZEALAND)-DEAN JONES (AUSTRALIA):
A story of many threads. Pace great Hadlee dominated Jones in a Test series in the mid-1980s and even branded Jones his bunny. Jones struck back in one-day cricket and they forged a friendship that blossomed through many guest-speaking gigs over the decades. The Hadlees shared Jones’s last Christmas dinner at his Romsey property before his death in 2021 when Sir Richard stirred the pot by giving Jones a Christmas present of a pillow case with a bunny on it.
BRIAN LARA (WEST INDIES)-ANDREW SYMONDS (AUSTRALIA):
Lara flew 10,000km to be present at Symonds’ funeral as a silent tribute to what he called their “developing friendship’’.
“Sometimes you lose relationships with players when you retire,’’ Lara said. “But ours grew and it was not because he forced it or I forced it. It just happened naturally. We were awesome together.’’
MITCH MARSH (AUSTRALIA)-TOM AND SAM CURRAN (ZIMBABWE):
They used to play backyard cricket – and even in hallways – when Mitch’s father Geoff coached Zimbabwe and have remained good mates.
VIRAT KOHLI (INDIA)-AB DE VILLIERS (SOUTH AFRICA):
They played together for Bangalore in the IPL for years and were often seen at breakfast. During Test series between India and South Africa, when one of them peeled away from their home team to talk with the other, teammates occasionally felt a bit left out.
KEITH MILLER (AUSTRALIA)-DENIS COMPTON (ENGLAND):
The two debonair heart-throbs used to love going out together and swapping tales about their deeds in World War II, where Miller was a Mosquito pilot who cheated death on several occasions. Once in Brisbane they were seen leaving the nurses’ quarters at the Royal Brisbane Hospital at 8am the morning of a match.
MARK WAUGH (AUSTRALIA)-KEN RUTHERFORD (NEW ZEALAND):
A mutual love of the racing industry made these two an obvious fit. They used to chat often at Hawkesbury races when Rutherford was club boss and Mark’s wife Kim was racing horses there. Rutherford jokes he likes spending time with Waugh because it makes him feel like a good tipster.
DAVID WARNER (AUSTRALIA)-SHAHEEN SHAH AFRIDI (PAKISTAN):
They got to know each other when they were staying in the same hotel during a Test series in Pakistan. Afridi was known to occasionally wait for Warner at the bottom of a lift to have a chat.
STEVE WAUGH (AUSTRALIA)-RAHUL DRAVID (INDIA):
Test rivals over a long period, they had incredible mutual respect. Waugh enjoyed Dravid’s immaculate technique and his sincerity as a person.
ANDREW FLINTOFF (ENGLAND)-MATT HAYDEN (AUSTRALIA):
Hayden reckons the only cricket deliveries he never actually saw were ones bowled to him in the 2005 Ashes by Flintoff; quick, curling, seaming, brutes of things they were, too. They played together at Chennai in the IPL and Hayden got Flintoff to write the foreword to his book. Hayden reckons the funniest hours of his life came when he was drug-tested in the IPL and Flintoff stayed back to keep him company, spinning yarns about his life.
GLENN MCGRATH (AUSTRALIA)-HEATH STREAK (ZIMBABWE):
They shared a great love of the outdoors and used to go on safaris together.
SHANE WARNE (AUSTRALIA)-KEVIN PIETERSEN (ENGLAND):
Both showmen and entertainers who respected these traits in each other. Warne once wound up Pietersen by telling his Australian teammates to call Pietersen “Kevin’’ rather than KP on the field.
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