Respect. The most over-used and misunderstood word in Australian cricket is being bandied about in press conferences with no respect for what respect really means. Justin Langer is possibly guilty of respecting respect too much. Tim Paine wants it to define his team. Michael Clarke thinks it is a lesser currency than winning. Simon Katich clearly has no respect for Clarke, so where will it all end - this pursuit of an elusive concept like respect, a ghostly presence in the form of Phil Hughes's memory that lasted only a few weeks four years ago when it was meant to have signalled a new era in Australian cricket?

Only time will tell if the, "elite honesty" that Langer was ridiculed for will actually be manifest in something tangible that young cricketers can aspire towards. I coach a team of elite 15-year-old boys, some of who may well ascend to lofty heights. I have yet to see any evidence of the sort of cultural change that Langer dreams of. Clarke is correct but not politically correct. Winning is all that matters. It is an uncomfortable, inconvenient truth that has no resonance with Langer's meaningless statements about "that Australian spirit." Pray do tell — what is so special about the way Australia play cricket that requires it to be eulogised in such sentimental waffle? It is this sort of false national pride that led us to this shameful point in history. Every team like to win. Every team like to play it "hard, but fair" — another Australianism that we like to think we own when in fact it belongs to everybody. And to nobody.