The Unofficial Warwick Todd Homepage

The Team

Home Private Life The Team On Tour Todd on cricket Incidents Great Moments Ad and Damo do Melbourne	Being part of the Australian cricket team is a great honour, and a great experience. Warwick Todd has made the most of his long career and talks about some of his experiences here. Todd talks about becoming part of the team tradition and getting tattooed on his arse: "It's a painful procedure having all three figures inscribed on your anatomy and I'm forever grateful that I was the 309th Australian Test player selected. All I needed was the 3 on one buttock and the 9 on the other - then it was just a question of bending over". Todd discusses the two team policy now in force: "I have no problems with the current two-team policy provided of course I'm part of both. My only reservation would be the fact that a lot of the one-day players are young blokes who come into the Aussie side without any real respect for us senior players or the traditions of the game. I remember when I first joined the Australian team no one spoke to me for three years. And rightly so - as a young bloke I had to earn their respect".	"Yeah, Yeah, another Warney wicket. Let's just get on with the game".
	Tubs celebrates reaching double figures.	"One of the reasons Aussie teams have been so successful over the years; we're tough, we're committed and we're all united in the one goal - stopping some other bastard taking our place in the team. Winning would be good too". Toddy reveals some of the bedding arrangements also: "In the Tests we get a room to ourselves but for the other games it's twin share. I'm rooming with Slats and as always the first job was to push the beds as far apart as possible. The thought of actually touching another bloke, even accidentally, makes me physically sick". The captain of the team is an important figure too, as Todd explains here: "Tubs spoke about tomorrow's game, saying that to win it was simply a question of batting, bowling and fielding better than the opposition. He's a smart operator Tubs, with a keen insight into the game". "Everyone in the team has received the old Tubby Taylor 'death stare' at one time or another for minor misdemeanours - dropping a catch or misfielding a ball. Or in my case, crashing the team bus".
	Toddy predicted Ricky Ponting as a future captain, as did many others: "A few of the lads were keen to kick on elsewhere but, as Tugga pointed out, it's team policy that the evening before a big match the festivities are kept within the hotel. But then Ponts (demonstrating the leadership capabilities he's no doubt blessed with) pointed out it was now after midnight and therefore technically no longer the evening before a match. Within five minutes a cab had been called and we were off". Being part of the team also involves a lot of socialising and drinking as seen in these cases: "Replacing lost fluids in a vital part of keeping match fitness and something I take very seriously... "I must admit, I'm starting to develop quite a taste for the local brews although Slats poured me a shocker; warm and flat, he said it was a traditional English ale. If you'll pardon my French, it tasted like piss. Turned out it was. I swear I'm gonna get him back". "My main memory of today's second one-day international is the dressing room after the match. The ghetto blaster on full bore belting out 'Khe Sahn' and 'Bound for Glory' while the VB flowed and the boys cut loose. Looking around at the wild scenes I couldn't help thinking: Imagine if we'd won".	"Imagine if we'd won"
	"There's no denying the Aussie team likes a drink. Some would say a little too much".	"On the team bus this morning there were more than a few seedy-looking faces. I think a few of us overdosed on the old tonsil varnish last night. There's no denying the Aussie team likes a drink, some would say a little too much. I remember having quite a lengthy discussion about this with Simmo once over a few beers. Basically he thought we all drank too much. I recall pointing to the four empty stubbies of VB in front of me and saying 'Simmo, that's all I've had. Four stubbies mate, what's the big deal?' Before he got to answer we were called down to breakfast and the subject was never raised again". "My memory of our clash with Northamptonshire is the wild scenes in the Australian dressing room. Cold Chisel blasting from the CD player, Tubs standing on the physio's bench shouting 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie', Heals belting out 'Under the Southern Cross' and everyone downing beer like it's going out of fashion. It was a pity the party had to end but you only get 40 minutes for lunch and we still had to bowl". When it comes to cricket though, it's a different story: "With the possibility that we may end up batting today I was keen to have a practice session and so I got a few of the younger bowlers to toss me a few balls before the game started. Of course, it's not possible to play a full range of shots on the team bus but at least it got my feet moving".
Back to top	"Now we all know a bit of 'verbal encouragement' is all part of the game and I can take whatever is dished out, but the abuse being directed at me was quite personal and vicious. To make matters worse, it was coming from Heals... "I can't see Heals ever being injured badly enough to miss a game. Over the years I've seen our number one 'keeper play with a broken thumb, dislocated fingers, torn cartilages. The only time I can remember us seriously thinking about not having him behind the stumps was in '95 in the Windies when he developed tonsillitis and couldn't talk". "As expected, the heat was fierce and conserving energy was an absolute necessary. So when Ramesh got onto an over-pitched Reiffel outswinger and dispatched it towards the boundary, I decided to give up the chase a little earlier than normal. Pretty much as soon as he hit it. To be honest, it was a rubbish ball and deserved to be hit for four anyway. Well, you should have heard Pistol give it to me during the next drinks break. He let fly with a stream of abuse that should have been reserved for the opposition batsmen. He eventually calmed down and I promised to run a little harder the next time he got hit to the fence, which, given his recent bowling, was sure to be pretty soon".	The Australian dressing room at lunch.

The quotations and pictures on this page are excerpts from the collection of Warwick Todd Diaries. I have only compiled them and created the page for the benefit of the fans. I, in no way, profit from this website.
'The Warwick Todd Diaries', 'Warwick Todd - Back in the Baggy Green' and 'Warwick Todd Goes the Tonk' are available from all leading book stores. Thank you for visiting my webpage and reading this.