Grace off the pitch as important as class on it

Far be it from me to suggest what the pre-match regime of a professional sportsman should be. But I'm sure a nightclub isn't the place Somerset's coach Andy Hurry would have wanted star wicket-keeper batsman Craig Kieswetter to be until three in the morning, the night before travelling to Southampton for Twenty20 finals day today. This doesn't striker me as ultra-professional - especially given Kieswetter's form since he was the man-of-the-match in the Twenty20 world cup final in the West Indies back in May. Fans can except the odd drunken escapade if the performances on the field of play reflect the celebratory nature off the pitch. Kiewetter has not been putting in those kind of performances. Since his 63 against Australia in the final, the South African born player has disappointed in all forms of the game. He averaged a poor 13.8 in the five match one day series with Australia, and then 17,33 in the three match international series against minnows Bangladesh. He has shown a marked lack of patience and this means he hasn't been considered for the test squad and he is hanging onto his place in the one day squad by his fingertips. His form for Somerset has hardly been exemplary when he hasn't been on international duty, both in the four day form of the game (where he generally bats at number six as he rarely sticks around long enough to build a big innings at the top of the order), limited overs cricket and the domestic Twenty20 (where his captain Marcus Trescothick stole the limelight by being the competition's highest scorer this season).
Now all of this will be forgotten if Kieswetter puts in a couple of matchwinning performances in the Rose Bowl, all of this will be forgotten. But in my opinion, it is not appropriate for professional sportsmen to be going out and getting drunk on a regular basis in the middle of as season. It is one thing enjoying the off-season (which cricket enjoys quite a lengthy one of) and having a few drinks after a win where you and your teammates have a few days break thereafter. But it is the responsibility of individuals to set an example to youngsters. Even the best sportsmen in the world, be it Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher or Bjorn Borg, has to hone theor abilities to become the best and ensure their greatness. Kieswetter is not one of these, and given his current behaviour, is never going to even get close. He has been given a talent, which at the moment he is doing his level best to throw away. This is the ugly side of sport, along with constantly being in the headlines for the wrong reasons.
The issue is not what professional sportsmen get up to in their personal life. That is up to them, as long as it is within the bounds of the law. But these people are in the public eye, and to some extent are role models. It is so important to be at the peak of physical fitness - and this even applies to a sport such as cricket. Gone are the so-called 'halycon' days, where sportsmen (football players especially) could go out and get 'bladdered' the night before a big game and go and put out a quality performance the following afternoon. Sport has moved on since the 1970s and 1980s. There is much more professionalism in the modern era, and sport is more about physical fitness than skill than it used to be. Take the physique of the best football players in the world - the likes of Didier Drogba, Cristiano Ronaldo and Steven Gerrard vaguely resemble machines as opposed to humans, while the likes of Jan Molby and Neil Ruddock would probably not have survived in the modern era of football.
The case of Paul McGrath is quite prescient here. During the peak of his career, playing for Manchester United and Aston Villa for a combined 14 years, he constantly battled alcoholism. Occassionaly, he performed while still under the influence of alcohol. Such a situation would never be seen nowadays at the top level of football, and the likes of Tony Adams and Paul Merson have also battled alcohol, drug and gambling problems while still performing adequately on the pitch. The legends and legacies of the likes of Stan Bowles and Rodney Marsh are written into football folklore, but this is a different era, a different epoch. When the stars of sport step out of line, it very rarely stays off the front pages of the paper. In the last week, England and Spurs striker Peter Crouch has seen his personal life collapse around him, and the indiscretions of Ashley Cole, John Terry and Tiger Woods, and Jonathon Woodgate and Lee Bowyer for entirely different reasons have been well documented in recent times and the more distant past. The newspapers love to see those in the public eye fall, be they sportsmen or actors, and the subjects are usually more than happy to oblige. They will also go to great legnths to keep themselves out of the tabloid headlines. In 2002, a year long injunction preventing newspapers from naming the subject of an adulterous affair was lifted. The majority were distinctly underwhelmed when said subject was named as the then Blackburn Rovers captain and former England under-21 captain.Garry Flitcroft, but it shows the importance of reputation in professional sport.
Craig Kieswetter is unlikely to migrate to the front pages. But if his troubles with the bat continues, then serious questions have to be asked about the effects of his lifestyle on his performances in the middle. That lifestyle will be overlooked, however, if he starts to find some form.