Cricket: Watson's antics childish, says Lawson

Former Australian quick Geoff Lawson says Shane Watson will regret his actions in years to come. Photo / Getty Images

MELBOURNE - Former Australian paceman Geoff Lawson says Shane Watson behaved like a four-year-old when celebrating taking Chris Gayle's wicket and will be embarrassed about it in years to come.

Watson was the fourth Australian player disciplined by the International Cricket Council (ICC) during the 2-0 series win over the West Indies, for his over-the-top antics on day four of the third test at the WACA Ground.

Captain Ricky Ponting has vowed to address team behaviour before the first test against Pakistan, at the MCG starting Boxing Day, after Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin were fined in Perth for bringing the game into disrepute, and Doug Bollinger was reprimanded in Adelaide.

The ICC suspended the West Indies' Suliemann Benn for two one-day matches for his clash with Haddin and Johnson.

Lawson labelled the Australians "childish" for their recent on-field conduct and said Watson would one day regret his overblown celebrations, which cost him 15 per cent of his match fee.

"That was like a four-year-old jumping up and down having a tantrum, wasn't it?" Lawson told radio station 2KY.

"He's always a bit petulant when he's given out, he's the man who's always going for the referral straight away and used them early in the dig.

"There's a lot of that about what Shane does, and that was a bit of an unusual display.

"If he looks at that in a few years time with his kids, he'll say `That was embarrassing. Why did I do that?"'

Ponting will address the issue in the team's pre-match meeting later this week, but Bollinger said on Monday he would try to avoid repeats of him kicking the pitch in disgust when he had an appeal turned down.

"I'll put my hand up. What happened in Adelaide wasn't the right thing to do and I'll make sure I won't do that again because I don't need it on my shoulders, people thinking I'm a bit of a spoilt brat," he said.

"I'll try not to cross those lines."

Bollinger expected Australia to be better behaved against Pakistan and said there was no reason why curbing outbursts would have any negative impact on performances.

"It's not in our nature and I'm sure the blokes will be told to back right off it and not (let it) happen again because it's not what the fans want, it's not what we want," he said.

"We don't want a bad rap for Cricket Australia (CA) or cricket in general. It shouldn't happen again and I don't think it is a part of Australian cricket."

CA claims its players' behaviour has improved since 2003, when Steve Waugh's side devised a code of conduct following Glenn McGrath's ugly spat with Ramnaresh Sarwan in the Caribbean that year.

CA spokesman Peter Young said chief executive James Sutherland supported Ponting's plans to remind players of the code, but had no plans to seek a meeting to discuss the issue.

"James has a lot of faith in Ricky's leadership and supports his move to sit down before the Boxing Day test match," Young said.

Young said CA was mindful of the team alienating fans through poor behaviour, but said internal research showed the public's approval of the team had grown over the past six years.

"While there is the odd bad day - and there was the odd bad day in Perth - for the length of the journey the players' behaviour has been good since they made the pledge to play hard but fair," he said.

"The public's view has improved quite sharply since 2003 and we're always trying to get it right, as there's no excuse for not getting it right."

- AAP