By Jim Morton
January 1st 2009 @ 1:14am
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Buck calls for overhaul to systemic problems
Former coach John Buchanan believes Australia is suffering from “systemic” problems but sees a major upside to the dramatic slide.
Buchanan said series losses to India and South Africa had delivered a “fantastic opportunity” for a complete system overhaul that has been long warranted.
The man who twice took the world champions to record Test match winning streaks revealed serious problems have been ignored which have led to the current doldrums.
Buchanan said it was too simplistic to blame a transitional period following the retirements of modern greats Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Adam Gilchrist as well as the losses of other stalwarts such as Jason Gillespie, Justin Langer, Stuart MacGill and Damien Martyn.
“There are broader issues there,” he told AAP.
“They’ve been overlooked for a long period of time and now we’re starting to see the outcomes of those.
“It’s systemic and that’s been the case for some period of time but while things were going well people chose to ignore them.”
Buchanan has been unhappy with the level of negativity surrounding the Australia’s performances and is reluctant to speak in specifics about the problems in the game around the country.
But he revealed he tried to have several issues fixed while he was in charge from 1999-2007.
Buchanan admitted development, coaching and talent identification were just small pieces of a big, complex puzzle but were among areas needed to be improved.
“I think the real upside here, the real upside for everybody is that it’s a fantastic opportunity for administrators, coaches, players to actually stop and look at what’s actually happening, and not just the immediacy of the results,” he said.
Buchanan said Cricket Australia, which appears to have rested on the laurels of its team’s great successes over 13 years on top of the world, needed to be committed to a review which may only result in a long-term turnaround.
“It’s not going to be an overnight fix,” he said.
“These are the outcomes of things that were obvious five, six, seven years ago.
“There were certainly a number of things I saw and thought should have been addressed but for whatever reason that wasn’t to be.
“It’s a complex process to get a solution but it’s an absolute outstanding opportunity to begin to get things in place for the future.”
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sheek said | January 1st 2009 @ 10:07am | Report comment
I’m not a fan of the computer-closeted world occupied by Buchanan. It removes natural intuition & mentoring from the equation, which I still consider essential requirements.
That said, I agree with Buck’s broad statement. Many of Australian cricket’s woes are systemic & also structural. I also agree, all the stakeholders have a wonderful opportunity to implement the change they have been reluctant to make while the team was chugging along successfully.
For example, I’ve argued the up-&-comers need to be exposed regularly against the very best players, & learn from them, by appearing with & against them in Sheffield Shield. So a way must be found for the country’s best 15 or so cricketers to appear in at least half the SS program, & similarly the one day comp.
Also, the computer might have to be chucked away in some instances. Every player is an individual, with his own style & thought pattern. Trying to turn players into clones of each other simply doesn’t work.
Some players can have their technique improved, while other players should be simply left alone, but given thought skills on how to approach their batting or bowling. Again, everyone’s different. What works for one person might not necessarily work for another.
Cloning & other homogenous activities should both be banned.
When I followed cricket in the mid-70s, every shield team had at least 5 specialist batsmen & 3 pacemen. But the batsmen were a mixture of dashers & rockwallers, technicians & touch players. The pacemen also had variety, from out & out fast men to excellent swing bowlers.
There was also at least one allrounder, mostly batting ones, but the occasional bowling one, in each team.
But here’s the rub - each state could call on at least one quality frontline spinner, often two. And always invariably, there was one leggie & one offie, or the odd leftarmer for more variety. Australian cricket thrived, not only because of quality, but also because of diversity.
And the test men played for their shield teams almost every game, mentoring their young team mates, & testing the young guns in opposition sides.