Australian cricket rests with rookies

The cricket caravan travels far and wide at a dizzying clip these days. One day at the “G” the next at Wanderers.

It seems like only last week that the Australians were celebrating wildly among themselves in the hallowed dressing rooms at the SCG their ego saving, nail biting win over the Proteas (well, up until Lara commanded her Michael to leave join her for champers).

And yet this Thursday the protagonists will be each other throats again – at proper cricket that is.

I haven’t heard any local punters sigh that they are sick of it, the contest between numbers one and two in world cricket has been compelling through our southern summer.

It should be as riveting a few thousand kilometers west . The football seasons can wait a few months more until we sort out this ‘number one in the world’ issue, but can Australia really turn around a declining if not plummeting form line?

New men have been called to the trenches, some fresh faced kids with hardly a whisker to part and others who are nearing 40 yet have not walked into a Test match battle.

Both Philip Hughes (the wrinkle-less one) and Bryce McGain (he really should wear a beard) will mostly likely debut at Wanderers. There have only been two openers selected for the tour and only one specialist spinner, obviously done that way so competition between players for spots won’t distract them from their goals.

Very consistent selection philosophy from the four wisemen I must say. Whatever you do, DON’T challenge anyone for their position, it could make them nervous and therefore not play to their potential.

It’s a revolutionary system that is the direct opposite of ’survival of the fittest’, that’s been working so brilliantly since McGrath and Warne retired.

Bryce McGain might argue that since he is the only legspinner left standing in Australian cricket (yes, I know Cullen Bailly has just gotten back into the Redbacks Shield team after a long absence) so he is the fittest!

A debut at the batting paradise of a postage stamp in Johannesburg against the inform home batting lineup will a challenge of the highest quality for McGain. If bowling might be tough for one new man then batting may be a bit easier for Hughes, if he can get past the early bombardment from an attack that were too good for Hayden et al on Australian pitches.

Hughes is certainly being thrown in at the deep end when the selection of a tested veteran like Chris Rogers would have been far more sensible. No doubt Hughes is a great prospect and he may make the biggest step without too much trouble just as his opposite J P Duminy has done, but even given a couple of more years in first class cricket and maybe some Australia ‘A’ tours he would eventually get a lengthy Test career started.

If he fails in this series where do Australia go for openers? A hopefully fit Phil Jaques or a man with a mountain of runs on English wickets, Chris Rogers?

South Africa have made the unenviable decision to leave their vice captain on the bench. Ashwell Prince is a very good batsmen who has steadily improved at Test level to become reliable against all types of bowling on all varieties of pitch and yet his hand injury before the Perth Test brought forth a debutante who has taken to Test match cricket like a research scientist to a carbon emissions project.

Australia once boasted of such great depth that Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist, Stuart MacGill, Brad Hodge and Mike Hussey could get nowhere near the first XI.

Times have changed, and the world champion mace may change hands as well unless the Australian rookies get their acts together in a real hurry.