You need more than MUSSULs to lead Baggy Greens
Roar Rookie By Viscount Crouchback, 14 Oct 2010 Viscount Crouchback is a Roar Rookie
- Tagged:
- Andrew Flintoff, Australian Cricket, Bryan Robson, Cricket, dunga, Ian Botham, Martin Johnson
What do Ricky Ponting, Ian Botham, Dunga, Andrew Flintoff, Bryan Robson and Martin Johnson all have in common? They are each a prime example of that fascinating sporting sub-species known as MUSSULs — Magnificent but Unsubtle Sporting Stars Unsuited to Leadership.
The odd thing about MUSSULs isn’t that they fail when placed in positions that require intelligence, guile and subtlety. No, the odd thing is that they are ever promoted to these positions in the first place.
Time and time again, we watch sports administrators – for the most part reasonably intelligent and rational men – place MUSSULs in roles for which they are patently ill-suited.
Mostly, this is probably sheer laziness.
Administrators watch a Ponting or a Johnson or a Flintoff perform heroics on the field and assume that, if placed in a position of leadership, the MUSSUL’s example will naturally rub off on his team-mates.
Often, also, the MUSSUL is the most celebrated member of the team and it is easier for administrators to appease the popular clamour to bestow the garland upon the head of the people’s hero than it is to row against it. The ECB’s decision to award the Ashes captaincy to Andrew Flintoff in 2006 ahead of the savvy, Radley-educated Strauss is the perfect example of this.
MUSSULs are fine in roles which don’t require much thought. They make superb sporting warriors. The MUSSUL will play on with a disclocated shoulder (Robson), a bandjaxed knee (Flintoff), chipped front teeth (Ponting) and he can even withstand an elbow to the mush without batting an eyelid (Johnson).
They make superb on-field captains in sports such as soccer and rugby where the power of example can be sufficient to lead a team and where a brief exhortation of “Up and at ‘em boys!” is often all it takes.
But other leadership roles place a much greater premium on sporting guile. The is true of captaincy in cricket, and true also of the positions of coach/manager in soccer and rugby.
Placed in charge of ten or fifteen men who are often psychologically different to the MUSSUL in important ways, and who often have scarcely an ounce of his talent, the MUSSUL tends to flounder. Baffled by his team, he falls back on “footie gee-ups” or dressing room rollockings.
We watch on with sadness as the MUSSUL turns puce with rage in the stand or unwisely attacks his struggling spinner in the press.
Which brings me back to Ricky Ponting.
I doubt there’s an Australian in the land who doubts any longer that Ricky Ponting is a bona fide MUSSUL. The charge sheet of sporting bone headedness is just too long.
We watch him make calamitous errors of captaincy – such as inserting England at Edgbaston in 2005 – and then, like a typical MUSSUL, draw the erroneous “lesson” that one must never, ever insert the opposition, which leads in turn to a howler like 88 all-out at Headingley ’10.
We cringe behind the sofa as he tries to ape Sir Alex Ferguson by using the press to wage psychological warfare on his opponents, but without even a tenth of the subtlety.
We note that, like many MUSSULs, he is obsessed with speaking fluently to the media but fails to discern when the media stuff is important and when it isn’t.
And then we read in horror as, in true 21st century style, a former team-mate (one S.K. Warne) logs onto Twitter and writes: “Sorry Ricky but what are you doing!”
Ricky, if you’re reading this, old boy, then fret not: as a MUSSUL, you are in marvellous sporting company. Some of the finest sportsmen in history sit alongside you on the sea-food shelf.
There is absolutely no shame in your position. But there would be shame in clinging on when you know you’re not up to the job. This captaincy lark simply isn’t for you – it’s time to do a Botham, hand it on to someone else, and get stuck into England this summer as one of the boys.
Then we can all sit back and have some fun watching you bat and watching Michael Clarke trying to turn himself into the new Mike Brearley.
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The Crowd Says (14) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
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- Andrew Flintoff, Australian Cricket, Bryan Robson, Cricket, dunga, Ian Botham, Martin Johnson
October 14th 2010 @ 5:07am
Kermit is a frog said | October 14th 2010 @ 5:07am | Report comment
Ponting is the unfortunate first Australian captain post McGrath/Warne/Gilchrist (toss in Hayden too).
Previous captains such as Tubby Taylor and Steve Waugh had shortcomings, but, were made to look perhaps better than they were.
Alan Border was well known for grumpiness, before that Kim Hughes disintegrated, and Greg Chappell half the time couldn’t be bothered leaving Australian shores.
Ponting may not be that bad.
The shame is the best natural leader and strategist perhaps never got the gig – Warnie.
October 14th 2010 @ 6:30am
Vinay Verma said | October 14th 2010 @ 6:30am | Report comment
VC,enjoyed the read. Captaincy is also about how you take the game forward. Ponting always plays to win and lately has been losing against England and India away from home. However off the field he has steadfastly championed the traditions of Test cricket. He has forsaken the riches of the sordid IPL and strives to restore the eminence of Tests.
He has been gracious in defeat and his embrace of Tendulkar and Dravid post match yesterday raised him further in my estimation. No one is bigger than the game and in this age of inflated self worth Ponting is a breath of fresh air. In a two horse race it is no shame to come second.
October 14th 2010 @ 7:59am
Rabbitz said | October 14th 2010 @ 7:59am | Report comment
Problem is we currently coming fifth in that two horse race.
At this rate we won’t even be in the running for the world test championship which is being mooted with the top four ranked teams to compete.
Ponting needs to step aside as captain to concentrate on being No.3. Michael Clarke should politely decline the captaincy as more of the same will not work. Who is left?
October 14th 2010 @ 8:12am
Vinay Verma said | October 14th 2010 @ 8:12am | Report comment
rabbitz,to answer your question there is nobody. Ponting will captain as long as his form holds at number three. Give him a decent middle order and bowlers to support Hilfenhaus. Ideally,bowlers that know where the off stump is.
October 14th 2010 @ 9:22am
Rabbitz said | October 14th 2010 @ 9:22am | Report comment
Vinay,
There you have it, in a nutshell.
Our bowling stocks are all but exhausted, in my opinion it is due to the insistance on batsmans paradise decks by the accountants running the show.
So where is the leadership needed to rebuild?
Both on the field and ‘in the sheds’. CA and the state association need to start building the next generation. The team need to lift.
Ponting is a great No.3, he needs to be doing that for some time to come, easing the burden on him would help. Alas finding a replacement captian could de-rail all of this.
As a long shot, could Watson step in as captain?
October 14th 2010 @ 2:30pm
EP - Rugbywits said | October 14th 2010 @ 2:30pm | Report comment
I think that if Ricky Ponting were to give up captaincy right now it should go to Simon Katich.
If Ricky were to keep it for another 12-18months giving it to Katich would be too late.
That being the case I believe the best thing to do it bite the bullet and get the job done now.
Katich is a tough grinding cricketer, but in the mind he is very fresh. He has skillfully juggled NSW duties in all forms of the game. He has been tough and efficient in the 4 over game whilst bearing the burden of trying to give new players a go, as is very regularly the case at NSW.
He thinks of ways to make the most of the talent available – such as his ‘split’ batting order while taking the NSW Champions league T/20 boys to the title.
Those are the qualities we need in our next captain.
One that can be tough, staunch and at the same time nurture the next group of talent coming through.
We can’t say who will be captain in 7-8years time like we could when we picked Punter, but a change is definitely needed all the same.
October 14th 2010 @ 8:12pm
Vinay Verma said | October 14th 2010 @ 8:12pm | Report comment
Rabbitz, I would not consider Watson for the job. He is on a roll as a batsman and let him be. I would however like to see him bat in the middle order(4-6) and get a specialist opener in..Khawaja or Hughes. Ponting has had his contract extended for two years so obviously he is keen to play and is fit enough. He was our best bat in India and remains one of the greats. I cannot see him playing if he is not captain. He could definitely do some things better as a captain.
Troy Cooley and Nielsen need to smarten up and do what they are being paid to do..coach.
It may be a matter of also getting some new and young blood in. The rebuilding has not been successful and we are crying out for someone to replace McGrath. Warne is irreplacable and we should scale down our expectations. Young O’Keefe looks a good bet and unless we play him we will never know. I think Hauritz has been given a good run.
I would not play Smith as our frontline spinner yet. He must play for North and be allowed to develop his spinning in the Test Match scene. He has proved he can take Shield wickets.
October 14th 2010 @ 9:24am
jiggles said | October 14th 2010 @ 9:24am | Report comment
ponting is the best man for the job right now. Comments above correct, taylor and waugh had once in a life time teams, ponting has just a good team in one of the most even test cricket scences in over two generations.
Test cricket hasn’t been this even since the 60′s. The man is still performing so keep him there, as there are no obvious replacements.
October 14th 2010 @ 11:28am
jameswm said | October 14th 2010 @ 11:28am | Report comment
Katich is the obvious man for the job.
He has a track record of toughness, innovative leadership and almost unqualified success. He is well respected and his spot is not in question – MClarke cannot boast those last two.
I think the leadership issues remain higher up and we need new selectors.
October 16th 2010 @ 7:21am
Lolly said | October 16th 2010 @ 7:21am | Report comment
James, North and Hussey’s spots are barely in question.
Where do you get the idea that Clarke’s is? Any player who is given the captaincy of the 20/20 side while obviously ill-suited to the format has CA wrapped around their little finger. His place is not under question.
They’ll drop Kat rather than Clarke first chance they get.
October 14th 2010 @ 12:39pm
Will said | October 14th 2010 @ 12:39pm | Report comment
Ah, the traditional talk about Ponting’s tactics after a loss.
Shane Warne should know better then to make comments over twitter, sadly, Warnie doesn’t have often think before he does.
I think Ponting is the right captain; we just need to get the bowlers and batsmen right.
Last time Australia lost 3 test matchs in a rown, way back in 1989, they then went on to regain the Ashes and they didn’t lose another test for about 12 or so test matchs.
All is not lost.
October 15th 2010 @ 12:22am
Walt said | October 15th 2010 @ 12:22am | Report comment
The thing I find most surprising about Pontings captaincy is that there are at least 4 men out in the field who could captain Test teams in their own right. So when I see Ponting unable to put enough pressure on batsman, make correct bowling changes or gee-up the team when the chips are down, I have to wonder where is Katich, Hussey, (occasionally Haddin) or Clarke getting in his ear? You would think with the amount of cricket brains on the field, that 3 or 4 of them would get together between overs and suss out what to do next. Instead I see Ponting hanging around at short mid-off chewing his gum and wondering how the game has slipped out of his hands again.
October 15th 2010 @ 2:29pm
Georgie McHugh said | October 15th 2010 @ 2:29pm | Report comment
The issue is not Ponting. Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh, both fantastic captains, each had both Warne and McGrath for virtually their entire captaincy careers. Pressure and potency, they are obvioulsy one of the best combinations evert to play the game. I confess that I thought Australia would do better without them (sporatically they have coped admirably). You cannot put pressure on any team, let alone the best team in the world by bowling two lengths and two sides of the wicket.
Ponting may have lost 5 series; but two of those are to the best team in the world, where in the most recent case his team, down on bowling, ran the best team in the world very close in two tests on wickets prepared to theiir strengths (Bangalore has had pace an bounce in the IPL). He has lost one series at home, to the best test team in the world at the time. Again periously close to winning that series 3 – 0. And he bounced back to win the series in South Africa. In the other case, he has lost to England away where he has won the toss twice out of ten games and come desperately close to winning both series.
On each occasion the issue has been the lack of penetration with the bowling. His tactics may have been different; but, I don’t accept that they were the reason that the team lost. Australia doesn’t currently have a genuine wicket-taking spinner at present, which is hardly surprisng given the retirement of two of the best that Australia has ever produced in close proximity and the reluctance of the selectors to pick a spinner and stick with him. Hauritz is not a wicket-taking bowler, which is not his fault; but, that is going to hurt your chances of winning a five-day game.
He is the team’s best batsman and regardless of Geoff Lawson’s view, whilst that is the case, he should have the right to chose how long he has the job.
October 15th 2010 @ 4:36am
MattyP said | October 15th 2010 @ 4:36am | Report comment
VC – never heard a knock on Martin Johnson’s (captaincy) leadership. Just judged on results alone, it is unimpeachable. Perhaps you don’t like his style, and yes I agree he’s not (yet) a great coach. But he led England to a Rugby World Cup, with some historic other victories along the way. What more did you want?
Have to agree with you on Ricky though. Too prone to poor decision making, which is fatal in cricket, of all sports.