Pass the Salt Please! That is the cry from the head trainer in the dressing rooms of the Australian T20 cricket team in Bangladesh. The creaking bones and cramping muscles of the aged line-up slowly settle in for their post match recovery rub, amidst the humiliation of a failed venture.
I am a true supporter of Boof and the Australian selectors picking the best team for the job, case by case scenario.
If the Bradgiatrics (Hogg, Hodge and Haddin) aged 40, 43 and 37 this year respectively are the best men for the job, then let’s go with it. It’s amazing they all share the same initials and the same seat on the bus.
It’s hard to lay blame at the feet of these selections, (as some national and world media would have it). All have served their country with pride and dignity, it is unfortunate that they will be escorted into the ICU ward now on a stretcher rather than enjoy the trimmings of an open back gown and slippers with a pretty nurse on their arm.
Let’s firstly dispel the international barrage of opinion regarding the age of the Australian cricket side.
Australians live by the creed, “age shall not weary them.”
Thousands mutter these immortal words every April, and we are proud to stand in a crowd, with our hand on our heart, and belt out the national anthem before watching the Pies and the Dons slug it out at the MCG.
Even this contest creates an affirmative argument for the notion of age in Sport, with Dustin Fletcher forgoing his commitments and marching duties with his World War II buddies, to once again pull on his beloved number 31 jumper for the Dons.
Understood, it may not weary him, but it wearies me!
Every time he runs toward the ball, or crashes into a pack of hard bodied youngsters, I feel like someone is going to be had up for assaulting a senior?
That’s probably unfair, and I will be copping heaps from my Essendon readers, but at least we don’t have to endure drawn out slow motion replays on the Channel Seven coverage.
All that said, I am getting away from the point at hand. Is the Australian cricket team too old? No.
Perhaps three of the T20 players in the current mix have passed their best before date, and according to the UK Media, “are over the hill!”.
That seems a bit harsh on Hodge, when he never really had a chance to stand on top of it, let alone be over it.
The selectors in their wisdom have merged experience with youth and it works on many levels, but unfortunately it hasn’t worked this time. It should make selection easier moving forward.
Don’t be fooled by the Twinkle in their eyes, it’s just the sun reflecting off their contact lenses.
Anyone on a first name bases with their pharmacist is too old!
And if their passport photo looks younger than they do in real life, they have to know its time to step aside.
Perhaps we could all take a lesson from the longevity of these players, “to love something so much that we just can’t give it up”.
It’s a fine line, knowing we are too old or not being able to remember how old we are?
If the motor skills are still intact, if the foot goes where the brain tells it to, then who knows, maybe we can all extend our time outside the nursing home a bit longer, enjoy some real steak before our teeth start getting stuck in the meat.
It begs the question, there is a seniors tour in golf, why not cricket? I’d pay big bucks to go watch names like Sir Viv, Chappell, Lillee, Akram, Botham, Lara, Border, Waugh, Warne, Garner, Ambrose, Gower, McGrath, Gilchrist and Hayden play.
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