In times of crisis many ideas can be thrown up, some interesting and some downright “ludicrous”. Former Test batsman Dean Jones wasn’t always able to understand as a player how shooting his mouth off could be bad for the team.
Like the day he infuriated West Indies pace spearhead Curtly Ambrose by demanding the bowler remove sweat bands from his wrists during a Perth Test in 1992-93. Australia’s batsmen paid dearly.
This time it’s Australian skipper Ricky Ponting who is copping the aggravation after Jones suggested his fellow Victorian Shane Warne should come out of retirement to lead the Test side for two years until Michael Clarke slots into the role.
Returning from their failed Ashes campaign on Wednesday, Australia’s cricketers look drained and grumpy.
Fast bowler Stuart Clark could barely contain his anger at Sydney Airport when he described calls for anyone else to replace Ponting as captain as “ludicrous”.
Australia doesn’t need a band-aid solution like bringing the 39-year-old Warne, complete with the constant publicity surrounding his private life, back into service.
This is not the Pakistan team, with captains regularly getting the sack and then playing alongside the new skipper, causing factions to develop.
And as Ian Chappell pointed out this week, losing Ponting as skipper could also mean Australia’s all-time leading runscorer quits the team as a player as well.
Jones, whose stylish shot-making thrilled the MCG crowds at one-day level but never quite managed to dominate Test attacks as he might have hoped (despite a Test average of 46.55), could perhaps come out of retirement himself at 48.
Jones could lead an Australian side including recently retired Test players Justin Langer, Matt Hayden, Damien Martyn, Darren Lehmann, Adam Gilchrist, Warne, Jason Gillespie, Stuart MacGill, Michael Kasprowicz and Glenn McGrath.
And where would they play? In the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament, where dreams are made, and pots of money as well, for games that are 20 overs per side.
Meanwhile back in reality, the 34-year-old Ponting needs to improve tactically with his inexperienced side which has lost three of its past five Test series.
Five players in Australia’s Test XI in the fifth Ashes Test had played less than 20 matches each.
Australia need to look to the future, not the past.
Vice-captain Clarke, 28, has played 52 Tests and is being groomed for Ponting’s job in the next few years.
The timeframe for this major upheaval may be brought forward if Australia keep losing series, but that’s the plan and going back to the future to rely on an ageing former champion won’t help.
“I really think we’re getting past the stage of talking about Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath and Adam Gilchrist because that’s gone,” Australia’s chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said on Monday.
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