Australian Test selectors have got it wrong

Ever since the retirements of our key batsmen, Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer and Damien Martyn since 2007, the Australian test selectors have promoted Simon Katich and Marcus North whilst continuing to persist with Michael Hussey, and not taking into account the long term future of Australian test cricket.

Our Test match winning era from 1995 to 2007 was created by the previous selection panels that identified the best young batting and bowling talent in Shield cricket and picked them to wear the Baggy Green Cap.

Australian cricket from the days of Sir Donald Bradman had a rich history of identifying the best young talent at Shield level and giving them a chance to play test match cricket.

Previous champions like Neil Harvey, the Chappell brothers, DK Lillee, RW Marsh, Richie Benaud, Bob Simpson, Bill Lawry, Keith Miller and Shane Warne to name just a few were picked at a young age and gave Australia at least 10 years of test match service.

Our current test selectors Hilditch, Cox, Hughes and Boon have taken their eyes off the ball by believing our test XI is the best nation in the world whilst forgetting that a successful test match winning dynasty is created by selecting a number of young batsmen and giving them as much test match exposure to allow them to blossom as test match hardened batsmen.

Lets look at the age of the Australian Test XI, which reminds me of the England Test XI from 1980 to 2002.

The England selectors, Ted Dexter, Ray Illingworth and Peter May picked seasoned county veterans who had the county runs on the board to play test cricket for England: Chris Broad, Bill Athey, Alec Stewart, Chris Tavare, Tim Robinson, Graeme Fowler and Graeme Hick.

Back in the mid 1980 to 1996, the Australian test selection panel (Greg Chappell, Lawrie Sawle, Bob Simpson, Dick Guy, Jim Higgs, John Benaud and Trevor Hohns) picked a bunch of young players to play test cricket.

Mark Taylor, David Boon, Dean Jones, Michael Slater, Warne, Glen McGrath, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, the Waugh twins and Ian Healy made their Test debuts when they were below the age of 25 years of age.

They were dropped from the side and when they were reinstated, they made the most of their chances again.

These players were brilliant servants of the Baggy Green Cap and they gave us at least 8 to 16 years of test match service. Their reflexes were fast and they had the positive energy to play attacking positive cricket.

When they failed, the selectors dropped them to Shield Cricket and when they regained their form and confidence, they were reinstated, and became permanent fixtures.

For example, Ricky Ponting made his test debut at the age of 21 in 1995 and he is our best number 3 batsman since Sir Donald Bradman and Ian Chappell.

Since Steve Waugh was appointed captain in 1999, the Australian test selectors changed direction in the selection of test batsmen.

Due to the on-field success, there was a cue of batsmen around the country putting their hands up for test match honours. Steve Waugh decided to influence the selectors by asking them to pick seasoned players who had a stint at test level for a period of time, got dropped, and had regained their form at test level.

Matthew Hayden, Damien Martyn and Justin Langer are examples of players who had a brief taste of test match cricket and were dropped due to poor form. When they regained their form, they got their chance and became permanent fixtures of the Test XI.

As a result of this policy, we continued to win games because McGrath and Warne were able to bowl Australia to victory from any position.

Since our World Cup victory in 2007, the Australian side has lost Warne, McGrath, Langer, Hayden, Gilchrist, Symonds, Martyn and MacGill to retirement and a loss in form.

The selectors decided to go with Marcus North, Brad Haddin and Simon Katich as replacements for Hayden, Gilly and Symonds.

With Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke being the senior experienced members of the Test XI, the selectors should really start to re-shape the batting order with the long term future of creating a winning dynasty.

The promotion of Shane Watson to the opening position is a master stroke. He is an excellent player of fast bowling and he reminds me of David Boon.

He needs to get into the action when the score is 0 for 0 to build an innings. If you look at his 20-20 performance for the Royals in the IPL, his game began to flourish when Darren Berry and Shane Warne decided to partner Graeme Smith with Shane Watson. From that day in 2008, his game began to develop on a positive path.

Watson is the type of player who can set an innings up for Australia and if you google Barry Richards’ name, have a look at Barry Richards’ batting technique – Watson’s batting technique reminds me of him.

Have a good look at his straight defensive shot. When I watch Shane Watson open the batting, I see a bit of Barry Richards and Gordon Greenidge in the way he bats.

There is a need for the selectors to undergo a succession plan for the future. Past selectors picked young talented batsmen who scored runs at Shield level to wear the Baggy Green Cap. They knew that young batsmen had to become mentally hardened test match cricketers by playing test cricket all the time.

Once they hit the 20 test match mark, most Test batsmen will begin to show their true abilities against the best nations.

With the Australia playing England on a 4 year cycle (every four years in the UK: 2005, 2009 and 2013; Australia: 2006-07, 2010-2011 and 2014-15) and India and South Africa every 2 to 3 years, there is a great opportunity for the selectors to play the young batsmen against Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Bangladesh and the West Indies to allow them to gain the confidence in their batting technique and mental approach to build an innings at test match level.

Test match cricket is a hard game where the gap between shield cricket and test match cricket is huge. If the selectors give the young batsmen a chance, they will rise to the challenge.

They will learn about shot selection on different wickets and their decision making skills will be put to the test.

Look at Tim Paine’s innings of 92 against India. Did he not rise to the challenge? His batting technique was tested and he chose the right shots to execute during his 92. This innings would give him the confidence and belief that he belongs at test match level and at the age of 25, we have a 10 year test match player for Australia.

Keith Stackpole and Ian Chappell held the strong view that a batsmen’s best years are from the age of 27 to 33. Hence, it is important for a young test match batsmen to make their test debuts before they turn 27 to allow them to gain as much test match exposure.

After a batsman hits 33, their game starts to wane and a batsman has to re-develop their game by playing within their limitations. A seasoned veteran like Tendulkar and Steve Waugh had to build an innings by working the ball for 2s and 3s instead of flaying the bowling to all parts of the ground.

Who remembers 1992? John Benaud and the Australian selectors dropped Dean Jones from the 1st test match against the West Indies. They promoted Damien Martyn into the test match line up. If you recall, they did not pick Geoff Marsh back in November 1992 because he was pass his prime.

If you go by these past selection decisions, it is about time for the selectors to drop Simon Katich for Phil Hughes. Would not it better for a player who has done so well over the past 2 years to bow out from test match cricket when he is on top of his game? Matthew Hayden bowed out of test cricket when his form was on the down.

Simon Katich has a perfect chance to bow out from test cricket when he knows he is not out of form.

In reference to Marcus North, I find his continued selection is the biggest joke in test selection history. He claimed the wicket of Tendulkar but his job is to score runs.

He can score runs against the lower struggling nations, but he does struggle against good quality bowling. He did well against the Poms last year, but I would not be picking him in my side.

Here is my Test Match XI for the 1st Test Match against England:

Shane Watson
Phil Hughes
Ricky Ponting (C)
Michael Clarke
Usman Khawja
Stephen Smith
Tim Paine
Mitchell Johnson
Peter Siddle
Ben Hilfenhaus
Doug Bollinger

Stephen Smith is our leg spin bowler and if you look at past successful Australian sides, a leg spin bowler is the key component in a winning side: Richie Benaud, Terry Jenner, Kerry O’Keefe, Shane Warne and SCG MacGill.

I would play Stephen Smith and bat him at 6. His batting technique is good enough for test match level and he reminds me of KD Walters.

He has a bit of an attacking flare in his batting and he is not afraid to play his shots.

He has the X-factor, and the past successful Australian sides always had an x-factor at number 6 or 7: Keith Miller, KD Walters, Adam Gilchrist, David Hookes, Gary Gilmour and Andrew Symonds.

This balanced Test XI will allow us to play four fast bowlers. The benefit of this line up is Ricky can use Mitchell as a strike bowler in 5 to 7 over bursts whilst using Hilfenhaus, Siddle and Doug ‘the Rug’ as shock and stock bowlers. These three bowlers can dry up the runs at one end or perform a shock bowling role.

Bollinger and Siddle can perform the shock and stock bowling role whilst Mitchell can just attack the batsmen from the other end.

You have to remember that we do not have Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist and Hayden to win the game off their own game. They had the X-factor and the selectors have to rebuild the side with young players who have the X-factor at this point in time.

If you look at other elite sports, a successful winning dynasty is not created by picking players to fill a role in the side for 3 to 5 years.

As I have mentioned earlier, a winning test match dynasty can only be created by picking a core group of young players and surrounding them with 2 to 3 experienced campaigners.

And, when 2 to 3 players retire from the game, the selectors bring in a young player who will fill the retired players’ shoes. The past West Indian sides under Clive Lloyd and our successful test era from 1989 to 2007 were created under this principle.