Forget the buzz words and the dithering, James Sutherland, appoint Steve Rixon as the new Australian head cricket coach now. Obviously Sutherland and his Board haven’t learned anything from the Argus Report that demanded Cricket Australia show positive leadership.
Old habits die hard.
Yesterday, in trying to explain the head-coach delay, the Cricket Australia boss said: “This is a pivotal role and we are thinking globally and also outside the square”.
Why bother. That’s bollocks, James. The answer is right under your nose.
Rixon is the proverbial standout option, with Tom Moody an alternative. But certainly not Justin Langer, and most definitely not Dean Jones, as have been mentioned in passing.
Nor Mickey Arthur, the former South African coach, who took the Proteas from the depths to become world number one. Nor Kiwi John Wright, who has had successful stints with his national side, and India.
Wright is a case in point, following the mixed success of Kiwi Robbie Deans as the Wallabies’ first foreign coach.
Deans’ 57.4% success rate (31 wins from 54) trails:
* Rod Macqueen’s 79.1% (34-43).
* Alan Jones 76.67% (23-30).
* John Connolly 64% (16-25).
* Greg Smith 63.2% (12-19).
* And just behind Eddie Jones’ 57.9% with 33 wins from 57.
Not flash, but in all fairness, the Wallabies are more to blame than the coach.
Just as interestingly, Pat Howard, the former Wallaby and recently appointed cricket’s GM of team performance, was a party to Deans’ appointment during his previous stint with the ARU.
Howard’s newest appointment came from left field. He’s the first to admit his cricket knowledge is limited.
So how on earth did he get the job?
Captain Michael Clarke and the selectors will answer directly to Howard with his “precious little knowledge of cricket”. That promises some rivetting dialogue in the future.
But Howard answers only to James Sutherland. What a farce.
Magnified by the fact Cricket Australia’s still dithering over appointing a new national selection panel. Andrew Hilditch remains in the chair.
Another farce.
And a third farce is looming large: a different head-coach for Test and limited-overs.
Heaven forbid.
The Australian teams are already over-governed, with a head-coach, a batting coach (Langer), a bowling coach (Craig McDermott), and a fielding coach. Steve Rixon was the last and by far the most successful.
Throw in team manager, physio, doctor, training instructor, physical fitness mentor, statistician, and general dogsbodies on the fringe, and there are as many Indians as Chiefs.
So cut the mustard, James Sutherland.
* Appoint Steve Rixon as head-coach for both Tests and limited-overs.
* Appoint Rod Marsh as chairman of selectors, and ignore the Argus Report that suggested two part-time selectors.
* Appoint Geoff Lawson, and Darren Lehmann, full-timers even though Lehmann is contracted to coach Queensland. This is in the national good.
* Ignore the Argus Report that said the captain and coach must be selectors. Not only are five selectors too top heavy, but the captain-coach suggestion is fraught with danger.
* Selectors select, players play, and coaches coach. They never ever mix.
The ball is airborn, so it’s high time for James Sutherland and the Board to catch it and get on with rejuvenating Australian cricket.
That’s why they were appointed in the first place.
But dithering wasn’t part of their brief.
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