In January of this year I wrote an article looking at Cricket Australia, where I deemed them to be ‘infected by the Endemic Clandestine Cronyism (ECC) parasite’.
I highlighted in what I believed was a moribund jobs-for-the-boys organisation that lived in a vacuum ,believing that they had a “good year” despite emphatically losing the Ashes home and dropping out of the top four Test cricket playing nations.
There has been much criticism with the appointments of Pat Howard (who admits to knowing little about cricket) and Mickey Arthur (who is not an Australian).
Well, we can’t have our cake and eat it as well. Both of these gentlemen come to their positions free of baggage – they haven’t risen through the highly political state cricket caucuses where a wink and nod on the way up through to the senior ranks is very much the way.
They are not beholden to anyone and can do their respective jobs without fear nor favour, which is a pleasant change and can only be for the good of the game.
I do however wonder at the wisdom of having the captain and the coach also as selectors. To quote Roar writer Ryan O’Connell, “players play, coaches coach, selectors select”. Clearly these a three separate functions and need to be conducted independently of each other.
As David Lord has suggested – it places Michael Clarke in a most invidious position.
Three fulltime selectors working independently while taking advice and consideration from the captain and the coach is the only way to go.
Otherwise, sooner or later, accusations of player politics, cronyism and blind favoritism will cloud the captaincy of Michael Clarke and will bring into question the legitimacy of player, captain and coach selections.
Just a pass mark thus far for Cricket Australia.
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