Former Test opener Matt Hayden urged selectors on Thursday to be patient with Australia’s struggling batting line-up, while slamming the youth policy promoted by former selector Greg Chappell.
Australia have recently shown a worrying trend of batting collapses, prompting new coach Mickey Arthur to summon some of the team’s most experienced batsmen to a batting camp ahead of the Boxing Day Test against India.
And while Hayden said the batting camp had its merits, he said more faith needed to be shown to under-the-pump newcomers such as opener Phil Hughes.
“It’s a very hard place to really mark your game in Test match cricket as a learning player,” Hayden told reporters.
“(Australia captain) Michael Clarke has been the guy that’s probably done it the most successfully, and the Australian selectors were very patient with Michael as well.
“Because of the rapid turnaround of events from one tournament to the next tournament, it’s very, very difficult to actually learn and master your game.
“Consolidation right now though and not panicking is a very important part of the selections strategies.
“I think Phil is someone who is going to play a lot of Test match cricket for Australia.
“I think it’s not that far away.”
Chappell famously tried to implement a youth policy while coaching the Indian national team, which included stripping Sourav Ganguly of the captaincy and dropping him from the Test and one-day sides, before the batsman earned a recall due to poor form from his replacements.
Under Chappell’s watch as an Australian selector, experienced Test opener Simon Katich lost his Cricket Australia contract as selectors tried to inject more youth into the national team.
Hayden said the youth policy was not the way to solve any perceived batting crisis, preferring a system where first-class experience outweighed potential.
“That’s why a lot of guys at 28, 29 actually come into the (international) game,” he added.
“That’s why I don’t agree with Greg Chappell’s youth policy. I think it takes a long time to master your game and to learn about it.
“Your natural geniuses like your Ricky Pontings and your Sachin Tendulkars, they’re going to get runs because they are exactly what they are. And that is a complete genius.
“The rest of us have to scrap and work pretty hard at what we’ve got.
“For me, I don’t think (the batting camp) is the worst idea at all.”
Hayden also agreed with Indian great Rahul Dravid’s assessment that Twenty20 cricket should be restricted to domestic competitions, headlined by the lucrative Champions League competition, in order to clear up the international schedule.
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