Michael Clarke has finally emerged as a suitable captain of the Australian cricket team. Rather than a St Paul epiphany, his transformation has been in development for a while, and is not yet complete.
After the disastrous Ashes series of 2010 saw Ricky Ponting step down, the first on-field signs of a metamorphosis were in Sri Lanka, where Clarke scored runs as captain. It was a mixed bag of high and low scores in the context of an equally schizophrenic team: 23, 60,13, 6, 112 against Sri Lanka; then 151,2, 11, 2 against South Africa; 139, 22, 0 against New Zealand; and 31, 1 and 329 so far against India.
Several wonderful batsmen have failed to cope with the captaincy and their responsibilities as a batsman. Just ask Sir Ian Botham, Sachin Tendulkar and David Gower.
His 329 not out was exceptional for several reasons. Such an innings takes enormous powers of concentration, peak physical fitness and the ability to fight through difficult patches and after breaks.
Most impressive was that Clarke employed the proven basics of batting. He selected the bad ball to hit and then hit it along the ground. He was more judicious in his shot selection on and outside off stump. Long may it continue.
India was lack lustre in the field, with Kohli being the exception, uninspired as bowlers and lacking any real leadership. This does not reduce the Clarke innings.
As a captain, his bowlers have bowled cleverly. Again, they have been providers of a line outside off stump combined with a fuller length, more bounce, and deliveries that are hitting the top of off stump.
Off the field, the word is that Clarke has split with his manager, Chris White, and moved to James Erskine at Sports Entertainment Limited. If true, hopefully this will see improved sponsorship selection and less public talk by Clarke of personal brands. We all know that they exist. We just don’t want the Australian cricket captain to remind us with naff underwear advertisements and underperforming telco companies.
Now is not the time to get carried away. This same Australian cricket team capitulated to New Zealand less than a month ago. Rather, the lesson that on-field performance is the best response to critics should be absorbed tomorrow and throughout the remainder of the 2012 summer.
Nor can Cricket Australia rest on recent results. The board is still in denial, as evidenced by its response to the Argus Report. The players are being stretched across three forms of the game. Ticket prices are too high. The selection of fast food sponsors is out of step with society. The jury is out on Pat Howard and the invisible chairman of selectors, John Invararity.
The Australian team also still has several fundamental flaws. They do not have the indomitable spirit required to return to the top of the world rankings. The batting is fragile. Brad Haddin is dropping too many catches and being dismissed to wayward shots. Nathan Lyon does not possess the full package required of a Test spin bowler. He is having to develop the basics of his craft in the spotlight of the Test arena.
The batting, both top and middle orders, are fragile and unsettled. The top three are unproven and Khawaja needs to return to Test cricket. Replacements need to be found for both Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey in the next six months so that the incoming players can settle before the Ashes tour in July 2013.
Three fast bowlers and a spinner are not enough to dismiss good teams twice in a game.
My 2013 Ashes team would be:
1. Cowan
2. Another opener (Katich if no one steps up)
3. Clarke
4. Watson
5. Khawaja
6. Warner
7. Another keeper
8. Hilfenhaus (for his swing bowling)
9. Cummins
10. Pattinson
11. Hauritz
The backups would be:
Rogers, Marsh, and one other for the top three.
Christian for Watson.
Siddle, Copeland, Harris, Starc for the quickies.
Lyon for Hauritz.
Whatever the side looks like, managing the transition and rebuiulding that killer instinct will be the challenge.
Red Kev
Guest
Cooper not Ferguson, I knew who I meant.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Sure Warner can attack from six (6), but isn't the whole point trying to build a stable and long term opening partnership - why not just keep him there from now on. With the bit about Khawaja playing down the order to let him build up confidence, experience etc, that's fine, but you may as well just move him to four (4), it's not longer first drop which is the main thing and it lets Watson bat five (5) and thus have the valuable time off the pitch.
Red Kev
Guest
You know I wondered that too - I looked at his record and still couldn't work it out. I think they cited "inconsistency" (I don't know if there was a technique problem as with Hughes or not). North was following hundreds with ducks. The selectors preferred Ponting's method of following ducks with half-centuries.
OldManEmu
Guest
What did Marcus North do that was so terribly wrong? He seems to have fallen right off the selection radar. And good to see that the consensus at least on this thread is that Mitchell "the sleeve" Johnson has been consigned to the scrapheap. A sure predictor of a storming comeback. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
Yep haddin has failed with the gloves and this is unforgivable for a test keeper. And his batting has Batting has been full of illconsidered shots at inopportune times. Will cost lots against better opposition.
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
Im with you red
The Bush
Roar Guru
I think you'll find Watto is actually VC when fit - I could be wrong though.
Red Kev
Guest
Clearly you haven't read any of them closely enough. With Watson injured for the start of the India series started I would not have dropped Hussey - I have only posted that about 16 times so I can see how you missed it. Ponting deserved to go after the Ashes. He did no better in the 6 matches he played between then and the India series so he should have been dropped then too. Cowan and Warner to open. In form. Contrasting styles. Worth persevering with (I have also posted several times that players need at least 10-12 tests to find their feet and see if they are good enough). Both Marsh and Khawaja were in form and potential first drop batsmen but no player should debut in the most important batting position (even Ponting spent the first third of his career down the order). Hussey to no.3 (no point having experience if you don't use it to help the inexperienced players - plus he was an opener for most of his first class career). Clarke to no.4 (there is no way around it, he has to step up, he is the team's best batsmen, at least at the moment). Khawaja at 5, Marsh at 6. Hughes (who needs to work on his technique) and Watson (who needs to get fit) make eight batsmen to fill six spots. That is plenty. When Watson got fit Khawaja and Marsh would be evaluated on their performance and one would make way for the all-rounder to play at no.6. At the end of the summer I would "rest" Hussey for the other (Khawaja or Marsh) and keep Hussey as injury cover while blooding the two newer batsmen. If an injury crisis hit there are several players worthy of trialling, however none of them are worth elevating unless there is dire need. In no particular order Maddinson, Forrest, Davies, Lynn, Ferguson and even Kurtis Patterson would be justifiable gambles. Mitchell Marsh and James Faulkner are both better all-rounder options than Dan Christian if one was genuinely needed. If there was a genuine crisis you could do worse than using Klinger, Voges or Hussey (David) as emergency cover. I'd also have no problem recalling Ponting if after being dropped he was carving up the Shield bowlers in that situation. Being old doesn't preclude anyone from selection - Ponting's two years of pathetic form should have spelled his end, his age doesn't even register next to that. However succession and regeneration planning is only smart when two players (and important ones) are over 35.
jamesb
Guest
i've read alot of your posts. You want Ponting gone, along with hussey. Who are your replacements for those two, but also other batsman to look out for in case those replacements don't work out?
Dubble Bubble
Guest
I think they are waiting for Paine to be fit. They don't want Wade or some other coming in and getting off to a flyer and nailing the spot for the next ten years. If Paine isn't fit by the Windies tour someone else should get a shot. This continued selection of Haddin is getting silly. As for picking Hauritz. He is O.K ( I don't think he should have been dropped for the Ashes) but I think Lyon has already shown more promise. As has been said before you can't rate a spinner on how they perform against India.Other wise you'd have to say Warne and Murali were average too. As for Krezja ,why do people still mention him? He only got 8 wickets all that time ago whe the Indians tried to hit every delivery out of the park. When they took him a liitle more seriously he got nothing. Same result with SA. Krezja is at best a decent shield bowler, maybe.
Disco
Roar Guru
Fat chance.
Disco
Roar Guru
Don't follow Khawaja's performance too closely, do you?
jameswm
Guest
I don't think Khawaja needs more time in 1st class cricket. He's our best-performing Shield batsman over the last 3 years. He needs an extended time in the test team to find his feet, rather than getting dumped after every 1 or 2 tests. I think it's a confidence and self-belief thing.
Disco
Roar Guru
Spot on.
Disco
Roar Guru
Cricket Australia selectors will stand by Haddin irrespective of form just like they have with their other favourites. After all, the likes of Haddin, Ponting and Johnson are integral to the organisation's marketing.
Red Kev
Guest
Yes Khawaja got 65 and top scored in the fourth innings run chase at Wanderers (he also only got one single figure dismissal, in the same time frame Ponting got 5). What blind spot? High average - 3 seasons (okay so this season he's only played one match) averaging over 60 - check Big scores - a 214 in 2010/11 and 4 other hundreds in those 3 seasons (15 matches) - check Technique is very solid too (he's actually the most technically correct of any batsmen currently representing Australia unless I my evaluation is off). So what blind spot?
DHE
Guest
I love how everyone want to bring in the new guys all the time, then as soon as they aren't performing yell them out of contention. At the same time there is a massive blind spot on Khawaja-did he ever even get to 50 runs in a test? Looks to me like he needs a lot of time in 1st class, more so than Hughes even, who has at least some notable and important innings to his name. What's more Hughes has the best attitude I've seen to this, eschewing T20 to play county cricket in lieu of there being first class cricket on here in Australia, that in of itself is impressive to me. Hussey and Ponting have proved their worth in this series. And when Watson comes back from injury he should be straight in the side and should be in the middle order so we can get he most put of him as an all rounder. Hopefully in a year we can be in a position where we have Hughes, Watson, Clarke, Marsh, Warner, Cowan, Hussey, Ponting, Khwaja, Smith and more all batting well and vying for positions, that would be ideal. As for Lyon, he is not doing horribly or amazingly, I think Clarke is handling him very well and if Ponting was captain he'd be looking worse at this point. He needs to be persevered with but at the same time, he's never going to be brilliant, severe lack of alternatives though. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
Dubble Bubble
Guest
At the end of this series Haddin must go.
Red Kev
Guest
You can't have young batsmen put their name forward that fast. If the selectors bring a guy in on the basis of 5 good matches on the trot and that's it (like say Dan Christian) then they are stupider than ... well anything I can think of off the top of my head. Khawaja has 15 shield matches over 3 seasons at an average over 60 yet apparently isn't good enough to displace Ponting who has had 2 years averaging 33 (before the India series). And when he was brought in he was afforded only 3 matches then dropped then 3 matches then dropped. Are batsmen required to score a century on debut now to be considered? I'm stating the reality that (a) batsmen have to do more to impress than bowlers and (b) the only way any batsmen will ever get a go is if R Ponting or M Hussey are killed in a freak accident.
jamesb
Guest
Red Kev the reason why I said that the ashes is still a long way away, is because 12 months ago, I think james pattinson only really started holding his place for the bushrangers, while Pat cummins just started debuting for NSW in the 20/20. In other words, I don't think many cricket followers 12 months ago would've known very little about Pattinson or Cummins, yet all of a sudden they are hot favourites to spead head the attack against England. Lets hope that in 12 months time, you and i will talk about 2 exciting young batsman "Why do the selectors allow Ponting, Clarke and Hussey to hide behind Khawaja and Marsh?" No idea, than again its not the first time that i can't work out the selectors.