The arrival of Rodney Marsh in India to replace John Inverarity as a selector for the last two Test matches will be a morale boost to the beleaguered baggy greens.
The former Test keeper-batsman was a no-nonsense player and he’ll bring the same attitude to the selection table, joining skipper Michael Clarke and coach Mickey Arthur.
His first duty must be taking over the media conferences so cricket fans don’t cop quotes like these from Arthur.
“Usman Khawja and Steven Smith have got to come into reckoning at some stage,” Arthur said.
“We’d be silly if we didn’t think about the best top six combination.
“Whether it’s both Khawaja and Smithplay, whether one plays, or none play I’m not 100 percent sure, but they’ve got to come very much into our thinking.”
Or the axing of offie Nathan Lyon, first choice spinner since Sri Lanka 2011, and who took only one more Test than Shane Warne to capture 50 wickets:
“He has technical problems,” said the Australian coach.
“We have persisted with him because we put a lot of faith in Nathan, but there came a point when we felt he needed to be out of the team to sort out what we think he should be working on.”
Can any Roarer make any sense out of those two quotes?
Then there’s Shane Watson, is he returning home for the birth of his first child, or not. For the past fortnight that’s been an ongoing story, and now nothing.
To further cloud the issues, Don Argus, the author of the Argus Review that has caused so much controversy and bitter debate, has proudly predicted Australia is on track to regain the world number one Test ranking by 2015.
How can he possibly say that after two serious floggings?
Argus is rightfully rated one of Australia’s most successful and astute businessmen, but business acumen and what happens in the middle during a Test match are hardly in sync.
There’s one thing about Rod Marsh he won’t sweep anything under the carpet, he tells the facts warts and all.
Now that will be a breath of fresh air.
lance
Guest
Rod Marsh will destroy the aussie cricket team just as his arrogance did to sth australia...just watch
pj
Guest
oh, and greg chappel should know better. all he ever did was play cricket. so he shoukd tell the boys - 'just play man'
pj
Guest
hey red kev, like ya thinkin'. elitist people who create elitist 'think tanks' to solve a problem - re: aus cricket post warne/mcgrath/gilchrist etc, are much too 'educated' and therefore way too dull of perception, to allow these guys to be what got them in this side initially. that is the individual love and drive for this game. the countless hours practising and dreaming and living this game. that is what it takes to be great at any venture. this aussie team is much better than shown at present. please dont damn these guys. someone else is ******* with their heads at the moment.
Red Kev
Guest
While I was looking up the five wunderkids anointed in the Argus report I came across this gem: The five were unanimously picked by an elite nine-man panel, which was asked to nominate its squads for the upcoming major events in each format - next year's Twenty20 world championship, the 2013 Ashes and the 2015 World Cup to be staged in Australia. The Herald can also reveal how Cricket Australia employed a new formula called a ''player rating tool'' to help make its selections. The brainchild of CA's new team performance manager, Pat Howard, the selection exercise involved the national talent manager, Greg Chappell, the six state talent managers and senior Centre of Excellence pair Troy Cooley and Brian McFadyen. It seems Pat Howard has a lot to answer for with regards to selection too - break out the torches and pitchforks!
pj
Guest
hey red kev. pretty good side there. i am leaning towards the thought that problem is rooted deeper in the ground than just the playing roster. hey pat, you havent made them perform, youve made them deform. so pack your laptop and bag and get out while you only look half an idiot. to be top notch at any activity you first do the rudimentary training to aquire the skills. then once this is achieved you may then be free of compulsive thinking and perform without thought. all these programmes do is interfere with this natural process and therefore put thought into the activity of the individual. it can throw a mere fractional shadow of doubt in a cricketers mind and cause instant death - rattling of the stumps or the ball sailing over long on for a 6 stealing a defeat when victory was imminent. these boys will cane england. that is my forecast if you guys stay out of their heads and let them do what theylove and do best.
matt h
Guest
Well he might be able to come in and keep
Manoj
Guest
Yes well said Varun.
Julian
Guest
True they beat us in Hobart, but we threw that match away. They didn't win the series though. What's pleasing is that England are being comprehensively outplayed by their less fancied rivals. Early days though I concede.
jameswm
Roar Guru
"I guess “Bacchus” can slip a sneaky slab in for the quickies post stumps so they avoid injury!" He he, I was thinking along the same lines...
Grover
Guest
Ignoring the fact that NZ beat us in Australia...
Varun
Guest
Khawaja at any one time has had no more then 1-2 tests in a row, he got 70 in a record chase against the SA, got 40 run out next game and then dropped after the next game when we lost to NZ, compare that to others who get 15 games in a row averaging 30 and you will see that the kid hasn't had a fair crack at a test spot. Hopefully he gets one this time around
Whiteline
Guest
Red Kev, Spot on...brilliant!!
Varun
Guest
I wish that was the case but unfortunately khawaja is not being protected, but simply not getting descent opportunities to showcase his class
Varun
Guest
Well said Kev and fantastic analysis
Lancey5times
Guest
Khawaja is being protected from the Australian side in much the same way Hughes was protected from the South Africans. There's your answer Manoj ;)
pj
Guest
well, looks like my intended comment got edited out because it contained too many aterisks. i mentioned what marshie might say when he arrived in india. here is the watered down version, fit for children under 16. ' gday guys, looks to me like the ship is in order. pat, splendid job you're doing with the players performance. is that laptop really mine? ok clarkey lets grab a carton'
pj
Guest
good move. marshie will probably get over there and mumble something like this under his breath - what the **** have these ****** idiots done? ***** look at the state of this ***** team. stop ******* with these guys heads and let them play cricket. chuck that laptop in the ******* bin mate...... righto clarkey, lets get down to business - crickets a bloody simple game.
Matthew Skellett
Guest
Solving the conundrum won't be easy Khawaja has been fairly ordinary himself when he was given his chances -as far as the spinning dept goes CA has been sleeping at the wheel on spinner support and development -their own fault -but also the public Has to take a step back from expecting a fully-fledged Shane Warne to spring from the shadows -trial and error is the old ancient path we have to start down again and the sooner the better :-)
Manoj
Guest
Red Kev no one can really answer why Khawaja doesn't get an opportunity when he has clearly earned it. I am hopeful he gets his chance in the third test but lets hope that its a a proper run and not just for 1 games. Selectors need to treat him fairly. Also our batsman need to cultivate patience, then take it from there. You could not have a better example than how VJ and PJ batted, as if they had all the time in the world.
Manoj
Guest
Lets hope you are right