Does anyone remember that the third Test between Australia and India is starting this afternoon?
There has been endless comment about cricket in the past few days, but unfortunately it has been about the Australian team and where they are at the moment in light of four players being made unavailable for selection.
It doesn’t matter where you look – social media, newspapers, television and any other communication mechanism you can think of will have comments on the issue.
Not only has the decision to suspend four players from the next Test match sparked the debate among the cricket loving people of this nation and beyond.
It has also caused many people to comment on the way administrators, coaches, managers and selectors are communicating with their elite athletes to try and get the best out of them.
So, before I preview the third Test, a few brief thoughts from me on the situation.
Firstly, we all need to respect the fact that everyone is allowed to have their opinions about what they think is best practice for creating a team culture that enables a team to achieve its goals.
It has certainly kept the staff lunchroom at Cricket NSW busy with many different opinions being expressed as to how best to achieve this.
While expressions of opinions are healthy, before any of us judge the course of action undertaken, we need to remember that at the end of the day the only people that really know all the circumstances that lead to this polarising decision are those that are over in India living and breathing tour life.
A life that is very different to anything else one may experience and is very hard to describe.
I have commented before that the mens team is going through a significant transition.
I am sure a lot of you are familiar with the theory that successful and high performing teams will usually go through four stages to get to that point – form, storm, norm and perform.
When new team members come together, the whole team needs to find ways to continue to improve and evolve.
Maybe the team is in the storming phase. This doesn’t mean they are a poor team with poor team culture, it merely means the team is on a healthy path to the ‘perform’ phase.
So have your opinion, yes. But don’t judge just yet.
These things take time and after this third Test or better yet after we win the Ashes, we may all be saying that the suspension of the four players for one match was exactly what the team needed and the leadership group took a brave and necessary action in an effort to improve future performance.
Right, back to the cricket! On 31 January 2013, Cricket Australia announced a 17-man squad to tour India and of those 17, who do we have left to select from?
With four players ruled out due to suspension and two players because of injuries (Bird and possibly Wade) that leaves only 11 players from the original squad available for selection, with Haddin flying over to cover for Wade, making it 12.
While having 12 players is not ideal but it does give players such as Hughes and Cowan another opportunity to put some performances on the board with the bat and go a long way to securing a spot in the playing XI for the upcoming Ashes.
Another batter will have to come into the team at either five or six and the only real option is Steve Smith, a very good player of spin who will certainly be tested by some of the best.
The only other contentious part of selection for this third test is to decide what our bowling line-up will be.
Of course Siddle will remain and Clarke will be expecting him to take over from Pattinson and be the leading fast bowler.
Henriques will hold his spot having proved himself in the first Test with the bat, but no doubt he will want to make an impact with the ball this time.
We should see Lyon reinstated as the number one spinner. Personally, I felt that he should have never been dropped.
Plus isn’t the best practice any player can get is time in the middle? Starc will certainly be selected as the balance of the team requires another fast bowler to replace Pattinson.
This means that the selectors have to take another spinner if not two, depending if Smith is selected for his batting.
I feel that Maxwell will hold his spot ahead of Doherty due to his batting strength over Doherty.
Due to the Australians losing by eight wickets in the first test and an innings and 135 runs in the second test my belief is that Clarke will opt for more batting depth.
I don’t like Australia’s chances of winning this Test due to the Australians not having showed any improved capacity to be able to adapt their batting plans on a consistent basis to handle India’s spinners and put a decent score on the board.
Plus we need to see some kind of real game plan to get under the skin of the Indian batsmen.
If we can’t get them out, lets ruffle a few feathers seeing as we have two guys that bowl around 135km plus.
Irrespective of the result, I would hazard a guess that the most important outcome the viewing public wants to see from the Australian team this Test match is a contest, with the Australians digging in and fighting, fighting hard not to give up because it is all too hard.
As Michael Clarke said yesterday, it is an honour and privilege to represent your country.
The game doesn’t owe the players anything it is the players that owe the game. So let’s see that in their eyes!
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