We’ve been blessed over the years with cricketing greats who’ve played out not just careers, but almost lifetimes for this country.
We watched them go from young and cocky to old and grumpy. It was a great time in Australian cricket, in Australian sport.
But those days of watching the same team for eras, for now, are gone. This has to be accepted.
It created the greatest cricket team in history since the Invincibles, even when they were moving well into their twilight years. They were that good. It was a very fortunate set of circumstances.
Today, however, is a different story. We need to stop worrying about finding the next 10-year Test players.
We need not to find the next Invincibles but the next Mike Husseys. We need to look to seasoned operators who have toiled away in Shield cricket for a long time.
Granted Huss presents a very high bar, but the theory works not on ability but mindset.
Cricket success is as much about mental strength as ability. I would take a less technically proficient 33-year-old any day over a flashy 23-year-old who has walked into every next level since leaving school.
The fact is you will find that a guy getting his first chance for Australia at 30 is far less likely to throw away his wicket on a half-measured shot.
The ‘talking back’ and attitude problems that we’ve heard about wouldn’t exist if you had half a dozen seasoned players in the dressing room.
We all know how much we like to pull up people of the previous generation for any sign of entitlement. It’s what every generation has enjoyed doing since Grug Sr chastised his younger cave brother for complaining his mammoth skin coat felt scratchy.
This is not to say that young players shouldn’t get a shot. By all means give them a crack, but if they aren’t performing then send them back to try again. It’s not going to kill them.
Cricket is their life and they will work their butts off to get back in the team. If they give up then they weren’t the right people in the first place.
Bring the old guys back. Bring the guys back who live for every Test like it’s their last.
What a better way to build up the culture we came to know and love.
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