The parallels of the plight of the current Australian cricket team and the fall of the great West Indian cricket side are so alarming it shatters the hope that we will ever return to the top with any gusto ever again, unless of course the rest of the world falls with us.
There is no point blaming selectors or coaches or high performance units, the Australian cricket team did pretty well 10 years ago with a mediocre coach, an equally questionable selection panel and a smaller high performance unit team.
The problem is much deeper and systemic. Look no further than the massive deterioration of the grass roots.
A decade ago you could watch second grade matches in Brisbane that had glimpses of first class talent. On Monday night I was excited because I was able to find the time to watch the Tasmanian second innings in the Shield final, looking in hope to find the talent in the next generation of Australian batsmen.
Boy was that a disappointment, there was barely first class talent on display in a Sheffield Shield final and the batting techniques and temperaments barely would have cut it in second grade Brisbane matches a decade ago.
That’s when it hit me that we are well on the way to repeating what the West Indies have done, something that I thought was impossible because our system with high quality academies was failure proof.
The major parallel between the West Indian team in the 1990’s and the Australian team now is that Michael Clarke. Basically the only world class batsmen of his generation is carrying the team very much like Brian Lara did.
The supporting casts are also similar, the dependable lefties, Lara having Chanderpaul while Clarke has Phil Hughes until Shaun Marsh to gets back to form and the power hitting openers in Chris Gayle and David Warner to name a few.
And we all know why there were basically no other world class batsmen to support Lara?
Basically, cricket became less compelling to the best young athletes of the Caribbean. The tall ones tuned to basketball, inspired by West Indian NBA great Patrick Ewing. Now the tallest player in the squad is a batsman.
The fast ones turned to athletics, and others turned to football as the world game expanded strongly through the 90s.
It’s plain to see Australia’s best athletes have cricket fourth or fifth in the pecking order behind the four football codes. Primarily because over a thousand footballers can get paid the salary of the top 25 Australian cricketers.
This wasn’t the case in the 1980s when cricket offered an equal better career choice for our golden generation.
Now this is not the case. Michael Clarke, who apparently was a promising footballer, is an exception to the rule.
The other grass roots problem is the competition format for cricket which has not evolved with the faster paced modern society.
Hundreds if not thousands of talented cricketers have abandoned the sport over the past decade because cricket is still primarily played in the same format as was the case in the 1890s, that is on Saturdays for six hours in the blazing sun in a boring two-day format.
It’s absurd that this is the case.
The key is that ex-cricketers haven’t stopped loving the sport, it’s just that the summer Saturday tradition now doesn’t fit as well with modern society.
I’m certain a whole generation of cricketers would come back to the sport if mid-week twilight / night T20 competitions were formed across the country.
So my solution to stopping the Calypso-like decline in Australia? Cricket Australia should look no further than investing in floodlights at cricket grounds across the country and lobby hard for daylight savings in Queensland.
These competitions can then build pathways to an expanded professional national T20 league which can be as attractive as a footballing career for our nation’s best athletes.
To be honest I think it is the only solution to stopping the decline properly. Which means it’s up to the Cricket Australia board, not the current coach or high performance unit.
vikramsinh
Guest
thats how in india people thinks about cricket and not hokey or other sportsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
vikramsinh
Guest
I think u got bit wrong..... its not about money but living to earn money and to earn money for living is difference and of course just think how children's pick up sports ? just switch on TV and its NBA NBA NBA not cricket at all................
vikramsinh
Guest
England might struggle.
Varun
Guest
It would be SA, Eng, Aus, Ind
Amith
Guest
+2, his best facet is his concentration and i love his unorthodox technique
Amith
Guest
This is a over reaction, we are at present number 3 in the world behind SA and England, not number 8
Max Weber
Roar Pro
Right in the sense that Clarke carries the team the way Lara did for WI in the (late) 90's. The reasons underpinning this are completely different to the reasoning in your piece, however- the best athletes didn't just start playing basketball instead of cricket, that's ridiculous. WI's golden generation, of which Lara was the last, simply set the bar ridiculously high and now a more modest generation of players are struggling to live up to their predecessors. Australia's own golden generation included some of the best cricketers of all time (Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist, Ponting, Hussey, et al) and that's an act that can't be followed. Granted, CA should have seen the signs and begun preparing for their inevitable departure much earlier, and the mess we're currently in is partially their fault, but fundamentally the talent just can't match what came before.
Brendon
Guest
So your answer to fixing our cricketing issues is to play more T20 and wait until Shaun Marsh comes back into form? This is a clear over reaction, Cricket is still in the top two sports in the country, I think you will find that a lot of the West Indies problems stem from the infighting of the board and the financial situation the country is in. Aussie cricket has, if you hadn't noticed some pretty decent bowling talent at the moment, and the batsmen will come, it's just a lull, we have Burns, Silk, Khawaja, Hughes on the scene, all have plenty of potential. Just be patient, we've just come off the best/second best (depending on your point of view) team the world has ever seen and people who thought that it would last forever are just unrealistic.
Vikramsinh
Guest
Chanderpaul/ hughes just see what they did in india
Vikramsinh
Guest
No. no way CA got some mature peoples and they dont got NBA
Nick Richardson
Roar Guru
+1
Trev
Roar Rookie
Either way he showed he can play the role.
Disco
Roar Guru
+1 Comparing Hughes to Chanderpaul was ridiculous.
david de jager
Guest
Just a few things to point out, there is still very tall players in the west indies, Jason jolder 6.7, carlos brathwaite 6.6, delorn Johnson 6.5, Shannon Gabriel 6.4, kevin mclean 6.4, Shannon cotterel 6.4, all of them young fast bowlers, the major problem with the windies that if they have talent they do not harness that talent, they do not enhance that talent, which means they never mature into good players, look at marlon samuels, only now at the age of 32 is he really maturing. And then a major factor is discipline, discipline in batting bowling etc. and that is what a lot of young players don't have. And lastly, lets be honest Chanderpaul is a legend, look at his stats, to compare him with hughes is a disgrace to a legend!
Nick Richardson
Roar Guru
Lets hope not.
Nick Richardson
Roar Guru
Don't know if he told to play like that, or a future smart cricket that learns to read the game properly.
Trev
Roar Rookie
Played his role when all the home team needs too do is draw to win the Shield.
Nick Richardson
Roar Guru
I agree that Chanderpauls name should not even be put next to Hughes name. I really hope Hughes can prove me wrong though.
Nick Richardson
Roar Guru
He could steady the batting in the future. The Australian line up struggles to bat for long periods of time. There are plenty of quick scoring players in and around the Australian team.
Pope Paul VII
Guest
Well Australian cricket is certainly riven with factions, much like the island states of the West Indies. The West Australians - Invers, Mickey Arthur ( honorary ), Rod Marsh The selectors on the team - Arthur and Clarke NSW = Baggy Green ( allegedly ) the rise of the Victorians and Tasmanians A limit on Qlders No Sth Australians unless we can avoid them policy