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If you truly believe that the way for the current Australian cricket team to progress is to abide by the ‘pick and stick’ mantra then you have to resign yourself to poor performance from young players.
Failure is inevitable. The idea that Usman Khawaja, Phil Hughes, Ed Cowan, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc and Matthew Wade are going to excel in their first outing against every single side they play is pure nonsense.
There are plenty of false dawns when it comes to young cricketers. Think Phil Hughes’ amazing away series against South Africa at the start of his career in 2008/09, or David Warner and Ed Cowan’s (relatively) bright start to their careers.
But 10 games isn’t enough to get used to the rigours of playing different Test nations in extremely variable conditions and create an experience platform for sustained success. 20 isn’t either.
The two English players the Aussie team is having trouble with at the moment are Ian Bell, arguably the most in-form willow-wielder on the planet, and James Anderson, who is challenging Dale Steyn for the mantle of cricket’s top quick bowler.
If you think back just a little while you’ll remember that these two players used to be laughing stocks of their trade.
Everyone remembers jeering Ian Bell off the pitch when he fell for yet another low score in the 2005 Ashes series in England. He was just about the only Englishman in the land having a horrendous time, averaging a tick over 17.
James Anderson, before becoming the best skin-flinger in the world, averaged just a tick under 40 for his first 15 Tests. What’s more, he faded in and out of Test relevance more times than Julia Roberts has since Erin Brockovic.
Had England applied the infamous Roarer phrase: “He’s not cut out for Test cricket,” and let these two players wither in County cricket like poor Mark Ramprakash then we wouldn’t be watching Bell and Anderson tearing the Aussie side to pieces now. Now that I mention it, anyone got a time machine?
Instead England endured a horrific period of stop-gap players (Ronnie Irani anyone?) and the leanest of results while they developed a truly world-beating squad.
Only now, after years of humilation at the hands of the Aussies, and the South Africans, and the Indians, and most others, do they finally get to laugh the loudest.
And if the Aussies want to have a good belly laugh at the expense of a good cricket team they have mercilessly crushed, then they too should expect a lean trot of results.
It is so obvious that novices won’t be as good as the finished item, so why should we expect them to be? Time will improve them, but for right now there shouldn’t be an expectation for this squad to beat the peaking South Africans and English.
So if you’re a supporter of installing Usman Khawaja and Phil Hughes into the top order, or a fan of James Pattinson and Mitchell Starc, then you’ll also have to lower your standards from five years ago.
Look at Ian Bell now, however, and you have a taste of what could be for your mate Uzzy when he turns 31. Look at Anderson and know that James Pattinson could be that good or, considering the absurdly successful start he’s had to his career, better than the lanky Lancastrian.
It all comes with the territory of a ‘pick and stick’ mentality.
I know losing doesn’t sit well with Australians, so aside from everybody switching off the network showing the cricket, blocking all interweb access to Cricinfo and jamming your thumbs in your ears and yelling “lalalala” whenever the highlights for the cricket comes on the telly, I don’t know what else to suggest other than to increase your patience threshold.
There should be no expectation that this raw team will win every Test, just as there should be no expectation for young players to score off every ball.
Dismissals and losses help these youngsters learn, and both those with bats and those with beers in their hands need to have the patience to accept that improvement will take time and exposure at the highest level.
And if you can’t accept that, then start writing your “Ring up Ricky” and “Kome back Katto” signs in preparation for a long Australian summer.
Follow Paddy on Twitter @PatrickEffeney
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