The Australian selectors need to have a good hard long look at themselves. Just over two years ago, they made the unpopular and unjustified decision to drop Simon Katich from the Australian Test side.
Katich is in the top echelon of Australian first class cricketers in the last decade and was one of the most consistent batsmen during his tenure in the Australian side. His statistics back up this proposition.
Dressing room politics aside, Katich was a victim of the selectors’ decision to embrace a ‘youth over experience’ policy. The problem with that policy was that there were no young batsmen in the country at the time whose performances warranted selection.
The selection of Chris Rogers in this Ashes series represents a departure from the youth policy and the closest thing to an admission that the decision to drop Katich in favour of a youth policy was the wrong call.
Don’t get me wrong. ‘Blooding’ young players is key to maintaining team competitiveness in the long term. However, players still have to earn their baggy green cap. Batsmen, purely and simply, are judged by how many runs they have on the board.
The problem with Australian cricket at present is that very few batsmen in the first class (i.e. Sheffield Shield) arena are performing to a level which warrants international selection.
Despite this, the selectors have shown a tendency recently to elevate young players with modest first class records into the Test squad at the expense of more experienced campaigners. David Warner and Steven Smith have been two beneficiaries of this policy.
This author contends that a number of the younger Australian batsmen who have been parachuted into the Test side in the last 12-18 months have not deserved to be selected.
Most of these players have been selected based on their Twenty20 and one-day form, rather than Sheffield Shield form. Basing Test selection according to form in the limited overs format is the wrong approach.
The Sheffield Shield is Australia’s nursery for players to learn how to construct an innings and bat for long time. This fact, however, appears to have been lost of the current crop of selectors.
Players of previous generations had to display such attributes consistently in four-day cricket to just catch the eye of selectors. Mike Hussey had to wait a painstaking 10 years to get his crack at international level.
Many commentators criticised the selection of Rogers as a step in the wrong direction. Quite frankly, it is one of the few sensible decisions that the Australian selectors have made in a long time.
The selectors had no choice but to pick Rogers. He has been one of the most consistent run-scorers at the first class level over the past decade, both at home and abroad. Not surprisingly, he has repaid the selectors’ faith in him.
The selectors need to learn from this experience and choose the batting line-up according to ‘four-day form’, not one-day form.
If this means selecting more experienced players at the back end of their career because their four-day form warrants it, so be it.
ken oldman
Guest
Seems a shame to me that a article like this could only attract a handful of replies......might as well let the game just rot away for no one really is interested in coming up with ideas on how to revitalise the Shield so may it R.I.P.
peeeko
Roar Guru
i agree Chris, the whole theory is overblown.
Callam P
Roar Pro
It says a lot about the standard of Shield cricket that Ricky Ponting was easily the highest run scorer last season and when he was last in the test team he could barely make runs. The competition seems to be a long way off being world class.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I'm talking about when Warner was first picked for Australia. He hasn't actually been dropped since then, just missing games for off-field indiscretions, so his retention in the team is largely based on what he's since done in test cricket. Because of that retention in the side (in all forms of the game) he hasn't played much Sheffield Shield cricket since. Warner struggled to get picked for NSW in the longer form originally, being pigeon-holed as a T20 specialist, but when he finally was picked he scored quite a lot of runs for both NSW and Australia A and was averaging around 50 in FC cricket when picked for Australia's test side.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I think the whole "leading test players participating in most matches" thing is a bit overblown. This hasn't happened for probably 40 years. Even going back to the '80s, most of the test players might get 3-4 state matches a summer at the most. To get more than that you have to go back to when a summer's international cricket only involved tests, no ODIs or T20 or anything else. I actually think that the format for this season may work well. So many people have been talking about how we should "pick and stick". If that is indeed the best method, then playing 6 SS rounds prior to the first test is more important than playing concurrently with the tests. This will enable the test players to all be available for all six of those matches, raising the level of the competition, plus giving them all a chance to find some form. State players then largely playing BBL while the test series is happening only becomes an issue if you have injuries and have to change the team. But everyone knows that the next in line for that will be picked based on those 6 Shield matches played prior to the tests. I agree it's not perfect. But there is no way we are going back to the era when 5-6 tests would be spread over 4-5 months with FC matches spread throughout. So one way or another there has to be a compromise. We've had plenty of seasons of late where there have only been a couple of SS rounds prior to the first test and where the national team return home from another tour well after the visiting test squad has arrived, thus having less time to get settled than the visitors.
Statistic Skeptic
Guest
Warner mustn't have been - as he only played a single game where he scored 39 and 2. Khawaja's average was the highest of any Queensland batsman, as was Hughes' for South Australia.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I agree. I understand this story, and as it related to the Katich situation it was correct. But Hughes, Warner, etc were picked for the team on the back of having the best performances in the Sheffield Shield. So the argument doesn't really hold water here. The more seasoned veterans going around at the moment have terrible records unless you go way too seasoned. Katich and Jaques have both been scoring runs in the county season, but no matter what you think about experience, picking Jaques at 36 and Katich at 38 is not the way to go.
Statistic Skeptic
Guest
Just out of interest I pulled the Shield performance for those that did earn a baggy green (at least these were on the most runs and most wickets pages on Cricinfo): Batsmen: Rogers - 10 matches, 742 runs at 49.46 Hughes - 6 matches, 673 runs at 56.08 Haddin - 7 matches, 468 runs at 52.00 Faulkner - 10 matches, 444 runs at 34.15 Khawaja - 6 matches, 438 runs at 39.81 And in the bowling: Faulkner - 10 matches, 39 wickets at 20.33 Bird - 6 matches, 27 wickets at 20.55 Pattinson - 5 matches, 25 wickets at 18.32 Harris - 3 matches, 19 wickets at 22.26 Agar - 5 matches, 19 wickets at 28.42 Siddle - 4 matches, 11 wickets at 32.27 Starc - 2 matches, 7 wickets at 22.00 Lyon - 5 matches, 7 wickets at 71.42
ken oldman
Guest
Look I do not know how this could be done however today in big business if one division of the business is not performing and is dragging the overall profits down then the tendancy is to off load this ailing division.......so can Shield/Test cricket be divorced from T20/BBL..with a different set of players and officials............I mean the late Kerry Packer with his WSC. was able to change the face of the game. Could Cricket Australia sell off rights to the Shield/Test matches to say the likes of Clive Palmer for example and both camps run there own race so to speak. We all know that the batting and bowling skills conflict in different formats and thats one reason why things are like they are at the moment....let the players decide if they want to play the long form game or otherwise depending on their talent...ambition and what dollars are on offer. I agee the Shield has gone to rot and test cricket will follow with C.A. seemingly not interested ....so some kind of radical innovation is all that can bring the game to life.
sheek
Roar Guru
Grant, Under present circumstances, the Sheffield Shield has become next to useless as a breeding ground for future test players. This is what made the Sheffield Shield so valuable to test cricket in the past. 1. It was played con-currently with the test matches, allowing players to push for selection, maintain form, or conversely, regain form. 2. The leading test players participated in most matches. This is a critical point. Up & coming youngsters had the opportunity to play with or against the established stars, being in turn, tested & mentored by the best. Neither of these things are now happening & consequently, the Sheffield Shield, quickly followed by the test team, have gone to rot. If CA is keen on killing test & Shield cricket in preference for T20 BBL, then they are on course.....
Sideline Comm.
Guest
The problem is with the diminished importance the Shield now has in the Australian cricketing year. Being punted in lieu of the ridiculous Big Bash means that there is a majority of the summer where players are only participating limited overs cricket, so to when selectors look at a players' stats these games become important as there isn't much else to go on. Reinstating a fully televised (on free tv) and widely publicised Shield season would be a good start.
rock
Guest
So when the 2 men that play musical chairs in the baggy green are leading the run count in shield cricket before the return series do they get picked or blood new players. This is what I don't get, Hughes & Khawaja will more then likely be leading the shield run tally board by the return series and to pick an all rounder or younger person at 6 (assuming Watson stays at 3) would be stupid.
Pudd
Guest
Good article mate, it's true but in some ways the selectors hands are being forced! There is no Sheffield shield form to go on last year... The only bloke they may have looked at due to shield runs would be mark cosgrove and I'm not sure that would be feasible. -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.