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The top four nations in Test cricket – South Africa, Australia, India and England – are all at the point where they will be experiencing an ageist exodus.
Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis have been around forever for the Proteas.
Brad Haddin, Chris Rogers, Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris, maybe even Michael Clarke for the Australians.
Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Ian Bell for England.
MS Dhoni at 32 is the only one of the Indian team currently closer to the end than the start of his career.
So while coaches and assistants will preach ‘the same 11 for each Test’, the world of cricket is experiencing a new phenomenon.
Unless the administrators introduce youth like South Africa and India have done they will see their sides experience the hell Australia and England have put themselves through.
And the people who manage the teams on the field are starting to understand that there is more to cricket than just coaching.
You have to man-manage your squads, and your teams, and it’s bloody tough work.
The administrators are trying to hold their ageing stars the ageing stars are trying to hang on, but the will is dwindling.
Saving Test cricket and at the same time finding roles for players in Twenty20 and ODI is a constant battle to define what cricket really is these days.
Fans don’t care much. Just feed me world class quality entertainment in world class surroundings, not such as you see at the WACA or the Wanderers Ground, but real comfort.
And I will bring the kids and come, provided you don’t whack me in the hip pocket too much, and provided you give me all the coverage on my big screen at home.
Cricket has a thousand questions to answer.
Do we continue to play Test cricket as a truly international sport and make Twenty20 and one-day cricket a city-based, worldwide cricket league?
Is Twenty20 really the future, or is it just baseball in another form?
The game is seemingly healthy at grass roots, but four nations have separated themselves from the rest.
New Zealand have over-achieved, and seem to be at least competitive.
The West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Zimbabwe are struggling.
England and Australia are experiencing the pain of growing old, and not very gracefully.
I think India and South Africa have tried to beat Father Time by introducing some youth into their Test and ODI squads, so they are very evenly matched.
The Test at the Wanderers this week where both teams scored over 420 in their last bat was a phenomenon.
Wickets are supposed to deteriorate, not get better over five days. The Wanderers is a weird one, subject to cloud and weather and sun changes as if one were turning a tap on and off on the wicket.
Craig McDermott might be right. Australia’s pace attack is ferociously efficient – at least against England in Australia!
But talk is cheap Craig. Let’s see how the old stagers manage in March when they take on the Proteas in Safrica.
And I seem to recall a 4-0 drubbing in India and a 3-0 edging by England at home too.
So we are only speculating how ‘great’ Australia is.
We are not ‘definitively great’, nor can we be, until Australia beats South Africa, India and England in their own backyards in at least one or two Tests.
The euphoria of beating a rapidly deteorating England on Australian soil is starting to wane on Cricket Australia and their people.
They know that five boys are at the ‘last hurrah’ stage and while they are cock-a-hoop with three-nil, three-nil, three-nil, they know that all great things must come to an end.
They want to insert people such as Tim Paine, Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson, Pat Cummins, Jackson Bird, Nic Maddinson, Alex Doolan, and Jordan Silk etc but the old blighters just won’t go away.
In fact, they’re getting better with age. Nice problem to have, but it can’t last.
The greater question for cricket might be ICC rankings. Are they of any use? Don’t people want a winner, as opposed to a world ranking?
Who is the best Test team of 2013/14 if they all play home and away games against one another? An 18-game season over two years?
Who is the best Twenty20 team of 2014? The Perth Scorchers or the Rajistan Rebels? And who wins the ODI title?
How do you take cricket into the next phase?
Vexing questions all. Answers anyone?
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