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Over the years, Australian cricket has been extremely good to many players in their 30s. This particularly applies to captains of the team.
The interesting phenomenon about this is that captains often are given special dispensation to fail. So the question always arises: what does one do with a failing captain if one has already dropped a failing, ageing player?
If the captain is paid more money than the regular players to be captain, shouldn’t he be eligible to be dropped too??
The selectors of Australian teams in the modern era have been past players, and captains in some cases. They feel the hurt of any player when they fail in any innings.
For instance, they have stuck with captains Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Graeme Yallop, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and now Michael Clarke when they have been on horror runs.
Lately they have stuck with Shane Watson for a huge amount of time, but Alex Doolan for only 2-3 Tests.
And they have picked a host of players who have dropped in and out of Australian teams.
Selecting teams has to be a precise art. Appointing captains with authority and the drive to perform until they retire is also a precise art.
The very nature of the role of captain calls for leadership from the front, and when their averages drop, when Tests are lost, when other players fail around them there can be no sentiment, but equally the selectors have to find a better equipped man to captain the team on the field.
Is Adam Voges that man? Is Steve Smith that man? I don’t think so. Nor do the selectors.
They know Michael has the drive and the desire to lead his country well. They also know the Poms have a very, very fine team with three of the best seamers with the Duke ball in the world.
Also all five games are away matches on pitches the Poms know backwards and in atmospheric conditions that they thrive on. We like bouncier, faster pitches.
Steve Smith captained in Clarke’s absence against India, who were in the midst of the MS Dhoni Saga.
Smith, in my humble opinion, is not in good enough form himself, nor is he in a positive frame of mind to have the captain’s responsibilities thrust upon him. Nor is Adam Voges, who is fighting a battle to be named in the side at all.
There is, as Kevin Pietersen says, evidence from the last Test that Australia’s batsmen cannot work together in partnerships to help one another through.
It seems like Chris Rogers is actually the spiritual leader of the team because his form is fantastic. But Chris is apparently keen to finish the tour and retire.
So the key to this Trent Bridge Test and the next, which is all Australia will be focusing on, is for the pairings, no matter what they are, to keep encouraging one another through the tough moments in the start of their innings.
England sense a kill. Australians are great fighters. Let the battle begin!
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