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In the midst of a players-versus-selectors cricket crisis, I found myself at the MCG for day three of Victoria and New South Wales’ Sheffield Shield match.
It’s one my simple pleasures.
Just two dollars entry for an entire day’s play, watching the next-best cricketers in Australia.
As Ed Cowan patiently nudged, flicked and stroked his way to a deserving double century, all of a sudden Cameron White’s comments made a lot of sense.
Regardless how many runs Cowan made (he finished on 212), he’ll never play for Australia again.
He might finish the Shield season with a flourish and top the run-scorers, but we’ll never see him in the baggy green again.
Likewise White, who finished on top of the Matador Cup run-scorers in 2016, but has played only one ODI since 2011.
The supposed irrelevance of the Shield and the Matador Cup makes the frustration of the players very understandable.
They must wonder what the point of playing four long consecutive days of cricket is, other than to appease those who make the fixtures.
The four-day results aren’t being rewarded (with the exception of Peter Handscomb) and most selections are now made speculatively on those who show potential.
The days of picking the true and tested at first class level are gone. No more Mike Hussey, Brad Hodge, Stuart Clark, Ryan Harris, Simon Katich, Chris Rogers etc.
I understand if the selectors are picking for the future, that I understand. But results happen in the present. Those who perform should be rewarded.
So White will travel with his Bushrangers and finish the season with an Aussie tour to Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and a home fixture in Alice Springs.
He knows that his Aussie dream is dead. Maybe he should retire and give a young batsman his spot. Someone for the future.
Because with five Sheffield Shields already under his belt and the flame of a national call-up properly extinguished, why is he out there?
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