Australia – the dominating force in cricket world from about 1995 to almost 2008. Then the retirement of the greats and the transition – which we must say has wobbled and rocked and has shown lows like series whitewashes and highs like the 2015 world cup win.
It is one hell of a ride for the hardcore Aussie supporters like us.
As we look at another important Ashes series down under, here are some of the interesting issues and facts surrounding Aussie cricket right now.
1. Selectors
Selectors in the golden era were too ignorant and never really thought enough about the passing of the baton.
The selectors’ form has gone from bad to worse in the last 3-4 years. They have been trying the wrong players, selecting from the same pool and basically been afraid to throw in the youth.
This has started to change a little bit with the introduction of Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb and Travis Head, who have not had the mental scars of the post-golden era happenings.
Another major hindrance has been a massively failed but persistent attempt to have a Flintoff at no.6 in Test side – for cricket’s sake just stick in a good young batsman at six and persist. Mental toughness is the one aspect they should be giving more weight to.
2. What happens to the 24/25 group?
In my opinion, blokes like Kurtis Patterson, Jake Lehmann, Nic Maddinson, Cameron Bancroft and Marcus Harris are good enough and would cut it at the international level given the proper chance and vote of confidence.
What happens to this group who are now 24-25-years-old? If they do not get selected in a year or two in favour of the same old stale pool, they would be almost 27-28 which might be too old for a debut.
3. Rise of the lefty
Just a look at any sort of domestic batting tables and you would be amazed at the number of young leftie batsmen in that table.
I think a batsman like Head is not in the Test side only because it would add another leftie in the already leftie-heavy side. This is pure coincidence and really amazing. You can probably put out two teams of lefties currently!
4. Aggression and positivity
Two words that define Aussie cricket, but two that are thoroughly missing right now. Tentativeness has crept in and poking out instead of hitting out is what we see many times from this team.
Bring back the aggression, positivity and grit in the game – no reverends, please. Getting right in the collective heads necessarily would lead to getting right on the field.
5. Captaincy
Is Smith the best choice for the post? Best batsman in the world without a doubt, but is he an aggressive and innovative enough skipper? I have always thought that Warner would be a much better captain, leaving Smithy free to score his customary tons of runs.
6. Young Aussie batsmen
I just love tracking the U17 and U19 championships and Futures League. But how many of the table toppers there make it forward really?
We need a good strong grassroots structure to propel and support the talent identified at this level – in order to groom them to be good mentally and skills-wise in the international arena. Talent is in abundance.
Even with all these facts, the team has won away series in South Africa and New Zealand, won two of five in England and recently started turning around subcon results with two Test wins and a draw out of six Tests on the subcontinent this year.
Now we need to build on this and give some thought to some of the points mentioned above if we want to create the dominance again.
Baggy_Green
Guest
I hope what you say comes true and Warner has more of a tactical say in affairs. He looked good last year in SL ODIs in SL and then again in the T20 series in India this year. On other note , time is ripe after or in later part of Ashes (if series is decided) to blood 3 youngsters at 3 , 6 and 7 in the test line-up. Another left field idea is Bancroft for keeper in the Ashes - though I am sure many Roarers will not agree to this.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Some good points made although the introduction of DRS has seen more LBW decisions given from right arm over to lefties. Before that umpires almost never raised the finger unless it was Wasim or Waqar moving the ball sideways at pace. Hayden in fact, became a world beater by listening to Rod Marsh tell him the exact opposite. "Not good enough to play shield cricket" was the appraisal from Rodney when he was head of the Cricket Academy. I would love to see these young players, identified as promising, advised early in their careers that they need to make hundreds in domestic 4 day cricket and average well over 40 before even being looked at for a test spot.
Paul
Roar Guru
Really good article, BaggyGreen but as JamesH has pointed out, we're lacking anyone apart from Warner who could meet the brief to be Test captain; be the first person picked in the Test side and be capable of managing the game on the field. In time that will change, but as it stands, we're a tad thin in the leadership stocks. Warner's biggest problem is his mouth. He continually says really dumb things, gets slammed for it, then has to apologise a few days later. He is a very talented skipper on the field, no argument, but that's only part of the job and I can't see him being able to do all the other bits well at all. If Smith has any brains, he'll recognise his tactical shortcomings and rely heavily on Warner's advice.
JamesH
Roar Guru
1. Agree wholeheartedly. 2. Agree, other than Maddinson. Except for rare talents like Ponting, Clarke, McGrath etc (who came into otherwise stable and strong lineups), young players need to show consistency at Shield level first. Maddinson hasn't, and I worry about his temperament. Kurtis Patterson is unlucky not to have debuted yet. 3. Cricket has always had a disproportionate number of lefties, primarily because (a) it's harder for right arm bowlers to get lefties LBW or bowled from over the wicket, and (b) left handers have the advantage of being able to work the ball with the angle through the off side. However, Head is not in the team yet because he hasn't shown consistency at Shield level. It has nothing to do with being a lefty. Maddinson is left handed and he batted at 6 last summer at the same time as they brought Wade back in, who is also a lefty. 4. Positivity yes, aggression no. Aggression is what got us into this mess, picking guys who smash bowlers around on roads but can't show any patience against the seaming/swinging/spinning ball. Being positive is about being sure of where your off stump is and putting a price on your wicket, as much as it is about hitting boundaries and getting the bowlers on the back foot. 5. Good question. I do feel like Warner is a more natural captain than Smith but there is a general lack of standout candidates in the side right now. I think Handscomb could grow into that role and Head looks like a leader. 6. There is too much focus on putting young players into development squads and talent pathways. Identifying and nurturing talent is fine but the most important aspect of developing young players is to let them play regularly against grown men in first grade cricket and develop a bit of mental strength. Ponting, Hussey and Hayden didn't become world beaters by dominating bowling machines and being told how good they were.
Roshan
Guest
Think aussie selectors now is going on right direction. The rise of Handscomb, renshaw are some examples. Selectors are now not afraid to throw the options for instance the chances given to Lynn, henriques, pattinson. Head will be their boost in Coming world cup and selectors are still looking for further options like stoinis, cartwright. I belive these are the sign they are going in right direction although it may take some time. Sam heazlett, Billy stanlake are rough talent they picked and are looking for improvement in their game. The major distractions for selectors was that player getting injured at wrong time like behendroff, starc, pattinson, Lynn, Sam whiteman, Marsh, paine, Counternile. Other talent like jyhe Richardson, Bancroft, maddinson, carey, Patterson, are continously monitored by selectors