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When James Sutherland, Steve Bernard, and John Buchanan were the big three mentoring Australia’s cricket fortunes, success followed success.
Sutherland joined Cricket Australia in 1998 as general manager to become the chief executive in 2001, Bernard was team manager from 1998 to 2011, while Buchanan was Australian coach from 1999 to 2007.
Under their watch, the Australian cricket team won a record 16 successive Test matches not once, but twice, won both the Ashes in 2001 and 2002-2003 with 4-1 results, and the 2006-07 Ashes 5-0 for the first time since 1920-21.
And the Aussies won a Test series in India for the first time in 36 years.
If that wasn’t enough, try capturing three World Cups, which included winning 23 successive games in the tournaments, plus a first-time ICC Champions Trophy after four failures.
It’s a success rate without peer, thanks to Sutherland’s expertise as an administrator, Bernard’s brilliance as a manager, and Buchanan’s revolutionary coaching.
Sutherland is still a world-class administrator, but he’s the only one left of the big three, and the replacements have fallen well short by comparison.
And that’s the fault of Cricket Australia.
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Bernard was in total control of the team, and respected by every player. But he was more than that, always available to the media taking some of the interview heat off the captains Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting.
Bernard never shirked a question, and interviewers walked away with honest appraisals every time.
I know, having interviewed him countless times as firstly a NSW Sheffield Shield fast bowler, moving on to a NSW selector, before his appointment as Australian manager.
One thing for sure, all the on-field carnage in South Africa in the first two Tests would never have happened had Bernard still been the Australian manager.
But in seven years, I have never seen his replacement, Gavin Dovey, give a television interview, nor heard one on radio, nor seen any quotes in the press.
Buchanan’s replacements – Tim Nielsen (2007-11) and South African Mickey Arthur (2011-13) – were nowhere near Buchanan’s class.
Arthur was sacked after the ridiculous ‘Homeworkgate’ incident, when he asked the Australian team to write down why they had been beaten by India in the first two Tests, and how to correct the problem.
Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, Usman Khawaja, and James Pattinson didn’t oblige, and were all axed from the third Test.
The latest replacement, Darren Lehmann, has been a lot more successful than his two predecessors, but he too can take some blame for the state of the current series.
AFP, Glyn Kirk
There have been two more selections since the success of the big three that demand an explanation from Cricket Australia – both from the Argus Review.
The appointment of a high-performance manager, Pat Howard, and making captain Michael Clarke and coach Lehmann part of the five-man national selection panel.
Howard’s appointment is, to this day, mind-boggling.
A former Wallaby utility back, he was a failure in the same job with the ARU for starters. Today, he’s Cricket Australia’s general manager of cricket, whatever that means.
Having the Australian captain and coach on the national selection panel was insanity. How on Earth could a player go to either for advice on a problem, that could affect their chances of selection?
Let players play, coaches coach, and selectors select – they never, ever mix.
At least Clarke felt the heat and resigned, but Lehmann has stuck in as one of four selectors, with Trevor Hohns, Mark Waugh and Greg Chappell.
Three is the perfect number. There’s a maximum of three Sheffield Shield games at the same time, and with three there’s no deadlock that four can produce, which gives the chairman the deciding vote.
Hohns’ contract winds up in 2020, and from there a panel of Waugh (chairman), Chappell and Mike Hussey would return to sanity.
In the meantime, CA must be careful who they select when Darren Lehmann retires next year, after the England tour. Justin Langer has the inside running, but whether he should coach all three formats demands discussion.
It’s time for CA to come up with a Steve Bernard-type manager, and a John Buchanan-type coach.