Is Australian Test cricket broken and in need of repair?
The answer on both counts is: Yes! With the Aussies winning less than 50 per cent of their Test matches, we have to ask why and how we can reverse this worrying trend.
These are my solutions.
1. First class cricket
The first step is to ensure there are enough first class games in order to evaluate Australian players – for example, arranging enough Sheffield Shield games before the Test teams are picked.
2. Squad
Pick a squad of 17 players based on form for the Tests and then pick the team from that. Changes can be made, but if so, the selectors must explain their reasoning to the public.
3. Overseas tours
Cricket Australia must ensure our touring teams arrive in host countries at least two weeks before the first Test and plays at least three games.
4. Selection
Being a selector is a thankless job. Everyone has an opinion. Most of the time when a predicted superstar fails – for example, Nic Madison – the selectors are blamed for a bad decision.
But what happens when the teams are struggling to win in any version of the game? The selectors’ choices come under sharper scrutiny.
As there has been a significant turnover in Cricket Australia executives, it is obvious that the current selectors should stand down and move aside for another group.
Lately, former players have been suggesting that players who are introduced to representative cricket should be given a greater number of matches to adjust their game to the demands at the higher level. Dismissing them too quickly is folly because the next group could be inexperienced and the same mistakes by the selectors could be perpetuated.
(AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
One only has to look at how Ian Chappell and Steve Waugh, who were given prolonged runs in the Test arena when they were not producing. For every Greg Chappell there are five others who don’t fire straight away. Give them a chance – and tell the public what you are doing – so that their immediate failure won’t result in a clamour for their sacking.
Common sense and transparency – why not? The other way has not worked.
5. Head coach accountability
Coaching is to be rationalised, not arranged ad hoc as it has been. The assistance that the head coach requires should be documented at the start of the season and reviewed by the person to whom the coach is accountable.
The coach’s assistants must have a level of expertise in Test cricket and have a successful history of coaching their speciality. This should eliminate the chance of ‘mates’ of a coach getting jobs they’re not yet qualified for.
6. Scheduling
There is no doubt that the growth of T20 cricket has damaged the performance of our Australian teams in all three versions of the game. We have thousands of kids, male and female, playing the game.
The pathways to representative honours have been set for years. Up to recently one or two brilliant male cricketers exploded on to the scene and became tried and tested Test players. What’s happened?
Trying to fit all of three forms of representative cricket into an Australian summer has been an unmitigated disaster for the competitiveness of our teams. They all can’t have forgotten how to play the game in three years, but relying on T20 form for ODIs and Tests has not worked.
Cricket Australia has probably made pots of money, but it’s come at the cost of a successful Tes team. Under my plan it will cost them more and damage the bottom line, but the money is really ours and needs to be spent for the good of the game.
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