Given Australia's batting performances of late have not required a huge input from their number 4 bar the last series it hasn't been a worrying factor. However the retirement of Waugh has lost us the dependable Number 5. In the next two years the bulk of the Test side will retire. He either needs to produce runs or we need to rebuild and start with the Number 4 whilst positions 1, 2 and 3 are so strong.
I can see that logic - Number 4 should be scoring centuries and Martyn needs to lift his game. I mainly defend him for the one dayers though - if Martyn is dropped from Test matches then there is probably sufficient cause. His ODI performances over a longer short-term period (if you follow my logic), are not sufficient to drop him - it is in the One Day game that I defend his right to his position.
It is worth pointing out that even though I defend Martyn, I do see that his form is not acceptable at present. You can't go through a summer like this, score not enough runs, and expect people to not notice. I am not ignorant of his poor form.
But my emphasis is on ensuring we don't let one series cloud overall performances. I'm not just talking about career performances either. It is worth assessing:
Has Martyn produced in the past? Yes
When did he last have a good series? The last one
How hard was the series? Pretty tough opposition in a tough environment.
Is his current form poor enough to ignore recent history? Probably not, although many seem to think so.
Martyn's One Day spot is ironically more secure than his Test spot in my opinion - this can change if his current trot continues. There may come a time in the next few weeks and months where past history no longer plays an important role in deciding if he should remain in the side. Poor form often reverses, but sometimes it just doesn't, or else the selectors feel that enough is enough.
There are some valid comments made about Martyn - I also see his poor stats but try and learn from my history of predicting sackings and realise that more often than not, these players start producing form.
