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The decision to include New South Wales batsman Michael Clarke in Australia’s One Day International side to tour India next month is a step in the right direction for the future of Australian cricket.
In an era of success it is easy to become complacent regarding the selection of players for the future, especially batsmen. But Clarke’s inclusion following the injury to Darren Lehmann, a 33 year old, is the correct move, despite Lehmann’s impressive career average.
This is also the final full season of stoical combatant and Australian captain Steve Waugh – after 18 seasons in international cricket, he will retire in the next 12 months.
The problem is that the Australian selectors, under the worrying chairmanship of Trevor Hohns, is akin to the problem of an aging side, yet have the wrong solutions to what is an interesting dilemma.
Their solution, for the past two years, has been to cull players from the oldest down – a public execution of leading Australian cricketers. Steve and Mark Waugh have both been cut from Australia’s one-day side, and while Steve managed to avoid a premature sacking by scoring a century at the SCG earlier this year.
In the past few days, stories have emerged that Trevor Hohns is wielding his axe again. Clearly the selectors are concerned they are not bringing younger batsmen into the side, and Waugh, at the age of 38, is too “old” to be playing cricket.
The problem for the selectors is that Waugh’s average this year has reached phenomenal proportions. Four centuries, averaging in the 90s with the bat, all the while maintaining his standing as the most successful captain in Test Match history. His career average is over 50, his most recent test innings netted 78, and he remains on track to become the highest run-scorer in test history. At this rate he will overtake current Australia selector Allan Border within 10 Test innings - on current form it will take him half that amount.
For New South Wales he took out the inaugural Steve Waugh Medal by blasting his way to three centuries in the Pura Cup competition from 11 innings, averaging 54 – including a highest score of 211. In the ING Cup competition he was equally brutal – proving his one-day capabilities have not diminished.
Yet for all his success, all the national and international support flowing in his direction, his standing as an all-time great of the game, he still faces the chopping block if you believe media speculation.
Trevor Hohns, seemingly dissatisfied by Waugh’s 38-year-old corpse still batting at Bradman-like proportions, seems intent on ridding Australian cricket of one of its most successful competitors ever.
The problem is that the selectors look at the side, and see just two regulars under the age of 30 - Brett Lee and current vice-captain Ricky Ponting.
Clearly this is an issue that needs to be addressed, and the future must be factored into the selector’s current policies on selection.
Yet for all the selector’s wisdom regarding freshening up an aging but otherwise successful side, they are still off track. In the past 12 months they have introduced Martin Love to the international arena, himself within 18 months of being 30. What is more disturbing though is that he has been outscored in Pura Cup cricket by a batsman eight years his junior. Michael Clarke emerges as an obvious Test batsman and newly selected one-day player.
You cannot ignore a young, exciting batsman like Clarke when he is producing a Pura Cup average of 53 including four centuries. Nor can you ignore a One Day International average of 104 at the strike-rate of 85, especially in his first five international matches.
Clarke emerges as a future Test great, especially when you consider that the last batsman of Clarke’s age to emerge into Australia’s side was current One Day captain Ricky Ponting, who is no doubt in line for the Test captaincy in the post-Waugh era.
The issue is that Clarke should be emerging during Waugh’s final 12 months in Test cricket. The complication is that Hohns has other ideas, and thus a batsman of Clarke’s youth may go without the steadying and experienced guidance of Steve Waugh. Waugh’s role in the past decade has been to assist debutantes to make the switch from first-class cricket to test cricket trouble-free – a job he has done well.
Leading batsmen Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer attribute much of their success to Steve Waugh’s confidence in their ability. After several failed chances in international cricket for both batsmen, many would have given up on the two. Yet Waugh’s knack of seeing potential, and his supportive approach to every player under his captaincy proved vital in re-blooding these otherwise ostracised batsmen into quality batsmen in history. Hayden’s recent 380 at Test level would not have come about had Waugh not expressed his confidence in renewing Hayden’s status as an Australian Test batsman. Likewise Ricky Ponting’s confidence in hard-hitting Queenslander Andrew Symonds netted extraordinary results for Australia during this year’s World Cup. After a woeful domestic performance that almost saw him dropped, Symonds was given Ponting’s backing for the World Cup – most disagreed with the selection of Symonds. Within weeks, Symonds proved a revelation, compiling 143* in Australia’s first World Cup match – this form he continued throughout the tournament.
You see, quality captains have that ability – to see past form slumps and public perception, and analyse how good a player actually is. That is the kind of experience and natural ability to see quality that Waugh has – why then do we want to rid Australia of such a valuable head.
So where does this leave us? If you have read this far then perhaps you already know the point of the argument, or otherwise you’re hoping the point of the spiel will be stated soon.
The issue is that Australia’s future is dependent on players who are younger than 25 now. Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, Nathan Hauritz and others are the new breed of players. This doesn’t mean that Australia should get rid of players to accommodate for these younger stars. That is precisely my point.
Waugh will go in the next 12 months, but hopefully on his own terms. In the meantime, instead of giving 30-something players their first chance at international level, why not blood a few younger players who are performing equally well. I would love to see Michael Clarke batting in a Test match with Steve Waugh – what a picture: The old, experienced, stoical competitor with all-time captaincy and batting records to his name, batting with the young, exciting and talented batsman who in 15 years could be the experienced one standing in a similar partnership with an even younger player.
I only hope Trevor Hohns, and his long-running apparent vendetta against Steve Waugh, will allow one of Australia’s greats to leave with dignity – please don’t start swinging that axe again Mr Hohns.
In an era of success it is easy to become complacent regarding the selection of players for the future, especially batsmen. But Clarke’s inclusion following the injury to Darren Lehmann, a 33 year old, is the correct move, despite Lehmann’s impressive career average.
This is also the final full season of stoical combatant and Australian captain Steve Waugh – after 18 seasons in international cricket, he will retire in the next 12 months.
The problem is that the Australian selectors, under the worrying chairmanship of Trevor Hohns, is akin to the problem of an aging side, yet have the wrong solutions to what is an interesting dilemma.
Their solution, for the past two years, has been to cull players from the oldest down – a public execution of leading Australian cricketers. Steve and Mark Waugh have both been cut from Australia’s one-day side, and while Steve managed to avoid a premature sacking by scoring a century at the SCG earlier this year.
In the past few days, stories have emerged that Trevor Hohns is wielding his axe again. Clearly the selectors are concerned they are not bringing younger batsmen into the side, and Waugh, at the age of 38, is too “old” to be playing cricket.
The problem for the selectors is that Waugh’s average this year has reached phenomenal proportions. Four centuries, averaging in the 90s with the bat, all the while maintaining his standing as the most successful captain in Test Match history. His career average is over 50, his most recent test innings netted 78, and he remains on track to become the highest run-scorer in test history. At this rate he will overtake current Australia selector Allan Border within 10 Test innings - on current form it will take him half that amount.
For New South Wales he took out the inaugural Steve Waugh Medal by blasting his way to three centuries in the Pura Cup competition from 11 innings, averaging 54 – including a highest score of 211. In the ING Cup competition he was equally brutal – proving his one-day capabilities have not diminished.
Yet for all his success, all the national and international support flowing in his direction, his standing as an all-time great of the game, he still faces the chopping block if you believe media speculation.
Trevor Hohns, seemingly dissatisfied by Waugh’s 38-year-old corpse still batting at Bradman-like proportions, seems intent on ridding Australian cricket of one of its most successful competitors ever.
The problem is that the selectors look at the side, and see just two regulars under the age of 30 - Brett Lee and current vice-captain Ricky Ponting.
Clearly this is an issue that needs to be addressed, and the future must be factored into the selector’s current policies on selection.
Yet for all the selector’s wisdom regarding freshening up an aging but otherwise successful side, they are still off track. In the past 12 months they have introduced Martin Love to the international arena, himself within 18 months of being 30. What is more disturbing though is that he has been outscored in Pura Cup cricket by a batsman eight years his junior. Michael Clarke emerges as an obvious Test batsman and newly selected one-day player.
You cannot ignore a young, exciting batsman like Clarke when he is producing a Pura Cup average of 53 including four centuries. Nor can you ignore a One Day International average of 104 at the strike-rate of 85, especially in his first five international matches.
Clarke emerges as a future Test great, especially when you consider that the last batsman of Clarke’s age to emerge into Australia’s side was current One Day captain Ricky Ponting, who is no doubt in line for the Test captaincy in the post-Waugh era.
The issue is that Clarke should be emerging during Waugh’s final 12 months in Test cricket. The complication is that Hohns has other ideas, and thus a batsman of Clarke’s youth may go without the steadying and experienced guidance of Steve Waugh. Waugh’s role in the past decade has been to assist debutantes to make the switch from first-class cricket to test cricket trouble-free – a job he has done well.
Leading batsmen Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer attribute much of their success to Steve Waugh’s confidence in their ability. After several failed chances in international cricket for both batsmen, many would have given up on the two. Yet Waugh’s knack of seeing potential, and his supportive approach to every player under his captaincy proved vital in re-blooding these otherwise ostracised batsmen into quality batsmen in history. Hayden’s recent 380 at Test level would not have come about had Waugh not expressed his confidence in renewing Hayden’s status as an Australian Test batsman. Likewise Ricky Ponting’s confidence in hard-hitting Queenslander Andrew Symonds netted extraordinary results for Australia during this year’s World Cup. After a woeful domestic performance that almost saw him dropped, Symonds was given Ponting’s backing for the World Cup – most disagreed with the selection of Symonds. Within weeks, Symonds proved a revelation, compiling 143* in Australia’s first World Cup match – this form he continued throughout the tournament.
You see, quality captains have that ability – to see past form slumps and public perception, and analyse how good a player actually is. That is the kind of experience and natural ability to see quality that Waugh has – why then do we want to rid Australia of such a valuable head.
So where does this leave us? If you have read this far then perhaps you already know the point of the argument, or otherwise you’re hoping the point of the spiel will be stated soon.
The issue is that Australia’s future is dependent on players who are younger than 25 now. Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, Nathan Hauritz and others are the new breed of players. This doesn’t mean that Australia should get rid of players to accommodate for these younger stars. That is precisely my point.
Waugh will go in the next 12 months, but hopefully on his own terms. In the meantime, instead of giving 30-something players their first chance at international level, why not blood a few younger players who are performing equally well. I would love to see Michael Clarke batting in a Test match with Steve Waugh – what a picture: The old, experienced, stoical competitor with all-time captaincy and batting records to his name, batting with the young, exciting and talented batsman who in 15 years could be the experienced one standing in a similar partnership with an even younger player.
I only hope Trevor Hohns, and his long-running apparent vendetta against Steve Waugh, will allow one of Australia’s greats to leave with dignity – please don’t start swinging that axe again Mr Hohns.
