TRANSITION VAMP

What really gets up my hooter about the current state of Aussie cricket is not that we are currently rubbish - I can wear that, in fact it has made cricket more interesting - it is that CricAussie has spent the last five years arrogantly telling us we were well positioned to transition from one dynasty to the next, as if Australia owned No.1.

As pragmatic as the next sensible cricket fan, I recognize that teams are not the best forever, unlike Greg Chappell and Malcolm Conn in 2007 during the last Sri Lanka tour to Australia:

THE joy of Australia's utter domination after such a dramatic loss of star personnel can only magnify concerns about the state of world cricket.

Greg Chappell said alarm bells should have started ringing around the globe when Australia won a third successive World Cup and, for the second time, went through undefeated. "There is a huge void in the game," Chappell told The Australian last week.

History says that Australia has never played more entertaining Test cricket. It would be even more fun if it came with more regular competition. The game needs it. (Link)

What goes around, runs aground:

I've no hankering for a close contest. The Poms’ time'll come again. And when they finally win an Ashes series they'll absolutely give it to us! (Link)

Where does our current collapse (a germane term) leave Australian cricket? Recent papers contain a lifetime’s supply of Kellog’s Variety regarding the future of our National Cricket Group.

John Anderson is snarky and positive, but not as positive as his sub-editor who topped the following article with “Blessed future”:

Sadly for those who revel in times of despair for the national team - and there are plenty of them - Australian cricket may just be on the verge of a very exciting era. (Link)

Crash Craddock, while not negative, is hardly bullish:

NOT happy with the current crop of Aussies, well say hello to the future. (Link)

Will Brodie has what I think is the most balanced assessment:

Who is going to replace Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin? Who will be our next great Test spinner, fast bowler, middle order batsman?

Whether you think Australian cricket is in crisis, or is merely undergoing inevitable cyclic downturn after a golden age, there will soon be a lot of new faces in the national team. (Link)

Tim Lane is doomin’ and gloomin’, but makes plenty of sense:

A shortage of emerging Test talent is severely blighting cricket in this country.

THE Ashes wheel has been turning inexorably for more than five years and we in Australia were the last to notice. England had become a formidable team as Australia was falling from grace. The 5-0 win on the rebound four years ago only papered over the cracks; underneath, the fault lines were widening. (Link)

A couple of days ago in the Herald Sun there was an interesting quote:

"So much depends on reputation - guard it with your life," Robert Greene writes.

"Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once it slips, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides." (Link)

The article is mainly about Nick Riewoldt and the St Kilda photos, but it could also apply to Ricky Ponting. The more blunders you are perceived to have made, the greater your reputation suffers and the more your power wanes.

Ian Chappell is in no doubt that Ponting’s power has waned enough to warrant Ponting pulling the pin or getting the pin pulled for him:

Like a politician intoxicated by power, Ponting has talked about extending his leadership maybe as far as the 2013 Ashes series. This is unrealistic, as captains have a use-by date.

Their power to inspire wanes as the personnel changes and new ideas are required. A fresh side requires a younger captain; it needs to be his team. (Link)

Malcolm Knox expands on the Ponting legacy:

Ricky Ponting's captaincy - whether it ends now or later - will have dual legacies. On his watch, England have asserted their superiority, and Ponting's series losses in 2005 and 2009, with the overwhelming defeats in Adelaide and Melbourne this summer, will define his legacy. In 1984, Ian Chappell's first advice to new captain Allan Border was, ''Whatever else you do, don't lose to the Poms!'' Ashes cricket was, is and will be the benchmark of an Australian captain's success. (Link)

Greg Baum compares Aussie cricket to politics:

It happens to all dynasties, governments, too. They think they are on their game, alert to all the dangers, vigilant against complacency, but they are not. Their day comes. Australia's is here. (Link)

It is a fair comparison. Electoral gravity is like dynasty gravity, to concoct an appalling phrase. The longer you are in power, the more people you piss off and the greater your fall. Look at the NSW ALP. They have hung on for too long and are set to cop a hiding which has the potential to send them into several terms in opposition (mind you, the NSW ALP is a resolute beast), which is unlikely to be the fate of the Vic ALP who got booted at just about the right time, well before they were so on the nose they got smashed. Don't like politics? Try famed cricket sage, Danny from Withnail, and his comment about knowing when to quit: "If you're hanging on to a rising balloon, you're presented with a difficult decision — let go before it's too late or hang on and keep getting higher, posing the question: how long can you keep a grip on the rope?"

Baum’s article also contains the following tickler, which must be news to Matt Prior, who was blew at least one referral on Hughes:

Phil Hughes is so little regarded by England that it made a team rule not to blow a referral on him; he would be out soon enough anyway.

David Sygall details what went wrong:

Domestic decline, we exported our expertise, the mind-games factor, spinning confusion, bizarre selection policy, poor image, too metrosexual. (Link)

Henry Lawson says there are too many egg heads, not enough hard heads. And uses "bespoke" which is a win for the educated cricketers:

Coaches who have little or no experience at international level, and fitness and medical staff who have narrow and fixed ideas of what constitutes bespoke preparation and who basically don't understand the game, are a significant problem. That is the era we find ourselves in and it is unlikely to change with the current administration and coaching staff. (Link)

The key to regeneration of Australian cricket to find another Warne and McGrath. Those two, more than any other facet of Australian cricket, were responsible for our 10 to 15 years of dominance. Without them we would have been OK, with them we were brilliant. Warne is possibly the greatest match-winner in Test history. Both also masked any weakness. They allowed Australia to play the cavalier cricket of the dynasty, but they also inspired the cavalier - read: dumb - cricket we currently play. The sooner we get back to basics and realise it is no longer 1999 with ropey opposition, the quicker we will once again start playing proper Test cricket. Then we need to cross our fingers the professionalism we started won't be outstripped by the professionalism being exhibited by countries with bigger populations. England, for instance. Has the Olympic syndrome come to Australian cricket? For around twenty years East Germany, sorry, Australia got a jump on many of its rivals, but its rivals decided to emulate Australia and now Australia look as if they may once again struggle in Olympic sports. If South Africa, India and England get properly organised, Australia will not find it easy to climb back to No.1.

Comments

[Yobbo]

Selection policy is a big part of the problem - the last 3 losing ashes series (2005 2009 and this year) have all suffered from Bizarre selection policies where highly regarded Australian players in peak form were disregarded.

In 2005, Mike Hussey was averaging about 500 in county cricket and was regarded by the English as the best batsman in the world. He was left out of a side that narrowly lost because of poor top-order batting against the swinging ball.

Australia's best swing bowler at the time - Nathan Bracken, was also left out of the entire tour in favour of Michael Kasprowich who was never much good at anything, let alone bowling on English tracks.

in 2009 Brett Lee - despite rolling the poms in the tour match and being the only Australian bowler who could swing it in any direction - wasn't selected for the latter half of the tour (injured for the first 2 matches) in favour of a bunch of no-names. Andrew MacDonald was also overlooked for the entire tour despite being perfectly suited to English conditions.

In 2010 the bizzare decision to overlook established Shield spinners like Steve O'Keefe in favour of a bunch of T20 and uncapped domestic players seemingly according to a dartboard has made us look ridiculous - as has the obvious tenure of a few top-order players who can't be dropped despite averaging in the 20s and low 30s for the best part of a year.

In reality I don't think Australian cricket is in that much trouble - just the Australian national team. And the reason it is in trouble is because the team is harder to get into than it is to get out of. Once you are in you have to basically rape someone's dog to get dropped, and a lot of test-quality players go their whole careers averaging 60 in first-class cricket without ever getting a game. This has been going on for about 20 years.

[Cameron]

Cricket is full of interest when your team's losing.

[Patard with a vengeance]

Nice one Prof. Sherlock too was fond of oft quoting that one.

But, I feel that this is more attuned to Punter's circumstances:

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying
nothing.

[Tony]

Still pissed off at the non-selection of Hussey in 2005.

You'll find that after a few years playing like spuds and millionaires, a couple of hard doogers who hate losing will come along and tighten up and toughen up the Test team. S. Waugh, Border, Healy, Boon, those types.

[Cameron]

Ben Dorries 2013 Ashes XI:

1.Nick Maddinson
2.Usman Khawaja
3.Mitchell Marsh
4.Michael Clarke
5.Shane Watson
6.Steve Smith
7.Tim Paine
8.Cameron Boyce
9.Ben Cutting
10.Josh Hazlewood
11.Mitchell Starc

Appearing in today's Sunday-Mail which explains the Boyce/Cutting picks. Same top 5 as Brodies but with Watson moved down the order and special Steve retaining his spot at 6.

[Tony]

That's a young side, even in 2013. But if they win the Ashes I hope they have a victory dance cooked up.

[Cameron]

I'm detecting a bit of a current of thought with the journos that the 25-30 yo group isn't up to standard and we're better off looking to the 20-25 group. Obviously the U/19's won the world cup so there is talent there and most of them haven't played much first class cricket so there's more room to speculate on what they could become as opposed to a player who's 27 played more than 50 first class games and averages 37 with the bat .

[Tony]

There's definitely a push for the young blokes. That is probably reflected by selection, too, since the 25-30 olds have failed to storm the Test team. As I've said often, if the selectors thought a player was good enough they would have picked him, but there are not too many in the 25-30 who have caught the selectorial eye.

[Lou]

That Crash Craddock article has Shaun Marsh first and states the main reason why I don't want him in the test team. (I got sucked in for a while, but that's gone away.)

He just doesn't seem very bright or have the ability to concentrate for very long if he isn't playing very attacking cricket. I don't know if playing for another state would have been better for him as he is very much a big fish in the Warriors puddle. Which goes to show how crap they are.

Anyway, in keeping with the bardish tendencies of Patwav.

(Curtains open to show a single light upon a man, leaning over a fence in the evening, staring out at a dark cricket pitch.)

Mine ear is opened and my heart prepared.
The worst is worldly loss thou canst unfold.
Say, is my kingdom lost? Why, 'twas my care;
And what loss is it to be rid of care?
Strives Bolingbroke to be as great as we?
Greater he shall not be.

Or maybe Punter would rather talk of graves, of worms and of epitaphs.

[Adsy]

Getting back on the selectors never ending "Kick A Vic" crusade, have a look at tonights side and tell me that Hodge, D.Hussey, White, Nannes and even Finch aren't as capable in both forms of cricket that some of the players we have in the side right now. The selectors are useless and have been for years now that they have to do their job instead of getting a free ride for the past 10 years.

Anyway on the more important selection of poems, I select this one, and given the fact three quarters of the Poms are South African I find it quite fitting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pJcwnS1c0I

Good series of videos on Ewe Tewb (even if they are for a bank!)

[Yobbo]

Certainly Hodge and D. Hussey, never been really convinced on White.