SJS
Hall of Fame Member
Australian cricket needs the sympathy and support of its fans at this stage. It is a team that has been scraped down to the bones of all the flesh (barring Clarke) of the formidable sporting body it was a decade ago. The team is in its worse phase of transition. The phase where such a large number of its top cricketers left at the same time. A more gradual departure would have minimised the pain. This is where the departure of Mike Hussey could have been delayed. The sudden dip in Mitch Johnson's form is no help. The issues with Watson (whatever keeps him from bowling and opening the batting) compound the crisis.
This is no easy times. Yes it is a Test of the domestic set up but there will be dips. I have absolutely no doubt that Australia will pick up. This phase is transitory. I do have two worries which apply to everyone really but will hit a team suddenly deprived of TEST veterans much harder.
Firstly, the introduction of 20-20 tournaments in all countries is going to have an impact on batting skills. It doesn't matter whether one likes to admit it or not. This will show. Something needs to be done about it. It is difficult and Modi understood it that why the HUGE amounts paid to cricketers for very little work. He realised that international stars will not take this form of the game seriously thus he took the one weapon that always works on humans - greed. No one is able to escape it, cricketers, commentators and writers. Now everyone is hooked.
The second issue is the lack of exposure, over the last decade and a half, of the first class cricketers around the world to world class opponents from around the world in the first class game. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the many first class games that touring sides played on Test tours benefited both the visitors and the up coming cricketers of the host nation.
Countries where cricketers of the world came to play first class game during their own off seasons, became nurseries for great cricketers. The number of Pakistanis, West Indians, South Africans (despite their exclusion from international cricket). Kiwis, Srilankans, Indians who honed their skills in the English circuit, rubbing shoulders against the best in the world are legion. The seventies and eighties were more or less the richest, from resources point of view, in international cricket than any other era. I would beg to submit that the five month grind of the English season where most of these giants played each other was the most important reason for such a seemingly unending stream of international talent.
Australia too joined in with many sides sporting international stars who spent the English summer in England and then the winter down under.
With the huge increase in international cricket and the corresponding reduction in the participation of top cricketers in first class cricket except at home when available and the lack of exposure of the domestic players to world class talent has been bad for the game and this will show in the kind of talent that will come up from the first class level.
The game needs to take a very hard look at both the amount of cricket being played and the propensity of the shortest version of the game. One day the greed will kill the hen.
This is no easy times. Yes it is a Test of the domestic set up but there will be dips. I have absolutely no doubt that Australia will pick up. This phase is transitory. I do have two worries which apply to everyone really but will hit a team suddenly deprived of TEST veterans much harder.
Firstly, the introduction of 20-20 tournaments in all countries is going to have an impact on batting skills. It doesn't matter whether one likes to admit it or not. This will show. Something needs to be done about it. It is difficult and Modi understood it that why the HUGE amounts paid to cricketers for very little work. He realised that international stars will not take this form of the game seriously thus he took the one weapon that always works on humans - greed. No one is able to escape it, cricketers, commentators and writers. Now everyone is hooked.
The second issue is the lack of exposure, over the last decade and a half, of the first class cricketers around the world to world class opponents from around the world in the first class game. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the many first class games that touring sides played on Test tours benefited both the visitors and the up coming cricketers of the host nation.
Countries where cricketers of the world came to play first class game during their own off seasons, became nurseries for great cricketers. The number of Pakistanis, West Indians, South Africans (despite their exclusion from international cricket). Kiwis, Srilankans, Indians who honed their skills in the English circuit, rubbing shoulders against the best in the world are legion. The seventies and eighties were more or less the richest, from resources point of view, in international cricket than any other era. I would beg to submit that the five month grind of the English season where most of these giants played each other was the most important reason for such a seemingly unending stream of international talent.
Australia too joined in with many sides sporting international stars who spent the English summer in England and then the winter down under.
With the huge increase in international cricket and the corresponding reduction in the participation of top cricketers in first class cricket except at home when available and the lack of exposure of the domestic players to world class talent has been bad for the game and this will show in the kind of talent that will come up from the first class level.
The game needs to take a very hard look at both the amount of cricket being played and the propensity of the shortest version of the game. One day the greed will kill the hen.
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