Yeah, I too blame Greg Chappell for a lot of it.
Like, everyone's getting pathway'd now. Guys who averaged 12 with the bat in First Grade just need to average 40 for a couple of seasons against guys who averaged 38 with the ball in their State's First Grade to get in the conversation. We've produced a generation of players who've never been anything other than the best player in their team, and have never scored runs against attacks that are made up of players who are both better and more experienced than them.
Plus there's the massive, massive impact of knowledge loss from not playing Grade/Second XI with experienced guys, because everyone over 25 has given it away because they know they'll never get a Shield call-up over the next shiny 19 year old no matter what they do.
Like, everyone's getting pathway'd now. Guys who averaged 12 with the bat in First Grade just need to average 40 for a couple of seasons against guys who averaged 38 with the ball in their State's First Grade to get in the conversation. We've produced a generation of players who've never been anything other than the best player in their team, and have never scored runs against attacks that are made up of players who are both better and more experienced than them.
Plus there's the massive, massive impact of knowledge loss from not playing Grade/Second XI with experienced guys, because everyone over 25 has given it away because they know they'll never get a Shield call-up over the next shiny 19 year old no matter what they do.