Cricket Australia – The Blame Game

Until such time as CA is prepared to tackle its issues from the CEO down, we will continue to see spineless performances such as the recent Ashes series and early World Cup exit. The CA executive, including Sutherland needs a massive shake-up.  Cricket Australia should be worried about Tim Neilson and his band of inept, technically deficient coaches. They have to go to. T20 cricket has seen the decline of technique and the ability to leave the ball outside off stump. While the diminishing of techniques was anticipated I doubt many of us expected the decline to manifest itself so quickly. Anyone who saw Steve Smith bottom edge his pull shot onto his stumps in the Melbourne test will appreciate the decline. No foot work whatsoever and he seemed surprised that he failed to control his bat and the shot. The Australian selectors also have to cop their fair share of the blame as well. They made a series of atrocious decisions including:

• Leaving Nathan Hauritz out with no plan to replace him. They had plenty of opportunity to ditch both Hauritz and North before the Ashes yet they left it until the series had already begun.  North should have been axed 18 months ago.
• Bollinger playing injured and obviously underdone in the test series and then getting selected for the World Cup
• No spinner in Melbourne
• Steve Smith being selected as a specialist no 6 batsman.
• Phillip Hughes being selected over Shaun Marsh with an average of 16 v 57.
• Kept selecting Hilfenhaus when he was obviously still struggling with a knee injury.
• The selection of David Hussey with his obvious technical flaw of backing away and trying to flay everything over cover.
• Not insisting that Ponting bat at 6 when his pride was saying otherwise.
• The inability to recognise young talent coming through and sticking with it. The selection of 35 year old Michael Hussey for the World Cup as a replacement rather than giving Paine and Ferguson a go given that were already in the squad was a absolute disgrace.
• Dan Christian is another example. Australian ODI team is screaming out for a middle order batsman who can bowl medium pace yet we continually pick 33 year old David Hussey.
• The selection of Michael Beer in the test series. Terrible spinner. How many cans did Boonie and Warnie have when they recommended him?
• The selection of 4 quicks Johnson, Tait, Lee and Bollinger for the World Cup. If those 4 play in the same 11 the opposition will get 350+ on the flat wickets of the Sub Continent. In hindsight even though I have been saying it for 6 months, Doherty should have been selected as a spin tandem with Krezja.

It was welcoming to hear CA is undergoing a radical review of its structure and performance. No one’s job should be safe and hopefully this will bring about the death knell for Hilditch, Neilson and Langer. A step in the right direction. The new coaching staff needs to demand the highest standards.  A back-room packed with experts in public relations and media should be thrown out the door never to return.  Cricket does not exist to make money. Commerce is a means to an end; that is all. The emphasis should be a return to basics, an involvement in the game at the grassroots.  You need to do the basics right and play to your strengths in order to get the best results you can.

If we look back 25 years when Australia had to last rebuild – Allan Border A.K.A - Captain grumpy: a Coach that could terrify players (Bob Simpson) and bringing in and trying younger players was a formula that worked.  It really took those 4-5 years to find and develop a core of players that would start to bring Australia back as a force in world cricket. This sort of thing will not be immediate and it is right to look at the administration as well as the players.  People bagging Michael Clark as not being right for captaincy needs to look at what he was doing in the Sydney Test.....  Ok he didn't score any runs, but he will come back to form and has a lot of runs in the bank.  His handling of Mitch Johnston was excellent - bowl 2 over’s of rubbish, get dragged and come back later. He did that with a number of bowlers and at one stage had Beer and Watson bowling because they were the ones who could put it in the right spot. His captaincy was a lot more patient than Ponting and I honestly think he is the man for the job. I also think it is time to bring back Captain Grumpy and make him coach. It is also time to ask Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and Dennis Lillee to take over and oversee the selection of Australian cricket over the next ten years.

The Australian Cricket Board has to shoulder much of the blame.  Every company has to be accountable from the top down. Chairman Jack Clarke and Deputy Chairman Wally Edwards should be hung, drawn and quartered for their negligence of the situation. In fact there are no less than 14 people on the Cricket Australia board and that doesn’t include CEO James Sutherland who should be held accountable. These men select the selectors who pick the team. More importantly they run the various academy’s around the country and the domestic competitions. They are responsible for the production of the next generation of players coming through. With 10 spinners since Shane Warne’s retirement, it would seem that any process or planning for his replacement is nonexistent.   

There are also some questionable characters on the board that seem very “Non” cricket. Trevor O'Hoy has never played cricket in his life and whilst I understand you need people with business acumen on a company board I question the validity of having such a person on the Cricket Australia board.  David Williams falls in the same category. I would also question the average age of the board. A rough guess would be 55-60. Hardly ideal when we are moving into the 21^st century. The 2 youngest people on the board are Matthew Hayden and Mark Taylor. James Sutherland said that a “report” would be handed to the board and the board will then decide if a review is necessary. Hang on, the board is going to decide whether or not it needs to be reviewed or not. That seems like robbing Peter to pay Paul to me. The whole board needs to be stood down and a new board elected in. A board with forsight and vision rather than one that is still bathing in 20 years of glory. A board that is fully accountable and transparent. At the moment the boards complete lack and process and planning and it’s reluctance for change is damming.