Michael Clarke has one too many?
isay:
Now call me paranoid but I’m beginning to think that this whole story is the work of Cricket Australia in a bid to take the captaincy off Clarke (who has had an abysmal run of form yet has still been groomed and presented as the natural successor to Ricky Ponting), without having to make an admission that they got it wrong.
Australian cricket is in disarray at the moment but the blame has to rest as much with the selectors as the players. The selectors inconsistency has done nothing to create a stable and cohesive team, something that has been one of the foundations of Australian cricket over the last 15 years.
England turned around their international game by getting the selection consistent and the coaching right, I’m not really certain that we can say that England’s pool of players is better now than it was in 1998 or 2002 but the structure in place is now so much more professional and refined that it made a difference to the preparation. If Australia are to get back on track they need to address these issues in the medium term, in the long term they may need to address other factors in their development and first class structures but those are only going to really affect the next generation or the one after.
As for the captaincy, don’t you just pick the best person for the job, shouldn’t it be that simple? If Cricket Australia are getting into political and media manoeuvring over something so fundamental it just underlines that when looking at who to clear out, the selectors need to face the music.
