Re: Australian Cricket - Crisis, What Crisis ??
Reply #35 –
Australian crickets downhill slide started with the Steve Waugh captaincy. Waugh, as good a cricketer as he was, was an ordinary captain and was basically allowed to pick his own side in a era full of serious talent, without any regard whatsoever to the future.
We are stuck recycling the left overs with blokes like Johnston and Haddin, when they should have been sorted out long ago and in themselves we should see blokes helping build the next generation of players not blocking their progress.
Further players like Smith, Warner and Hughes were anointed before they could even hold a bat. Technically they are closer to hacks than batsmen, and it shows in their highly variable output which is the nicest way I can put it! No other argument is required and no valid defense can be made except it is the way it is.
Australian cricket will not start it rebuild until the ACB breaks the stranglehold NSW Cricket with it's MCC connections have over Australia's 1st class cricketers. That collaboration has become a boat anchor stalling our progress, and now the Indian BCC chips away at the foundations by turning every promising opposition test player into an ax wielding maniac, while they pay their own superstars to limit their exposure to the short forms of the game.
In the meantime more and more talented but disillusioned young cricketers leave the sport. After years of success and promise at junior levels they see no hope in penetrating the nepotistic system that controls Australian cricket and ruins careers.
I blame John Buchanan...he was endorsed by Waugh because he would do what he was told and be a yes man to everything Tugga wanted including picking his mates and continuing the NSW mafia led dominance of team selection. We ended up with this inner circle of players who controlled the game, sure we had success but it has cost us down the track with the boys club legacy living on.
Sound familiar?