Re: Australian Cricket - Crisis, What Crisis ??
Reply #855 –
The trouble is bias has burnt some of the best prospective keepers around the country. At U21 level we had a bevy of serious keepers who could all bat at the top of the order and they got kiboshed by development squad selections. It's really starting to hurt Australian Cricket, too much nepotism.
I know of two seriously good youth keepers, one of whom has made a double century on a ACB youth team tour of the UK, who gave cricket away in the last year because of the situation with selection and administrator harassment. Too many cousin's, nephews and other relatives getting spots that are not deserved. The talented kid who is not connected has to work 300% harder to get a spot ahead of Uncle Bozo's very average nephew!
The money now being earned has really corrupted the process. Years back it was just pushy, political parents who were meddling in affairs, now it's also some "player manager/coach/administrators" who gets a slice of the pie as well!
I had one keepers parent tell me if you are not in tight with a certain group of ACB cricket mafia your kids career is pretty much dead and buried by the time they exit their teens. He told me the kid was harassed by certain officials to leave school and move interstate to play club cricket, even showed me an abusive text stating that if his kid didn't accept the offer they would assume he wasn't serious about the game and he should give it away! The lad was just 16!