It’s fair to say that there is something of a major debate currently taking place in Australia over the comments made by Simon Katich about Cricket Australia since he wasn’t offered a new central contract.
It looks like Katich’s place will be going to the prolific (haha) Phil Hughes, remember him, the man who was going to thrash the English attack in 2009, the next great Aussie player off the conveyour belt, the great man who was supposed to win the Ashes for Australia – no wonder Katich’s peeved off.
For me this is the latest in a long line of balls ups by the Aussie selectors, this is a fight they didn’t need to pick as there are other areas of the team that need addressing far more urgently than the opener’s spots.
Like the spin bowling department. Going back as far as that ridiculous decision to leave Nathan Hauritz out of the 5th test at the Oval in 2009, the Aussie selectors have failed to deal with this and certain other issues that are glaringly obvious to all.
It’s not rocket science, it’s just common sense and the Aussie selectors have failed miserably in this department.
They have treated some of their spinners in an appauling way, probably setting the younger ones back years in their development – almost making Katich’s treatment look somewhat exceptable.
Ok, so there is no replacement for Warne, but there never will be, so they need to realise this and stop the revolving door of spinners going through the team.
Surely it’s not beyond them to pick a spinner to perform a certain role for the team, England did it with Ashley Giles and South Africa with Paul Harris.
Harris is the perfect example, in isolation he looks an ordinary bowler at best. But South Africa have a plan and they stick to it, with Harris – using his brain and making the most of his ability – implementing that plan (until Imran Tahir came along that was).
They also continue to bury their heads over Mitchell Johnson, I know on his day he is a match winner, but how often does his day come along? They can’t go on forever waiting for him too come good, there comes a time when Australia have to say enough is enough.
These are just two areas of the team that I believe needed addressing far more urgently than the position of Simon Katich.
This Australia team is obviously not good enough to reach the heights of 5-10 years back, but I don’t believe it is that far away from being competitive with India, South Africa and England.
At the moment they are falling behind though, not because of the team in my view, but because of those running it. Australia are shooting themselves in the foot. It looks too me like the clear out isn’t needed at the top of the order, but at the top of the structure of Cricket Australia.
