Crash Craddock: Thunder storms are on the way for the Australian Test team
After the decision to axe a future server of the Australian Test team over veterans prompted backlash, ROBERT CRADDOCK has warned it is just the beginning of what promises to be a tumultuous period in Australian cricket.
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Australian cricket fans be warned. Thunder storms are on the way.
Not the type we saw at the Gabba but huge public debates, disagreements, criticism of selectors and much more.
In some ways Nathan McSweeney’s axing from the Australian cricket team after three poor Tests was just another form-based decision, but in other ways it was a bugle call for rugged times ahead.
Of ins and outs. Ups and downs. Of big investments and small dividends and occasional unexpected jackpots.
Of pecking orders which look so solid one week getting juggled like a pack of cards the next.
Of small signs of uncertainty like picking opener Sam Konstas in the Boxing Day Test squad but not confirming he will play even though he probably will. Batsmen are normally in or out.
We saw it in the 1980s when Australia went four years without winning a series after Dennis Lillee, Greg Chappell and Rod Marsh retired in the same Test and poor Allan Border had about five vice-captains.
We saw it two decades ago after Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Justin Langer left together.
Chairman of selectors George Bailey must be prepared to put his flak jacket on because Australia, while doing soundly with just two losses in its past 10 Tests, is about to enter an era of great volatility.
The fall will be nowhere near as brutal as the 1980s because the rest of the world has waned due to the proliferation of T20 cricket. But it will still be a huge test and not a bad thing for the game because constant conjecture gives the sport a pulse.
Dropping McSweeney was not the way the generational time line was supposed to work.
He was tagged a future Test captain. An anchorman. A link man between generations. Now he is back in the queue.
He is likely to rise again but there are no certainties in Test cricket.
If Konstas makes his Test debut at age 19 on Boxing Day, Australia, for the first time in its history will have no player in a Test side in their 20s and an opening pair with an age difference (Usman Khawaja is 38) which could have legally made them father and son.
These are revealing statistics because they spotlight the missing generations between Konstas and the 30-somethings, players born around the start of the century who were just getting their feel for the game when T20 was taking off and scrambling defensive radars.
Australia’s selectors have some extremely big years ahead. The cupboard is not bare but it’s not brimming. There are few outstanding options to choose from.
The generation of bowlers caught behind Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood for a decade are just about gone. The generation after that are only average.
The batting pecking order is also soft and lacks standouts and players who look like they will be ready to play Test cricket some time soon.
It is a land of opportunity for future heroes. But at the moment no one, not even the selectors, know who those heroes will be.
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