Robert Craddock: Australian cricket leading a bizarre double life
AUSTRALIA needs a settled one-day team as next year’s World Cup approaches, but a record of two wins in 20 matches is making things difficult for both selectors and players.
Cricket
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cricket. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Boof warns against ‘good bloke’ selection criteria
- Paul Kent: Sledge pledge won’t deliver The Solution
SOMETHING strange is happening in world cricket ... Australia and Pakistan are morphing into each other.
Remember those wacky days when you would see stories floating in about Pakistan’s head cricket officials being sacked one after the other in ruthless, almost comical procession.
And shady ball tampering stories would trickle in from Karachi where accusations were strong and face-saving missions ever stronger.
And what about those Pakistani batsmen who used to throw their wickets away with madhouse panic attacks with heads raised and eyes everywhere except on the ball.
That was Pakistan in the old days. And Australia over the past month.
Last week the Pakistan T20 team consolidated their world No.1 ranking by trouncing a reckless Australia 3-0 after beating them in the Test series.
Australia, meanwhile, is struggling to win a game anywhere.
The 50-over team which takes on South Africa in Perth on Sunday has the sorrowful recent record of just two wins from its past 20 starts.
MORE CRICKET NEWS
FIGHT TO REDUCE BALL-TAMPERING BANS TO CONTINUE
NEW CA BOSS PLANS DEMOLITION JOB
There were eras when Australia’s 50-over team was so good that every time they lost a match seemed like a significant moment which captured the nation’s attention.
Now they are struggle to win anything.
Australian cricket is living a bizarre double life.
New broadcasters Fox and Channel 7 are desperate to polish up the product and make it the best it can be.
But chaos reigns and uncertainty fills the air.
A coup led by NSW chairman John Knox toppled Cricket Australia chairman David Peever on Thursday yet such is the confusion surrounding the board that there is still no clear picture who should be his long term replacement.
Far more thought was put into sacking Peever than thinking about life after he left.
Peever may not have been perfect but he was the best businessman on the board.
And he was a hard nut who once told Indian officials they were wrong to try to make T20 cricket the prime format of the game.
Very few Australians have ever been so bold.
The next man to face the heat will be high performance boss Pat Howard who will leave after next year’s Ashes series but the knives are being sharpened for him.
The selectors also face pressure, and if the team continues to lose they face a delicate predicament this summer where they are trying to cater for the present and future.
With next year’s World Cup coming steadily into view the time is right for Australia to settle on a team and try to bond it as a unit.
But there’s not much point settling on a side which has won two of 20 games.
The trouble with the Australian batting line-up in white ball cricket is that it changes so often the players are engulfed by nerves and insecurity.
England coach Trevor Bayliss, by contrast, has driven his 50-over team to the top of world rankings by telling them their places in the side are secure and to play with freedom.
As if being shown the way by Pakistan is bad enough.
Having the Poms teach us how to play white ball cricket is another thing altogether.
How bad can this story get?
Every Test, ODI, T20I, and BBL match live & ad-break free during play. SIGN UP TODAY!
Originally published as Robert Craddock: Australian cricket leading a bizarre double life