Pup right age to be next Test top dog

Ian Chappell From: The Sunday Telegraph October 03, 2010

ONE of the more amazing cricket statistics is the minimal number of Australian Test captains appointed in 133 years.
Only 42 players have captained Australia, indicating how important stability is to the selectors.

The past is also a clue to the future. The trend of longevity is sure to continue, which narrows the field to one man - Michael Clarke.

Otherwise, why was Clarke anointed as Ricky Ponting's successor when Adam Gilchrist retired in 2008-09?

At that point the selectors made a judgment and having decided Clarke was the man to guide Australia's future path, it would take a monumental backdown for them now to admit they made a mistake.

Selectors backing down occurs about as often as sightings of Halley's Comet. In addition, if the selectors continue to choose a captain for the long haul, a glance at the other contenders also shows Clarke is best placed to take over from Ponting.


Clarke is 29, a good age to assume the leadership.

The other serious candidates in the team, Brad Haddin (32), Simon Katich (35) and Mike Hussey (35) are at an age where they would only serve as a fill-in captain.

Of those 42 Australian captains, about eight have been fill-ins, consequently the senior players' best chance of getting a gig is an injury to Clarke.

Of the other players around the right age to take over from Ponting, only Cameron White (27) fits the captaincy profile.

White, with six seasons of experience as Victorian captain, is well-credentialled - perhaps even better than Clarke, who has never led NSW.

However, White isn't a front-line Test candidate and with the emergence of Steven Smith as a leg-spinning all-rounder, he's unlikely to receive an opportunity anytime soon.

That leaves only two questions;

1. Is Clarke a good candidate?

2. When is he likely to take over from Ponting?

Apart from leadership qualities, the important attributes of a captain are his playing skills, the respect he has earned from his team-mates and his capacity for taking tough decisions.

Clarke has shown since his elevation to the vice-captaincy that his batting has been buoyed by the responsibility rather than weighed down by expectation.

In that period he's performed better than anyone other than Katich. He's shown maturity off the field in handling his father's health issues and then the turmoil caused by a stormy relationship.

He ended his extremely public engagement to model Lara Bingle in what must have been a traumatic time for everyone and yet retained his dignity.

Nothing that happens on the cricket field will ever be as difficult as that decision.

Clarke has also shown himself to be an enterprising captain in his stint as Australia's Twenty20 leader.

Nevertheless, if he stops whistling, as though calling up a sheepdog, to attract the attention of his team-mates in the field, I'm sure that would help the captain-player relationship.

The training received in a highly competitive system is another reason why Australia have needed so few skippers. Clarke has passed through that system with flying colours, including a stint as a youth leader, so he's well prepared for the next step.

Clarke is an ambitious cricketer, always has been and always will be. Potential leaders naturally possess ambition, just ask Bob Hawke about Paul Keating and John Howard about Peter Costello.

Like Clarke, Ponting is extremely ambitious and competitive.

His net sessions as a youngster facing Glenn McGrath at the Academy in Adelaide were stuff of legend and his recent strict exercise regime indicates he's in no hurry to depart the Test side.

In fact, Ponting has hinted he wants to retain the Test captaincy for sometime yet, perhaps even through to the Ashes in 2013. The difference between cricket and politics is the captain doesn't get to do a deal regarding the succession plan.

The captaincy is decided by the selectors. That means Clarke and Ponting's fate is in the selectors' hands. The ideal time to appoint number 43 would be after a successful Ashes campaign in Australia; Ponting would go out a hero and Clarke is the right age to take over.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/pup-right-age-to-be-next-test-top-dog/story-e6freyar-1225933268079

Clarke will be a useless captain.

can't wait, it will be interesting to see how the new rules in the domestic one day competition, hope it's not a complete failure

being english, it'll be england all the way for me in the ashes, funny really, 'cos i hate the aussies and go for england in the cricket, but in the football, it's the other way round

Fantasy selectors not sure about Bradman

October 3, 2010 - 4:24PM


Sir Donald Bradman's Test batting average of 99.94 puts him in a league of his own - yet it seems not everyone is convinced of the great Australian's unquestioned superiority over all other cricketers through the ages.

"The Don" made almost 40 runs per innings more than his nearest challenger in the all-time batting records, South African Graeme Pollock 'trailing' on 60.97 - just ahead of George Headley, the 'Black Bradman'.

But those who have tried and failed - with great distinction nonetheless - to approach Bradman's feats, appear to be collectively challenging his status as his and their sport's unrivalled genius.

It is the passage of time which proves Bradman's great adversary as 100 of the world's best Test cricketers, past and present, pick their all-time greatest teams in 'In a League of Their Own' - published this month.

Whereas Bradman towers statistically over all-comers, he surprisingly makes only 53 per cent of the teams picked by a century of fantasy 'selectors' of combined world-class calibre and standing.

Far from his accustomed position furlongs clear of the field, Bradman is usurped in popularity and relegated to fifth spot - behind Garfield Sobers (73pct), Viv Richards (64), Shane Warne (61) and Sunil Gavaskar (58).

The rationale quoted by those who choose to omit him is that they cannot fairly select someone, even Bradman, if they did not see him play.

Bradman does, of course, take his place in the book's all-time World XI - at his habitual No.3, in a team populated otherwise by players of more recent vintage.

Wicketkeeper Alan Knott is the only Englishman in that elite line-up, having appeared in 34 of the 100 teams - while Andrew Flintoff, who features in just one XI (chosen by Jacques Kallis), is the only player in the post-Ian Botham era to graduate from England.

The all-conquering West Indies era of the 1970s and `80s is especially well-represented - and it is one of the most feared performers from that time who cites what he perceives as a paucity of English talent as part of his rationale for leaving out both Bradman and Headley.

" ... these two played in a time when cricket was limited globally," said Colin Croft.

"Both have been highly favoured for runs made against England. But I ask you: When have England ever been the world's best cricket team? Never!

"England may have invented the game, and its scribes may have conjured up a few heroes. But overall, England has been very poor indeed. Bradman and Headley were great in their time - but, for me, not of all time."


http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-sport/fantasy-selectors-not-sure-about-bradman-20101003-162hw.html

Anyone's thoughts on the series against India.
Career saving ton by North, I don't really like him though
Peter George looks like a decent prospect.

obviously i'm on paine's side, but there's no doubt for me that haddin will retain his spot when he comes back. anyway, i want paine at tasmania this season, when's haddin fit again?

I think he's been playing some 2nd XI games for NSW (NSW 1sts aren't playing atm)

this SHOULD be the XI for the Ashes

Shane Watson
Phil Hughes
Simon Katich
Ricky Ponting
Micheal Clarke (still not set on him, but there's nobody immediate pushing his position)
Mike Hussey
Brad Haddin
Steve Smith
Mitchell Johnson
Ben Hilfenhaus
Doug Bollinger

12th Man
Peter Siddle

i would of had Hazelwood in there but you don't know with those back problems at such a young age

yeah he'll slot in there but here's a thought... pick Paine as a batsmen?

yeah he'll slot in there but here's a thought... pick Paine as a batsmen?

Hifenhaus is a dud, mate.

ARE YOU KIDDING... he's unbelievably valuable to the team because he actually swings the ball unlike the rest who are just gun barrel straight, Australia are a much better outfit with him the team... If Bowden had given the deadset LB in the last test match he would Hilfenhaus would have been a hero... He gives Australia a different option and can be very useful when the ball is old, like come on

ARE YOU KIDDING... he's unbelievably valuable to the team because he actually swings the ball unlike the rest who are just gun barrel straight, Australia are a much better outfit with him the team... If Bowden had given the deadset LB in the last test match he would Hilfenhaus would have been a hero... He gives Australia a different option and can be very useful when the ball is old, like come on