James Sutherland (L) and Pat Howard after confirming the sacking of Mickey Arthur. Picture: Ella Pellegrini. Source: News Limited
AUSTRALIAN cricket was asleep at the wheel during its golden era. Now it is paying the price for complacency.
Unless this team can find something special and avoid defeat during the last Test at The Oval, beginning on Wednesday, it will become the first side in the 133-year history of England tours to lose four Tests.
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The gloating local media are in danger of being proved right. This could be the worst Australian side ever to tour England.
For too long an over emphasis on winning state titles instead of producing Australian players has seen other major cricket nations steal a march.
Now state teams doctoring wickets for results is being blamed as a major reason for the failure to produce quality batsmen.
Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland was appointed at the peak of the team's powers in 2001 and is under increasing scrutiny as Australian cricket has tumbled.
Questions were raised about why Sutherland was on the board of the Argus Review following the previous Ashes failure instead of being reviewed himself.
Sutherland claims that he was only on the review board as an administrator, he had been reviewed, and was at business school in the US when the Argus Report was produced.
The coach and selectors were changed and the new position of high performance manager was created and filled by former Wallaby Pat Howard, who is most under pressure as the performance of the Test team continues to slide.
In the face of widespread discontent Cricket Australian chairman Wally Edwards recently told Sutherland that he had the CA board's full support.
"We're all impatient for success, everyone involved in Australian cricket," Sutherland said, but warned there were no simple answers.
PITCHES
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"We're developing a system where we can improve pitches. In the past there hasn't been the chance to talk about that as openly.
"There were steps taken last summer to do that and we'll continue to work on that.
"We want Shield cricket to be the best possible preparation for Test cricket so Shield pitches should be very similar to Test pitches.
"That means they need to be drier at the start and be wearing later to bring spinners into play, as well as batsmen having a bit more of a chance, certainly on the first day of a game.
"I have a high level of expectation that we will see (Shield) pitches that are more developed.
"I would expect curators to be preparing pitches that are the equivalent of a day one, one and a half, day two Test pitch for the start of a shield game."
SPINNERS
"What we have seen is that people are preparing pitches to play against Australia that are dry, without a blade of grass and breaking up or taking spin.
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"I don't think you have to be Einstein to see that people are preparing pitches to suit themselves.
"I'm not making excuses here, they're entitled to.
"We need to get better at playing in these conditions.
"We've got to give spinners more opportunities to bowl in Shield cricket.
"At times they're not getting selected let alone playing a significant part in the game."
SLOW TO ADAPT
"When you have a successful team it papers over deficiencies in your pipeline.
"It's easy for people to say we should have done something about that.
"To some extent people were trying to do things but there is always a resistance to change when people say if it's not broken don't fix it.
"Perhaps in the past there has been too much of a focus on winning trophies (at state level).
"The focus now is not just getting more people to play the game but getting genuine cricketers, identifying that talent at 14, 15, 16, keeping it, and getting more sharply focused on that.
"In the past we haven't had the resources to invest in that area.
"Some of our competitors have invested huge amounts of money in their high performance systems."
NO QUICK FIX
"The reality is that the Performance Review (Argus report) made clear people shouldn't have premature expectations about a rebuilding phase.
"There have been some great things that have happened with our fast bowling stocks over the last couple of years.
"We've still got challenges with the batting but there's a lot of work that's being done there.
"There is a lot of work being done with the spinners and we're starting to see some of them come through."
PAT HOWARD
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"The shop front window for us is very much the Australian cricket team but in terms of his role it's much broader than the national team.
"Those who are critical of him don't necessarily understand the depth and breadth of his role.
"A very significant part of that role is the men's team, but he also overseas the women's team, our elite underage competitions, Australia A.
"We have invested a lot in our under 19s and Pat has been organising Australia A tours to compliment the men's team.
"Pat is on a contract. Most people in high performance are on contracts until after the 2015 World Cup.
"That's the sort of time frame the Player Review (Argus report) talked about in terms of having expectations."
MICKEY ARTHUR
"Mickey Arthur's appointment didn't work out, that's what happens.
"I sat on a panel with Mark Taylor and Pat Howard and Mickey was by far the most credentialed candidate.
"We made a unanimous recommendation to the board and received the unanimous support of the board.
"We take responsibility for that but sometimes things don't work out and that wasn't foreseeable."
BIG BASH V SHIELD
"All that is a balancing act but it shouldn't be seen in isolation.
"Around the world it's not inconsistent for there to be a period in South Africa or England or India where they play a T20 competition in isolation from their first class system. This is not unique to Australia.
"It amuses me when people sometimes say the reason why Australia is not batting well is because we're playing T20 cricket.
"Every cricket nation in the world plays T20 cricket. India plays more of it than anyone. Every Indian cricketer plays in the IPL and yet they seem to have a plethora of talent at the moment."
