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New Zealand in Australia 2011-12
Arthur calls for 'mature' rotation response
December 6, 2011
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Be they bowlers or batsmen, Australia's cricketers must become mature enough to accept that changes to the team for reasons of balance or rotation will become more frequent under the new team performance regime, the head coach Mickey Arthur has said.
As the national selectors, Arthur among them, deliberate over whether to bolster Michael Clarke's bowling resources with the allrounder Daniel Christian for the Hobart Test against New Zealand, the possibility of wider and more frequent rotation is dawning on the team.
The senior batsman Michael Hussey has expressed reservations about shuffling batsmen in and out for fear that it would flirt with form and confidence, but Arthur said all players had to be prepared to accept the possibility, irrespective of their role. His words echoed those of the Argus review about "adult conversations" surrounding selection.
"That's a maturity that we want to try to get into the group getting down the line," Arthur told ESPNcricinfo. "Players need to be mature enough to realise that it is a balance shift or something like that, and we'll communicate that all very well to the guys and they'll understand exactly where they're at."
Christian remains a chance to become Australia's 427th Test cricketer, pending assessments of how the bowling quartet has backed up from a comprehensive defeat of New Zealand in the first Test in Brisbane. Also a factor in discussions is the tendency of the Hobart pitch to flatten out into a strip less reminiscent of the Gabba than Allan Border Field, where the visitors batted far more comfortably against Australia A.
"You always want that extra bowling option, an allrounder in the team is like gold," Arthur said. "So with Shane [Watson] not playing there is a position there for an allrounder within our squad and the selectors have felt that he's the next best.
"We'll just have to see when we get down to Hobart how all the different permutations work out. We need to keep rotating guys through the summer because there is just so much cricket, guys are going to break down and we need others ready to come in at any given time."
Phillip Hughes' present troubles are less physical than technical, and Arthur stressed a balance needed to be struck between advising the 23-year-old on how to straighten his bat and granting him the freedom to indulge the appetite for runs that has already reaped 17 first-class centuries.
"I think we need to see him tighten up his technique just a little bit, because he's getting out in the same ways and that's, not the alarming thing, but that's an area of concern that he keeps getting out in exactly the same way," Arthur said.
"But he is an incredibly talented player with a very big future, so we just want to tighten up his technique but give him the wings to fly with the bat, because he's still got a major role to play down the line for Australian cricket."
In planning ahead for the series against India, Arthur is aware that the problems posed for Hughes by Chris Martin are most liley going to be magnified through the lens of Ishant Sharma, who delivers with a similar trajectory and a knack for shaping the ball across left-handers.
"One hundred per cent [we're aware of Ishant coming up]," Arthur said. "Chris Martin has troubled a lot of left-handers because of his angle, and he is going to continue to do that, but it's not going away, that is always going to be a challenge for the left-handed batters, and Hughesy in particular, so that is something we've got to make sure we get right."
Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Daniel Brettig
Assistant editor Daniel Brettig had been a journalist for eight years when he joined ESPNcricinfo, but his fascination with cricket dates back to the early 1990s, when his dad helped him sneak into the family lounge room to watch the end of day-night World Series matches well past bedtime. Unapologetically passionate about indie music and the South Australian Redbacks, Daniel's chief cricketing achievement was to dismiss Wisden Almanack editor Lawrence Booth in the 2010 Ashes press match in Perth - a rare Australian victory that summer.
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@Clyde ... surprised you may be but the facts don't bear out your 40 over malarky, even for the "golden" era of the 1950s. Even spinners like Jim Laker only bowled 40+ 6 ball overs in about 10% of innings, and fast bowlers like Trueman even less ... he only bowled 40+ overs in 5 test innings as did Lillee.
Posted by Clyde on (December 9, 2011, 6:06 GMT)I was surprised some questioned my proposition that 40 eight-ball overs used to be a reasonable quota for an innings. The first Test I looked up randomly with a view to a response was one between England and New Zealand in 1951. Three NZ bowlers bowled 40 or more overs in the one innings and so did one English bowler. Why this stamina should not have been in the memories of my critics needs to be gone into. I am willing to believe that these days bowlers have less stamina, as this exchange suggests, but I would appreciate being told why it has happened. Does it mean to say bowlers are being debilitated by the number of games played and the various forms? Surely it is not that simple.
Posted by zenboomerang on (December 8, 2011, 0:46 GMT)@L.P.Grace... Steve Smith is highly over-rated... His move from State to Test team was a complete failure & his performances clearly devalued the baggy green with a bowling average of 73 & batting of 28... He is probably the worst bowling allrounder in Australia... Katich & Husseys bowling is far superior - as is Clarkes & Christian... I also dispute that Smith is a better fielder, having watched both a number of times live at different grounds... & the ridiculous comment about him being 28 as being too old is a joke... Hussey debut @30, Haddin @30, Harris @30, Marsh@28, Bollinger @27... - Your point?...
Posted by Claydo78 on (December 7, 2011, 23:16 GMT)its currently 60 bucks to go see australia play in sydney for the new years test (60 bucks and they wonder why nobody turns up, so over priced) if australia rotate 5 players out for younger guys who havent earnt a baggy green does that mean tickets will be only 30 or 40 bucks? if only half the stars are there, its only as half as entertaining so it should be half the price!
Posted byawwww wat a article i truely agree with mickey long life australia
Posted byya i agree with you mickey,if u really wanna rotate a opening batsman hughes with daniel christian,i dont agree with that,you better replace hughes with katich then the future of australia will be bright and shinning
Posted byoh really mickey,bt u hv to find a worthy replacement first mate,if u look at daniel christian he is been affected wen batsmans try to attack him,n his batting is average he is just a big hitter in t20 bt in test matches u need some1 lyk katich,bring him back in te team trust m he will rockz lol
Posted by Claydo78 on (December 7, 2011, 22:52 GMT)its quite easy to know whether they are good enough to play for autralia, if a player isnt scoring a mountain of runs or taking a bag full of wickets at state level he will never be good enough to play against the worlds best! isnt that the reason why we have a domestic competition, and a of panel selectors to pick the best players out of that competition to represent australia. im tired of seeing players getting handed a baggy green for one test and we never see or hear from them again! hussey, ponting, clarke etc earnt there baggy green by playing great in shield cricket!
Posted by Meety on (December 7, 2011, 22:47 GMT)@Gordo85 - ".. I guess that just shows how Mike Hussey is not mature.." - maybe, but maybe it might be that Huss has been playing in an environment where communication has been poor (Argus report claimed that improvement was needed), & so we had Hughes dropped prematurly then reinstated when out of form, Rogers overlooked without a phone call, Hauritz dropped in 09 on a dry wicket, a 17-man Ashes squad for the GABBA test, an endless cycle of would be spinners, the Katich saga (some of that was Simon's fault) etc etc. Should Hussey be still playing for Oz 2 or 3 years from now, he may have a different view???????? re: Hussey's FORM - in August he won 3 (? or 2) man of the match awards in SL & got player of the series???????? I thought that could be construed as form?
Posted by L.P.Grace on (December 7, 2011, 17:25 GMT)Hope Dan Christian does'nt play. Good player and a nice bloke but it de-values the prestige of playing test cricket when a limited overs specialist in his late 20's comes in to play 1 test to cover for watson, never to be seen again. I'm no great admirer of steve smith, but he should have gotten the call-up. He's already got his baggy green, is a (slightly) better fielder than christian, is in better batting form and iss much moer likely to become a regular fixture in the team in the future.