Australia's young talent free of excess baggage
Peter Roebuck, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald , feels Australia’s squad to South Africa boasts plenty of young talent, unfazed by distractions
Siddhartha Talya
25-Feb-2013
Peter Roebuck, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, feels Australia’s squad to South Africa boasts plenty of young talent, unfazed by distractions. He says Australia will miss the services of Stuart Clark, though they’ll be hard to beat on pitches likely to favour seam bowling.
Accordingly, the Australians will arrive in Africa without the baggage they have been carrying all season. Youngsters tend not to worry about margin loans, breaking bodies or upset partners. Whereas seasoned campaigners can be thrown off course by outside forces, youngsters can retain simplicity. Part of the trick in sport is to stay young as long as possible while absorbing the lessons time alone can bring. Matthew Hayden, Andrew Symonds and Brett Lee were bogged down by a variety of issues, and it showed. The main recent mistake involved Brad Haddin's gloves and response, conduct that did not stop him ascending to the T20 captaincy.
Meanwhile, in the Weekender, Daryll Cullinan writes that South Africa's team looks in good shape ahead of the series against Australia. He feels Ashwell Prince, though out of the first two Tests, still has some cricket left in him, and opening the batting may perhaps be the best way to make a comeback.
I don’t think Prince’s Test career is over. I think a smart move may have been to open with him. He must, however, be given the assurance that it is a long term move. Prince has built his Test game around good shot-selection and leaving well outside off-stump. His ability to concentrate for long periods was fuelled by a fierce determination to prove himself as a player worthy of his selection.
Siddhartha Talya is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo