• Former batsman cites Joe Root as great example
• Australians need to work hard in Sheffield Shield
The former Australia batsman and current commentator Damien Martyn has called on his country's young cricketers to reassess their priorities.
The scale of Australia's defeat in the second Test at Lord's has seen a number of the country's former international players voice concern for the future strength of the long form of the game down under.
"I would go back this [Australian] summer and say guys need to be making thousands of runs in Shield cricket, that was how it was in our day," said Martyn, who scored 4,406 runs in 67 Tests, including 13 centuries, at an average of 46.37.
"You should need to make 800-plus Shield runs a season, or take so many wickets, before you get a chance to play for Australia. I think if you look at the stats now, it's not showing that.
"If they're serious about playing Test cricket, the guys are going to be making runs in Shield cricket, which means batting long periods. It's about focusing on the right game, and it depends on the individual, because certain individuals want to focus on the short forms of the game."
Martyn picked out Joe Root as an example of England managing to develop players who, while brought up playing all forms of the game, have retained an ability to bat for long periods. "Seeing Root come through is a great thing, that innings of 180 at Lord's was a great Test innings, the way he batted. We need to get back to Shield cricket and picking performance guys who have had a good 'comp'.
"In our era we just wanted to play Test cricket and we were taught to bat for a long time, technique and all that, but I appreciate kids now might want to go a different way. A generation is coming through now just wanting to play T20 cricket, and that's a natural thing – you see kids at the grounds wearing T20 shirts all the time.
"That's their choice, I just hope we won't lose the kids who want to play Test cricket. But we're where we are and I would play these guys the rest of the series because there's no miracles out there. I'd play the team we have, judge them on their performances at the end of the series, and find the guys who are mentally strong enough to play at this level."
However Dirk Nannes, who has enjoyed a successful and lucrative Twenty20 career (including 17 appearances for Australia) after playing his first first-class match aged 29, has asserted England's ascendancy is merely cyclical.
"People throw a lot of fire at Cricket Australia for concentrating on the Big Bash, but every country in the worldhas a T20 tournament," the left-arm seamer said. "It's not a unique problem to Australian cricket. It's just a period of Australian cricket when we don't have that talent. Too much is read into it, that it's the demise of Australian cricket, that it's the end, but the wheel will turn and the Poms will be crap again.
"There's actually no one at home making those mountains of runs, so you're picking people who are promising – you can't deny their talent – but they're on their first, second, or perhaps third tour playing in foreign conditions and haven't that mountain of first-class experience behind them." Reported by guardian.co.uk 13 hours ago.
• Australians need to work hard in Sheffield Shield
The former Australia batsman and current commentator Damien Martyn has called on his country's young cricketers to reassess their priorities.
The scale of Australia's defeat in the second Test at Lord's has seen a number of the country's former international players voice concern for the future strength of the long form of the game down under.
"I would go back this [Australian] summer and say guys need to be making thousands of runs in Shield cricket, that was how it was in our day," said Martyn, who scored 4,406 runs in 67 Tests, including 13 centuries, at an average of 46.37.
"You should need to make 800-plus Shield runs a season, or take so many wickets, before you get a chance to play for Australia. I think if you look at the stats now, it's not showing that.
"If they're serious about playing Test cricket, the guys are going to be making runs in Shield cricket, which means batting long periods. It's about focusing on the right game, and it depends on the individual, because certain individuals want to focus on the short forms of the game."
Martyn picked out Joe Root as an example of England managing to develop players who, while brought up playing all forms of the game, have retained an ability to bat for long periods. "Seeing Root come through is a great thing, that innings of 180 at Lord's was a great Test innings, the way he batted. We need to get back to Shield cricket and picking performance guys who have had a good 'comp'.
"In our era we just wanted to play Test cricket and we were taught to bat for a long time, technique and all that, but I appreciate kids now might want to go a different way. A generation is coming through now just wanting to play T20 cricket, and that's a natural thing – you see kids at the grounds wearing T20 shirts all the time.
"That's their choice, I just hope we won't lose the kids who want to play Test cricket. But we're where we are and I would play these guys the rest of the series because there's no miracles out there. I'd play the team we have, judge them on their performances at the end of the series, and find the guys who are mentally strong enough to play at this level."
However Dirk Nannes, who has enjoyed a successful and lucrative Twenty20 career (including 17 appearances for Australia) after playing his first first-class match aged 29, has asserted England's ascendancy is merely cyclical.
"People throw a lot of fire at Cricket Australia for concentrating on the Big Bash, but every country in the worldhas a T20 tournament," the left-arm seamer said. "It's not a unique problem to Australian cricket. It's just a period of Australian cricket when we don't have that talent. Too much is read into it, that it's the demise of Australian cricket, that it's the end, but the wheel will turn and the Poms will be crap again.
"There's actually no one at home making those mountains of runs, so you're picking people who are promising – you can't deny their talent – but they're on their first, second, or perhaps third tour playing in foreign conditions and haven't that mountain of first-class experience behind them." Reported by guardian.co.uk 13 hours ago.