Once revered as the pinnacle of world club cricket, Australia's state competition is no longer such a fierce testing ground
In this upside-down Ashes world, the domestic strengths that once drove Australia to 16 years of dominance are now considered weaknesses. An irony quickly recognised by both sets of supporters is that it is England – that old punchline for cricket jokes – who root out all the gold. Once all answers were found in Australia, now their coaches and administrators look north for innovation and inspiration.
Those involved in the game in a hands-on way see a fixed first-class competition, better pitches, experienced players and batsmen who are able to switch tempos between formats as the requirements for a long, slow escape route for Australia's troubled Test team.
After the Lord's thrashing, past players aimed their ire at the current squad – especially Shane Watson and his plaster-cast front leg – and the decisions of Cricket Australia. Allan Border was "embarrassed" by the batting and Ricky Ponting was "flabbergasted" by Cricket Australia's cooing over the Big Bash League while the Test result was still smouldering. Blame is being shovelled like manure on Glenn McGrath's sheep farm out the back of Bourke.
Cricket Australia, through its high performance manager, Pat Howard, is deflecting attention back to the brittle first-class structure at home. That is the same system that Cricket Australia controls and has boasted about for decades. Until recently it was the envy of the world.
The former national coach John Buchanan, who was in charge of the record-breaking outfit from 1999 to 2007, says the environment has shifted, with wide-ranging off-field changes governing selection and coaching occurring along with the increased prominence of the BBL. "Is it no wonder then that the cricket flagship, the Australian men's team, has struggled to cope," Buchanan told the Guardian. "It is rather interesting that during the same period, Australian women's cricket has strengthened its position internationally as well as domestically." Australia's women won the World Cup in February. The men have lost six Tests in a row.
Dave Gilbert, an Ashes tourist in 1985, is well-qualified to dissect the current situation, having bowled in county and Shield cricket and been a well-regarded administrator in both nations. Gilbert's off-field career started at Surrey in 1996 and he watched England slowly transform from a mocked rabble to a position in which they own Australia at home and away. Gilbert recognises three reasons behind England's rise. The first was the improvement of pitches, followed by central contracts and a grudging agreement from counties that England would be the priority.
Annual deals were an Australian invention and while the list has recently been trimmed to a smaller, more manageable, selection, they still award more than those allocated by England. There is now more though to a young player's life than a tunnel towards a Baggy Green, with millions of dollars potentially to be made in eight-week periods in Twenty20 cricket, reducing the collective will towards Tests.
Playing surfaces have also become a major problem in the domestic game in Australia. "Unfortunately, it's a by-product of a weak Sheffield Shield competition and dodgy pitches," Gilbert says of Australia's poor recent batting.
Previously Shield contests were almost always battled over four days, but results have become a two- or three-day lottery on under-prepared surfaces. The bowlers earn cheap wickets, the batsmen fail to learn application and the spinners are redundant. "It's not healthy for the game," Gilbert adds. On Friday, Howard revealed Cricket Australia would investigate the host state if 14 or more wickets fell on the first day, with possible points reductions, a sanction that originated in England. Unfortunately for the Australian Test team, it will be a long time before any benefit is seen; in the short-term more punishment with an England flavour is likely to come at Old Trafford in the third Test.
Australia have also caught what used to be known as the England disease, commissioning post-mortems to ease the deflation of the latest Ashes defeat. After three innings' losses in 2010-11, the Argus Review was unveiled, with world-conquering aims and a focus on strengthening state and grade cricket. Two years later and its application has been as successful as a Watson lbw referral.
Initially finding that skills were lacking in all three key areas – batting, bowling and fielding – the report advised Australia to win the 2013 Ashes, the World Twenty20 the following year and the 2015 World Cup. Even team boosters realise those goals are fanciful.
Argus's concerns over batting centred on the players not being at the crease for long periods, failing to negotiate the moving ball or quality spin, and possessing suspect techniques. It could have been a summary of last week's second Test.
The coach and commentator Damien Fleming, who played 20 Tests for Australia, spends much of the summer monitoring domestic players and those on the rise from the Centre of Excellence. He does not believe the current problems are because of mangled techniques.
"It's the mental and technical adjustment that is missing," Fleming says. "I don't think it's the Big Bash or the IPL that can be blamed for the batting. We have more IPL players than England, but then all countries play lots of Twenty20. I've watched Joe Root play one-day cricket well, but he showed at Lord's how to adjust to Test cricket."
There have been other failings from the Argus blueprint. Michael Clarke was made a selector but has since voted himself off the committee, and the broader role of head coach ended with Mickey Arthur's sacking. Team harmony, including the relationship between the captain and his deputy, remains a significant issue.
Further down the line, serious problems within the state and grade structures have emerged. Nonetheless, Darren Lehmann moved towards the Australia job when Queensland were the most successful outfit during the last southern summer, winning both limited-overs trophies and finishing runner-up in the Shield.
Terry Oliver, Queensland's high performance manager, nominates a drain of experienced players in state and grade ranks as a major issue with long-term implications. A switch in format for the 2nd XI competition led to quotas demanding half the side be under 23 to give youth a chance. Oliver says the change meant older players gave up because the representative candle had been extinguished. An absence of old stagers left no one to advise, challenge or shut up the upstarts.
Gilbert, who ended his tenure as New South Wales' chief executive in January, sees a similar problem on the state scene due to the rare appearances of the internationals. "It's no fault of the players, but we haven't got the hardheads in the Shield that used to be there," he says.
Steve Waugh, who debuted for New South Wales in 1984-85, played 93 first-class games for the state. Glenn McGrath started a decade later and appeared only 26 times. Before Michael Clarke turned out last summer, Gilbert said he had worn the blue Shield cap on five occasions in seven years. "The best players are removed from the scene," Gilbert says. "It has to have an impact on young players."
As Australia's treasured pathway of hard knocks disappears, access to the top is easier. No longer are 1,000 runs required each summer to keep a name on the short-list. Michael Hussey scored 13,000 before earning his first Test chance. Queensland's Usman Khawaja is on the Ashes tour after 438 runs at 39.80 last season. "Now if a player has talent at 19, they go to the Centre of Excellence," Oliver says. "They get their skin folds down, practise their vertical leaps, bowl fast and hit big. But that doesn't make them good cricketers."
The Argus review insisted players earn their spots in the traditional way by "making runs, taking wickets and showing that they are ready to play at the next level". It has not happened. Fleming is comfortable with Australia's best batsmen being in England, but the lack of application bothers him. "Steve Waugh once said to me that he gets as much pleasure out of a front-foot defensive shot as a cover drive for four," Fleming said. "Australia needs that sort of attitude."
In the medium term, fixing the Shield system must be a priority, according to Gilbert and Oliver. "In recent years the Shield's been used as a development competition," Oliver says. International players are allowed to parachute into the middle of matches, or be released in the same way. "Playing games like this belittles the competition," he adds. "Stop taking the mickey out of the Shield."
Another thing that is agreed is there is no quick fix. Buchanan says Australia's supporters must lower expectations. "A degree of patience must be shown," he says, sounding strangely like an England official between 1989 and 2005. Reported by guardian.co.uk 6 hours ago.
In this upside-down Ashes world, the domestic strengths that once drove Australia to 16 years of dominance are now considered weaknesses. An irony quickly recognised by both sets of supporters is that it is England – that old punchline for cricket jokes – who root out all the gold. Once all answers were found in Australia, now their coaches and administrators look north for innovation and inspiration.
Those involved in the game in a hands-on way see a fixed first-class competition, better pitches, experienced players and batsmen who are able to switch tempos between formats as the requirements for a long, slow escape route for Australia's troubled Test team.
After the Lord's thrashing, past players aimed their ire at the current squad – especially Shane Watson and his plaster-cast front leg – and the decisions of Cricket Australia. Allan Border was "embarrassed" by the batting and Ricky Ponting was "flabbergasted" by Cricket Australia's cooing over the Big Bash League while the Test result was still smouldering. Blame is being shovelled like manure on Glenn McGrath's sheep farm out the back of Bourke.
Cricket Australia, through its high performance manager, Pat Howard, is deflecting attention back to the brittle first-class structure at home. That is the same system that Cricket Australia controls and has boasted about for decades. Until recently it was the envy of the world.
The former national coach John Buchanan, who was in charge of the record-breaking outfit from 1999 to 2007, says the environment has shifted, with wide-ranging off-field changes governing selection and coaching occurring along with the increased prominence of the BBL. "Is it no wonder then that the cricket flagship, the Australian men's team, has struggled to cope," Buchanan told the Guardian. "It is rather interesting that during the same period, Australian women's cricket has strengthened its position internationally as well as domestically." Australia's women won the World Cup in February. The men have lost six Tests in a row.
Dave Gilbert, an Ashes tourist in 1985, is well-qualified to dissect the current situation, having bowled in county and Shield cricket and been a well-regarded administrator in both nations. Gilbert's off-field career started at Surrey in 1996 and he watched England slowly transform from a mocked rabble to a position in which they own Australia at home and away. Gilbert recognises three reasons behind England's rise. The first was the improvement of pitches, followed by central contracts and a grudging agreement from counties that England would be the priority.
Annual deals were an Australian invention and while the list has recently been trimmed to a smaller, more manageable, selection, they still award more than those allocated by England. There is now more though to a young player's life than a tunnel towards a Baggy Green, with millions of dollars potentially to be made in eight-week periods in Twenty20 cricket, reducing the collective will towards Tests.
Playing surfaces have also become a major problem in the domestic game in Australia. "Unfortunately, it's a by-product of a weak Sheffield Shield competition and dodgy pitches," Gilbert says of Australia's poor recent batting.
Previously Shield contests were almost always battled over four days, but results have become a two- or three-day lottery on under-prepared surfaces. The bowlers earn cheap wickets, the batsmen fail to learn application and the spinners are redundant. "It's not healthy for the game," Gilbert adds. On Friday, Howard revealed Cricket Australia would investigate the host state if 14 or more wickets fell on the first day, with possible points reductions, a sanction that originated in England. Unfortunately for the Australian Test team, it will be a long time before any benefit is seen; in the short-term more punishment with an England flavour is likely to come at Old Trafford in the third Test.
Australia have also caught what used to be known as the England disease, commissioning post-mortems to ease the deflation of the latest Ashes defeat. After three innings' losses in 2010-11, the Argus Review was unveiled, with world-conquering aims and a focus on strengthening state and grade cricket. Two years later and its application has been as successful as a Watson lbw referral.
Initially finding that skills were lacking in all three key areas – batting, bowling and fielding – the report advised Australia to win the 2013 Ashes, the World Twenty20 the following year and the 2015 World Cup. Even team boosters realise those goals are fanciful.
Argus's concerns over batting centred on the players not being at the crease for long periods, failing to negotiate the moving ball or quality spin, and possessing suspect techniques. It could have been a summary of last week's second Test.
The coach and commentator Damien Fleming, who played 20 Tests for Australia, spends much of the summer monitoring domestic players and those on the rise from the Centre of Excellence. He does not believe the current problems are because of mangled techniques.
"It's the mental and technical adjustment that is missing," Fleming says. "I don't think it's the Big Bash or the IPL that can be blamed for the batting. We have more IPL players than England, but then all countries play lots of Twenty20. I've watched Joe Root play one-day cricket well, but he showed at Lord's how to adjust to Test cricket."
There have been other failings from the Argus blueprint. Michael Clarke was made a selector but has since voted himself off the committee, and the broader role of head coach ended with Mickey Arthur's sacking. Team harmony, including the relationship between the captain and his deputy, remains a significant issue.
Further down the line, serious problems within the state and grade structures have emerged. Nonetheless, Darren Lehmann moved towards the Australia job when Queensland were the most successful outfit during the last southern summer, winning both limited-overs trophies and finishing runner-up in the Shield.
Terry Oliver, Queensland's high performance manager, nominates a drain of experienced players in state and grade ranks as a major issue with long-term implications. A switch in format for the 2nd XI competition led to quotas demanding half the side be under 23 to give youth a chance. Oliver says the change meant older players gave up because the representative candle had been extinguished. An absence of old stagers left no one to advise, challenge or shut up the upstarts.
Gilbert, who ended his tenure as New South Wales' chief executive in January, sees a similar problem on the state scene due to the rare appearances of the internationals. "It's no fault of the players, but we haven't got the hardheads in the Shield that used to be there," he says.
Steve Waugh, who debuted for New South Wales in 1984-85, played 93 first-class games for the state. Glenn McGrath started a decade later and appeared only 26 times. Before Michael Clarke turned out last summer, Gilbert said he had worn the blue Shield cap on five occasions in seven years. "The best players are removed from the scene," Gilbert says. "It has to have an impact on young players."
As Australia's treasured pathway of hard knocks disappears, access to the top is easier. No longer are 1,000 runs required each summer to keep a name on the short-list. Michael Hussey scored 13,000 before earning his first Test chance. Queensland's Usman Khawaja is on the Ashes tour after 438 runs at 39.80 last season. "Now if a player has talent at 19, they go to the Centre of Excellence," Oliver says. "They get their skin folds down, practise their vertical leaps, bowl fast and hit big. But that doesn't make them good cricketers."
The Argus review insisted players earn their spots in the traditional way by "making runs, taking wickets and showing that they are ready to play at the next level". It has not happened. Fleming is comfortable with Australia's best batsmen being in England, but the lack of application bothers him. "Steve Waugh once said to me that he gets as much pleasure out of a front-foot defensive shot as a cover drive for four," Fleming said. "Australia needs that sort of attitude."
In the medium term, fixing the Shield system must be a priority, according to Gilbert and Oliver. "In recent years the Shield's been used as a development competition," Oliver says. International players are allowed to parachute into the middle of matches, or be released in the same way. "Playing games like this belittles the competition," he adds. "Stop taking the mickey out of the Shield."
Another thing that is agreed is there is no quick fix. Buchanan says Australia's supporters must lower expectations. "A degree of patience must be shown," he says, sounding strangely like an England official between 1989 and 2005. Reported by guardian.co.uk 6 hours ago.