Cricket: Conservative Aussie approach irks coaching guru

Coaching expert Ric Charlesworth was pointing the finger fairly and squarely at the Australian selectors this week, blaming them for losing a generation of potentially world-class players.

The soon-to-be high-performance manager at New Zealand Cricket will begin duties in Christchurch in October, bringing with him a reputation for not shirking the hard calls, and for embracing change sooner rather than later.

He told the Herald that the need to look ahead and provide opportunities for fringe contenders was critical to the success of any long-term development programme, but was something that the Australian selectors had not often heeded.

"You don't get a spot in the Australian team at the moment until you're 30, and I'm sure by that time most of the individuals are past their best," he said.

"It means a generation of players are going to miss out, or else they'll also want to play on till they're well into their thirties. And if that continues then it leads to a crisis sooner or later."

Charlesworth, who carries guru-like status in Australia and Europe, said the facts showed that the most successful batsmen had historically played their greatest innings in their mid-to-late twenties, in their "physiological prime".

But he believed the Australian selectors were so reluctant to drop players because of form that contenders seldom received a decent chance until they were past their best themselves.

The former Western Australian Sheffield Shield cricketer said rather than creating a culture in which rising stars could see a career path, the selectors were inadvertently paving the way for cliques and factions.

"What happens in that situation, and maybe the one that we've got now, is that the team becomes clubbish and starts to protect each other," he said.

"It wouldn't happen in football or many other professional team sports, but somehow it's become an almost accepted practice in this team." Charlesworth said he could hark back to 1997 when Australian captain Mark Taylor suffered a horror run with the bat, but retained his place because the selectors believed in his strength of leadership.

Then there was the case last season when Brett Lee struck some of the best form of his life, but couldn't win a place in the test side because of honest toilers such as Michael Kasprowicz.

Not even Glenn McGrath was spared his scrutiny, Charlesworth expressing doubt over the veteran's treatment and the way the selectors remain desperate to play him, even when he is troubled by injury.

"I think they've got some problems there. It's difficult for John Buchanan because he hasn't the authority that coaches have in other sports, but they need a performance culture.

"For example, I don't think that the first six batsmen in the Australian test team are much better than the next best six batsmen, but those guys hardly get a chance, no matter what the form of the incumbents.

"If that was the case in a football team, they'd be playing. As soon as one of them was out of form, they'd be replaced."

He was staggered that Justin Langer played last summer with a dodgy back, and also suspected that Michael Clarke's back was playing up before he took the field on the first day at Old Trafford.

Australia's advantage, he said, was being eaten away and the rivals were starting to close in.