Thursday, January 8, 2009

A Positive Move By The Australian Selectors

Finally, the frontier falls. A news broke out that Australian opener Matthew Hayden has been dropped from the one day squad that will be facing South Africa on 11th of January for a T20 game to begin with. A decision that the Australian selectors' panel should have taken some six months ago has been taken now. Good that the selectors have put their foot forward regarding the regaining the lost glory of Australian cricket by dropping a player who has been out of form since a year or so. This is what each and every selection panel would be found doing, in case a team's performance is not satisfactory. And Australia is no different. Instead, for a decade or so, the world has been doing what the ACB does.

Even the Pakistan team, way back in 2003, had dropped 8 of its players after they failed to make it to the second stage of the same. And Pakistan bounced back, beating teams like Sri Lanka and New Zealand the same year. And team India, which now stands tall in all three forms of the game couldn't even make it to the super eights of the world cup in 2007. A strict action of their respective cricket boards saw one team lift the inaugural T20 world cup, while the other team ended as the runners up. So, such harsh actions by the cricket boards at times are welcome.

Else, each team would be a replica of the present West Indies or an England team. It is a fact that the selectors did a Ganguly on Matthew Hayden, but, as all of us aware of, team interests overcome personal ones. Forget it! And even now if the Australian selectors do not take chances, they will be responsible for Australia in becoming another West Indies. No doubt that the decision on Hayden was harsh, but, Hayden did deserve it. Not only Hayden, but, even Ricky Ponting should be stripped of his captaincy for a certain period of time. Making Clarke the skipper would be a good option. And so should be Brett Lee from the bowling department.

Probably. like Shaun Tait, even Matthew Hayden should have taken off from the squad, without giving the selectors a tough time. This would have even inspired a lot of youngsters to accept their weaknesses and move ahead, hoping with a better come back. Unfortunately, Hayden's thinking was otherwise. And reminding you guys, Australia is no short of any decent bench strength. There are likes of James Hopes, Shaun Marsh, Hussey brothers-David & Mike and Warner-who is considered to be a replacement for Hayden. Now, all eyes would be on hayden, when he makes a good comeback, for, the game of cricket cannot afford to miss someone like Matthew Hayden whatsoever.

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