Ok, so this has been bugging me all summer and I need to write something or I will explode. So we have seen recently that the Cricket Australia selectors have decided to go with resting players in order to prevent injury. However, this seems to be backfiring. So far this summer, pace bowlers James Pattinson, Ben Hilfenhaus and Pat Cummins have broken down with injury.
Now, the selectors "rested" pace talisman Peter Siddle when they played the third Test against South Africa (The winner would take the Number 1 Test ranking). We lost the match because we couldn't take enough wickets and limit the runs. That would be like us making the Grand Final and then resting Hayne because he's played every game of the season. If this had been tried with a bowler like Dennis Lillee I'm pretty sure there would've been a simple "F*ck Off, I'm playing" and in the next match Dennis would terrorise the opposition batsmen.
As well as this, for the first 2 One Dayers we've rested Matthew Wade, Michael Clarke and David Warner. I didn't mind resting Clarke due to some injury problems, however I'm pretty sure one game's rest would've been fine. Clarke, Wade and Warner are three inform batsmen this summer, who can pile on runs very quickly. Today Australia was beaten because they lacked experienced batsmen. David Warner can take a game away from you in 10-15 overs.
Also, Channel Nine and the viewing public pay to see the best 11 players available, not the 11 players that the selectors deem "rested". If they're fit then they should play. It's always been the belief of mine that you choose the best team for the job. About half the team that played today were not the best players in that role. George Bailey isn't a genuine Number 3 and David Hussey isn't a Number 4. Maxwell and Smith are very inexperienced and one of them was taking the place of Michael Clarke. Kane Richardson isn't even in the Top 10 pacemen in Australia yet he was chosen to play. At a time when ODI's seem to be dying off, Cricket Australia is hurting that form of the game the most.
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So Inverarity and Mickey Arthur has said that we the public are either naive or stubborn. We get that players need a break. However, I was listening to Triple M on the drive home from work yesterday and Mark Bosnich raised a good point. He said rotation occurs in many sports in the world. The EPL players play over 60 games a season, more if they are in Europe and World Cups. They have to be rotated. However, a good coach will select a team with enough skill and experience to firstly win the match and secondly get the fans to the game. When fans buy their tickets they expect to see the best players play.
What went wrong for Australia in the second match is that the selectors tried resting too many established players at once. Sri Lanka is a very good one-day side even without Sangakarra. Our bowlers were incredibly inexperienced and the batting line-up was all over the shop. You can't expect to win a game if Clarke, M. Hussey, Wade and Warner are all rested. I don't know why they've actually dropped Hussey. The World Cup is over 2 years away. If they wanted to rest Clarke then replace him with Hussey. He's a very good middle order batsmen who knows how to bat with the tail.
I'm going to the match this Sunday and it looks like I'll get to see a half decent side turn out. I'm paying my $55 to see the best players in Australia play. Not the best players that aren't rested play.
If that's happening then there's a management issue. Injuries occur in sport but not at the rate the guys are breaking down these days. I think the problem is exactly what Dennis Lillee and Malcolm Marshall said. They aren't bowling enough in the nets. There's too much work on stretching and weights etc. Bowling is an unnatural motion therefore it needs to be practiced. I know from personal experience the stress on a pace bowler. If I don't bowl for a week or so and then I immediately bowl in a match I'm pretty sore the next day. Even if they are going to the gym and exercising, bowling is a different beast and as such, plenty of time needs to be spent on it. When you see a lot of our young pace bowlers, they're muscular and toned. You look at guys like Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz, Dennis Lillee etc. they weren't hugely muscular. Why? Because they didn't do a lot of work in the gym, they were in the nets. Lillee really only had the one big injury and that was mainly down to his action. Lee didn't start getting injured often until towards the end of his career when everything finally caught up with him. They've got to get in the nets more.