Greg Chappell recently mentioned there is lack of talented cricketers in Australia compared to sub-continent. But is this a true fact or is there an underlying conspiracy that Greg Chappell was trying to imply. Conspiracy based on the lines of Australian young cricketers moving on to different sport.
From a young age all kids growing up in Australia are exposed to all sports. This is due to the way sports are structured on seasonal basis. It allows kids to be multi skilled and allows them to be exposed to every sport. Overtime the exposure allows the kids to be complete athlete, meaning they can adapt to any sport.
Practically the young sports men end up playing the sport which eventually presents the best opportunity. It’s this opportunity for the young men in cricket between in the ages of 17 and 21 which seems to be lacking behind compared to other sports.
The lack youngsters coming through in Australia teams is further exposed due to policy of selecting players with sustainable state cricket experience for national team. This has its benefits as seen in Hussey, Haddin and Hodge who are complete players when they reach the top level. Each of players mentioned made their test debuts at the age of 27 or above. However, the age barrier will always act as an obstacle if one is to have a form slump.
This is in contrast to players in sub-continent who are thrown into deep end from the start. There selection can even often by based solely on basis of youth tours. Some of them excel and cement their places but as history reflects lot of them are dropped to re-define their games. But in there instance the age is on their side. Furthermore the youngsters get the feel for the elite level at a tender age. It is practical human thinking once you have been shown the life at the top any individual will want to cling to the opportunity.
Thus the motivation is far greater and the young men strive that for that extra to ensure the keep their places or retain it. Australian cricket has a lot of talented youngsters at age of 17 and over who are not picked even for state cricket. Even if a state team might be out of contention end of the year, it is essential to breed the young men. This will allow them to be involved with cricket and not move to another sport.
In the world of professional sportsmen the peak age for an elite sportsman in Australia has dropped expect for cricket. Rugby and AFL players are reaching peak at 22 rather than 25 or 26. This is also a result of exposing the young men at tender ages of 17 and 18. The question for Australian cricket is if these boys are told to play against men and that too in a physical sport of rugby and AFL then why not cricket.
It is imperative the Australian cricket and state cricket acts upon this issue before further talent is lost to other sport.
Only NSW out of the six states have adopted the approach of breeding young men. Players such as Phillip Hughes, Moses Henriques, Pat Cummings have been thrown into the deep end. It is time for others to follow this trend to ensure Australian cricket once again at top of the world.
Only when this approach is acquired will we really know if talent is really lacking in Australian cricket.
