Not a great time to be a member of the Australian cricket establishment. Oh, doesn’t it make your heart bleed? Poor fellows.
In the Guardian’s Spin column, Andy Bull nails the head-in-the-sand attitudes down under:
“I think we’ve done a very good job as a selection panel.”
Andrew Hilditch, chairman of the Australian selectors, actually said that. No really, he did. And he wasn’t joking. Let’s count the ways: dropping Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus for the second Test, recalling them for the third. Sticking Steve Smith in at No6 and keeping him there until the last match of the series. Picking the unfit Doug Bollinger. Freezing out Nathan Haurtiz and playing two debutants in his place. Obviously the Aussie press were having none of it.
Meanwhile, we’ve written this piece for The Wisden Cricketer Blogs – imagining just what lessons the Australians might try to learn from us.