Shane Warne says next 12 months very critical for Australia

Former Australian spinner Shane Warne feels the next 12 months will be very critical for the national side, and if the team doesn’t perform and the governing body Cricket Australia (CA) take correct measures, the team will fail and will be at place where it was was 30 years ago.

Shane Warne said Cricket Australia must respect the decisions of the players © Getty Images

Melbourne: Jan 30, 2013

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Former Australian spinner Shane Warne feels the next 12 months will be very critical for the national side, and if the team doesn’t perform and the governing body Cricket Australia (CA) take correct measures, the team will fail and will be at place where it was was 30 years ago.

 “There needs to be urgent action and a new strategy / plan put in place,” he wrote in his official blog.

 In Warne’s view, selecting a player should be not based totally on statistics and averages.  “The objective of a Selector is to look at when players get their runs and wickets, which shows character and a good temperament when under pressure, along with their talent.  Then they can trust themselves when making the next step into international cricket. There are many other ingredients that go into selecting a player, but this should be the basis of being selected,” Warne wrote.

Warne feels the rotation policy divides the players and breeds selfishness in them. 

“A simple criteria is pick your best team and stick with it in all forms, then the players get used playing together and being with one another on tour, you get to know the person, too much chopping and changing leads to insecurity, players then start to look out for themselves and over their shoulder, this breeds selfishness.  It’s also why rotation and resting players will never work.  I believe the players should be united, take ownership of this, it’s a very powerful and strong message to send to CA if the players message is ‘I do not want to be rested or rotated I want to play every game, if I don’t perform drop me’.”

The veteran said Cricket Australia must respect the decisions of the players.
 
“If this decision comes from the players then CA have to respect that and follow suit on selection accordingly, this will then mean someone is accountable.  In any sport once you have proven to yourself that you are good enough to play at the top level, you know if you perform you will be picked for the next game, that’s when you play at your best as you have confidence and are more relaxed,” Warne wrote. 

“The team should be selected first, not the captain, the captain will be chosen from the team selected.  You cannot re-invent the wheel in cricket, if a player wants to become a better slip fielder, catch more balls, want to get better at bowling a Yorker – practice bowling and hitting a target (Malinga and a shoe) and so on,” he added. 

Warne concluded by saying that technology can help in recovery, but so can sleep and a common sense approach to recovery.

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