As a young boy growing up in Australia there was only ever one thing that I wanted to do when I was older: captain the Australian cricket team. Playing a bit part and merely making up the numbers of the national side was never a thought that crossed my mind, it was either captain or nothing. There are those who say that it is the second highest ranked job in the land behind only that of the Prime Minister, though I reckon if John Howard had have had things his way he’d have chosen the number two job over the top one.
Such is Australia’s love of all things sport, and cricket in particular, that it seems my dream is one not only shared by the generation of kids I grew up with, but harboured even today by those running around in over-sized pads and helmets across the many ovals and pitches around the country. The only difference is that while I was busy idolising Dean Jones and then Shane Warne, today’s youngsters are wanting to bat like Michael Clarke and bowl like Mitchell Johnson.
But the fact remains, every kid wants to be the captain of his country. This is why even now, almost two months on, the decision to rest England captain Andrew Strauss for the upcoming series against Bangladesh continues to astound me. The final day of their fourth Test against South Africa was way back on the 17th of January, seven weeks ago. Strauss is not currently in the English T20 team, was not named in their T20 World Cup squad, and does not play in the IPL. Both of these tournaments will be held following this series, with the gap between the last scheduled day of the second Test against Bangladesh and England’s first home Test of the summer being sixty four days, or just over nine weeks. So, if Strauss had simply pulled out of the ODI format against the Tigers, he could conceivably have had a “rest” for 15 weeks over a four month period, or, worked for two weeks in four months.
While the preparation for Test match cricket can be brutal and gut-wrenching stuff, Strauss could easily have found time to freshen up both mentally and physically over the last month and a half since returning from South Africa before a two Test series with the lowest ranked Test nation, and allowed himself some more “down time” in the lead up to the home summer and then the biggest battle of them all, The Ashes Down under.
What makes the decision even more difficult to understand is that in sitting out for two Tests, Strauss has not only given Michael Carberry a possible free Test cap, but gifted an opportunity for somebody else, in this case Alastair Cook, to captain the country. In Australia, at Test level at least, this simply would not happen. Sure, England plays more Test cricket than all other nations, but Strauss is the leader. And while Cook may well find that he gains invaluable experience in Strauss’ absence, the point remains, captains should not be rested from Test match cricket.
Cook himself was under pressure to retain his spot in the team during the South African tour, and now finds himself in charge of a team that, already without the services of Strauss and James Anderson, has injury clouds over Stuart Broad, Graeme Onions and Ryan Sidebottom, and an out of form Kevin Pietersen.
Though the likelihood will be that England prevails, one hopes that in the future Strauss and the England selectors do not display such disrespect for the game, and the position as captain of a national cricket team.
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