Hohns of dilemma

The Ricky Ponting Dilemma will strike on October 23, when the captain comes to rejoin the touring team. Clarke was Ponting’s sub, but went on to hit a century on debut and was named man-of-the-match. The ‘‘nice little problem’’ understatement after, Hohns asks The Indian Express, ‘‘Interesting, isn’t it?’’

Here to be part of the experience as his team tries to breach the fabled Final Frontier, Hohns explains how his team works: ‘‘We have quite a good crop of players. Then we have a group of young players who we have added to this side. So we have to constantly keep thinking about the future. You could say it’s been reasonably tough.’’

Soaking in the mood and the beer as his team celebrated in Bangalore, Hohns adds, ‘‘It is all for the good of Australian cricket. You can’t make a decision on your own. We as a group sit down and always draw up the best plan. It’s our job to do that.’’

The biggest problem in the current scenario has been, incredibly, the consistency of the Australian team. Many players do brilliantly for years, but have to wait for their turn. Case in point: Brad Hodge had to score over 11,000 first class runs before he could get into the team (here in India). That too because of Ponting’s broken finger.

This is where the 50-year-old believes his panel plays a big role. ‘‘We constantly pick young players and consistent players and pick them for our ‘A’ teams and other representative matches. This way a message goes out to them that they are in the scheme of things, just that they have to hang on. The best thing for them is to keep scoring runs and be honest. Take Hodgy for example, he knows he is here as a replacement. So he knows his time will come for sure.’’

The other side of the coin is that the Aussies have not been a young side for some time now, and the majority of players are on the wrong side of 30.

‘‘I don’t agree with that. The seniors are 34 or 35, but they are performing and that’s the key. Even our research has shown that an average Aussie starts getting better when he gets to the age of 28 and his optimum performance is between 28-35,’’ Hohns says.

Having said that, though, Hohns says that the future is bright and that there are a few exciting youngsters ‘‘waiting in the wings, ready to make a mark’’. ‘‘We need to keep an eye on the fast bowlers. I won’t nominate anyone, but we have taken note of the players at all levels. There are some who are pretty good and I have personally taken note of them.’’

Doing a tough job all right, but as the Australians’ performance for the past many seasons has proved, he is doing it rather well. The policies might not be up everyone’s street, but it suits his team well, and that has to be the main consideration.