Six degrees of separation

While the rest of the cricketing world looks at the Under-19 World Cup as a possible breeding ground for their future senior teams, for worl...

While the rest of the cricketing world looks at the Under-19 World Cup as a possible breeding ground for their future senior teams, for world champions Australia it’s just one step to world domination — a commitment to the ICC that needs honouring.

The reason for that, say Brian Freedman, Director, Cricket Australia, and Bennett King, coach at the national academy, is the huge gap between the Under-19s and the Test side, the target all of Cricket Australia works towards.

‘‘While we would have loved to win the tournament and can see why it is such a big thing for so many of the developing countries, it’s not the case for us’’, says Freedman, here as the team’s manager. ‘‘Because these guys are a long, long way away from even first-class cricket. Back in Australia, for example, when we won the Cup last time in New Zealand, it wasn’t even mentioned in any of the newspapers.’’

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King, coach of this Under-19 side, explains the six degrees of separation. ‘‘Right on top we have the Australia side. After that there’s the Australia A side, then there’s the State side (six of them), the State squad made up of the guys not in the side, then Grade cricket, then the clubs — where most of these players play — and junior cricket. So you can see how being in the Under-19 side doesn’t mean much.’’ ‘‘Most of these players will go back to their clubs. A couple might get called to the Academy, either central or state. I would be very surprised if more than a couple of these guys even have a career in cricket.’’

Which brings up one question: how can the Australians be so indifferent to their juniors when their stars are ageing? Not only are many in the Test team around the 30-mark, so are several in the backup squad.

Freedman explains CA’s stand. ‘‘When players come into the side, at, say, 26-27, they are ready for international cricket. How many Test players do you see who drop out? We have a solid set of players. I would say that out of the 450,000 guys playing organised cricket in Australia, about 1.4 make it to the Australia Test side every year.’’

King, who has made a name over the years as one of the best cricket minds of his generation, and focuses entirely on ‘‘mathematical analysis and statistics’’ for his coaching, adds, ‘‘We have found that over the past few years, our batsmen have performed best between ages 29 and 36. Check our Test side, almost all the batsmen average over 50. That must mean something.’’

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More than something, as anyone watching cricket in the past decade knows.

Nepal Army chief steps in, ex-Chief Justice agrees to be interim head

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General Ashok Raj Sigdel successfully convinced former Chief Justice Sushila Karki to become the interim Chief Executive after violent protests led to the fall of the K P Sharma Oli government. He held talks with various groups and proposed an interim government to restore peace. Karki, with the support of the Nepal Army, will work towards delivering a new Constitution.

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