The backlash over Australia's surrender of the Ashes to England and, worse, relegation to fifth position in the ICC Test rankings, has been fierce.
The backlash over Australia's surrender of the Ashes to England and, worse, relegation to fifth position in the ICC Test rankings, has been fierce.
The kickback among fans in this famously sports-minded nation has ranged from calls foru00a0 Ricky Ponting's head to headlines in the Australian media screaming: "Hopeless At Cricket, Can't Play Rugby", in a reference to the Australians' national Rugby Union team, the Wallabies losing to the Kiwi All Blacks' last weekend.
In all the soul searching there is a discernable call for revamp of the Australian system, with suggestions that the nation's sport needs "ethnic stars", namely players of Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan ethnicity, as has happened in South Africa and England.
In an article displayed on its front page yesterday, the Sydney Morning Herald laments: "While England and South Africa have long tapped into rich pools of ethnic talent, fielding players such as Shafayat, Hussein and Ntini, the Australian team remains solidly Anglo as in the days of Bradman and Miller."
The report quotes Raj Natrajan, president of the Indian Sports Club and coach: "I have long asked myself 'when
is Australian cricket going to finds its ethnic stars'?
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"The talent is here. Lots of young kids from India and Sri Lanka play at grade level but after that we don't see them because they are not given the same encouragement and training as an Anglo-Saxon kid."
Natrajan reportedly playedu00a0 first-class cricket in Bangalore before coming to Australia in 1988 when he started coaching.
He says, "Australian administrators need to learn from football and rugby which have embraced ethnic and indigenous communities."
In a statement that could point a finger of suspicion at Dr Harinath, a long-time functionary in the New South Wales and, now, Cricket Australia, Natrajan says: "The administration can't get past that anybody but a white Anglo guy with blonde hair should be in the team. And that attitude permeates every level form national selectors to local clubs."
In this context it is pertinent to note that Neil D'Costa, Indian-born cricket coach who mentored Michael Clarke in his early years, and has been coaching opening Test batsman Philip Hughes, made no secret about his disillusionment with the Australian cricket establishment when he took up a coaching assignment in Nagpur.
Australian cricket administrators understandably disagree. They cite the examples of Test opening batsman Simon Katich, who is Croatian, and former pace bowler Jason Gillespie, who is Aboriginal. They also point to Usman Khwaja, the promising New South Wales batsman and the Imparja Cup, a state indigenous tournament as examples of inclusiveness.
However, the views of Pune-born Lisa Sthalekar, former vice-captain of the Australian women's team put the issue in correct perspective.
Sthalekar said: "The absence of players from the sub-continent is more culturally complex.
"Lots of Indians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans play in the early stages of cricket but many of them drop out when it gets serious to focus more on their work."
And, Sthalekar stated matter-of-factly: "It's also the case certainly in women's cricket, that a lot of Indians don't want to get any darker, and so they don't want to spend any more time in the sun than they have to."
In a well-argued editorial yesterday, notable more for percipience than emotional breast beating, the Sydney Morning Herald, while noting that this is the first time that Australia have not been top of the ICC rankings, says, "In one-day cricket Australia is third, and in Twenty20 sixth."
Significantly, the Herald suggests that Australian cricket must draw on all the talent available in Australia.
Monoclutural
The paper editorialises: "Whereas English cricket, from the village green to the Long Green at Lord's is peopled by players from a wide spectrum of cultural backgroundsu00a0- British, Indian, Pakistani, South Africanu00a0- Australian cricket, at the top level, is almost exclusively monocultural.
"Australian cricket must draw on the deepest well of talent available. We do so only up to a point. There are increasing numbers of players at the grassroots level from Southern Asia. Yet they do not continue in the sport. Are all Australians getting a fair go?"
Are they, Dr Harinath?
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