It looked like Australian cricket was at its lowest point in decades. Having barely missed out on pipping the #1 Test rank position against South Africa over the Summer, we went on to lose two of the last truly great Australian cricketers from the national side, suffer a 4-0 defeat against India amid shambolic management and disciplinary controversy, and were relegated to rank #4 in Test cricket. Then Shane Watson stood down from the vice-captaincy after poor showings and leadership in India. To top it all off, we've just emerged bottom of our group in the ICC Champions Trophy without a single win to our name.
An optimist would think "Surely things can't get any worse? Surely it can only get better from here, right?" It's beginning to look as though such an attitude could be justified. In the space of twenty-four hours, Cricket Australia has announced the addition of Steve Smith to the Ashes squad, the sacking of Micky Arthur as head coach and his replacement by Darren Lehmann, the standing-down of Michael Clarke as a selector, and - joy of joys - the end of the rotation policy.
Could it be that we are, finally, witnessing the green shoots of recovery? We should naturally hesitate from making any such Lamont-esque remarks, but it certainly seems so. One could be forgiven for thinking that the CA grandees had suddenly come to a miraculous epiphany and, by the work of God's grace, repented their sins and amended their ways.
That Steve Smith, The Cricket Hooligan's favourite up-and-coming young cricketer, has been added to the Ashes squad makes him wonder whether John Inverarity et al. read his humble e-rag. Certainly they had demonstrated an uncommon display of sense when it was announced they had appointed Smith as captain of the Australia A squad to tour Africa. It was a sign of things to come, I thought at the time; against a dearth of genuine talent of the calibre of the great Australian teams of old, Steve Smith stands out as a profoundly exciting prospect for the future of Australian cricket. It is most reassuring that Cricket Australia have finally caught on to this.
It is equally reassuring that Cricket Australia have had the sense to sack the man responsible for #homeworkgate and, not least, 4-0 against India. There have beens suggestions that Justin Langer could have been a better replacement, but I suppose Darren Lehmann is a good choice in any case - anyone would have been an improvement on Micky Arthur. Lehmann carried Queensland and Brisbane Heat to great success under his veteran stewardship, and the hope is that he will transfer his success in coaching of Queensland to the national squad. Perhaps there won't be enough time to salvage the Ashes in England, but the appointment of Boof is a positive step for the future.
I suppose Michael Clarke's standing down as a selector is for the best. I have always thought that, instead of the captain being a selector, he ought to have the final word on player selection decisions made by the National Selection Panel. But I suppose the choice really must be all or nothing: either the captain is the head selector, or the captain is not a selector at all; none of this awkward halfway house, please.
And so we come to the scrapping of the rotation policy. Virtually everyone except John Inverarity and Glenn Maxwell will be overjoyed to hear that the dreaded policy is to come to an end. We can be sure there won't be too many mourners at its funeral, nor too many tears shed as its expired corpse enters the crematory. Will we see a return to the culture of excellence and leadership that distinguished those great Australian teams under Border, Taylor, Waugh and Ponting? Will we see a strong, dependable and consistent Australian Test side without constant face-changes that dazzle and bewilder the fans? Will we see again the kind of strong team culture, distinctive of a tight-knit team at ease with itself and each other, that characterised the great Australian teams of the nineties and noughties? The latter we see today in the currently dominant teams, particularly in England and South Africa - testament to the fact that a strong team cannot necessarily just be built on the best players; a strong team culture, where the players know each other in and out, is essential for building great teams.
Are we seeing a recovery from the ashes (so to speak) in Australian cricket? There's every sign that we are, and I jolly well hope so.
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