The Aussies are back
Australia are back atop the rankings after thrashing England and winning 2-1 in South Africa. They have a new crop of youngsters like Steve Smith, a rejuvenated Mitchell Johnson, but much of the credit must go to work off the pitch. Rodney Marsh replaced John Inverarity as Chairman of Selectors and one of his first decisions was to relieve Michael Clarke of his selectorial duties. This allowed Clarke to concentrate on the team. Next year they host the One Day World Cup and there is another Ashes series in England, hopefully a better contested one than the last.
No mention of Australian cricket would be complete without reference to Chris Rogers’ 241 not out as Middlesex chased down the third biggest target in County Cricket to beat Yorkshire.
England have their youngsters too: Stokes, Root, Butler, and much is hoped of Sam Robson who elected to play for England not Australia. Yet one only has to think of the so called golden generation of football players like Gerrard, Lampard, Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Terry etc to know that young talent does not always mature into international success.
