The next Border

Well the Ashes are staying with England for another couple of years.  Well done they deserve it. 

The question that comes to mind is who will be Australia's next Border.  Our situation now is not so different to the mid eighties.  Back then Kim Hughes had taken over a team devastated by the loss of several stars of the previous era. The pressure was too much, and shortly afterwards the team was handed to the talented, if reluctant, Alan Border.

Border was the one outstanding player left in the Australian team. He was given a crop of young players with potential, players like Steve Waugh, Dean Jones, Craig McDermott, David Boon just to name a few. He showed them how to fight- by example: he fought rearguard action after rearguard action. He set high standards, and his teapot stance when they didn't deliver earned him the moniker 'Captain Grumpy'. By example, expectation and the occasional goading (he apparently insulted Dean Jones to his double hundred in Madras)  he helped shape potential into talent. Eventually he took the 'worst Australian team ever' to England and won 4:0 starting almost two decades of dominance over the old enemy, and laying the foundations of Australia's climb to the top of World Cricket.

We need another Border.  The question is who.  Ponting is the one player in the current team who can lay claim to greatness.  The problem is that he is a decade older than Border was when he took the job.  His current poor form, and the fact that he probably will not be around much longer (assuming he comes back from injury at all) mean that he is unlikely to take the role. This despite the fact that this is the role he seems to have seen for himself over the past couple of years.  Unfortunately this coincides with his own decline in form. 

Hussey is the other player that is a proven star.  Unfortunately he is already 35.  He may have more longevity than Ponting in test Cricket as he came to it so late, especially if he keeps up his newfound form.  Whatever happens over the next year or two, one of these two needs be there to mentor the younger players.

Katich is also 35, and Haddin - perhaps the best candidate at the moment - is 33.  All of these are getting towards the end of their careers, and (with the possible exception of Haddin) can't rebuild over the next 5-10 years the way Border did.

Theoretically Clarke should be the one to do it.  He is not yet 30.  At his best he is a cut above everyone, except Ponting.  The trouble is, he reminds me more of the other mid eighties star - Kim Hughes - than he does of Border.  He does not strike me as being of the right temperament - I would be happy to be proved wrong.  I see him more as the star player (like Sachin) around whom the leader (like Dhoni) can build a team. 

Of the rest only Watson looks like he might have the credentials in the long term.  He has the potential to be a class player, with both bat and ball.  If he is going to do a Border though, he needs to bat at 4 or 5 not at the top of the order. He seems to suffer from the pressure already if his run of unconverted 50s is any evidence.  The rest of the team is too inexperienced.  Hughes and Smith have yet to establish themselves.  Mitchell Johnson is way too up and down.  The other bowlers are a revolving door. 

The upshot is that Haddin is the best option, provided he can stick around long enough.  Watson and Clarke are longshots.  Unfortunately that is as good as it gets...

...Actually there is one other option - Cameron White.  He has taken the Victorian team - a team without many superstars (the often overlooked Hodge excepted), and formed a very strong Shield unit over the past few years.  He is still young enough to have influence for the next 8-10 years.  He is an exceptional captain.  He is a very capable batsman, excellent fielder and handy part-time bowler (he started cricketing life as the "next Shane Warne", but has really developed into a batsman).  He is good at everything he does on the cricket field, but has never been the best at any of them (other than captaincy), so can't seem to get himself selected.  Yet if he was selected, he has the skills and temperament to be the next Border.