Mr Cricket (14 page)
Top players have strike rates over 60. Mine is 38. Focus on the ball better. Look to score.
The falling out occurred when I was playing in England. Paul Terry, the Hampshire coach, who is from Perth, had initiated a program to bring a handful of young English players to Perth and train them in the northern winter. He'd sort them out with a house and a car and train them at the club, using the facilities there and bringing in various resources, such as WA team psychologist Sandy Gordon. Paul was only bringing out four or five guys a year and Noddy believed, rightly, that there was scope for the program to be expanded. He wanted to â and did â start a similar program.
So I was playing for Northants and Paul was coaching Hampshire. Unbeknown to me, Paul came to our club one day to meet with the chief executive and they organised for two young Northants players to come to Perth to train. The two players were very keen and were good people. I told them they'd love it in Perth, Paul was a terrific coach and they would gain a lot from the experience. I told them about Noddy and suggested that they come down to have a hit with him too.
I got back to Australia and told Noddy that Paul had organised for two Northants players to come to Perth. I said to Noddy that I'd told the players about him and that they wanted to come and have a hit. Noddy walked away. I didn't know what the problem was. I chased after him but he drove away. I still didn't know what the problem was. I tried calling him but couldn't reach him. Eventually I turned up at his house and knocked on the door. âWhat's the matter?' I asked. âIs everything alright?' To which Noddy replied sternly: âYou had a chance to endorse my program, get a few players to come out and work with me. You obviously don't rate my coaching. You're just using me.' I told him that Paul had travelled to Northampton, met with the chief executive, I didn't know anything about it and had nothing to do with it. But he wouldn't accept my word. I sent Noddy a card, a book, I tried lots of things to try to repair the situation, but it was never resolved.
In my heart I know I did nothing wrong. I rate Noddy very highly as a person and a coach and I'd never do anything against him. I'd suggested that these guys work with him, but Noddy didn't see that part of it. It was a very difficult situation that got worse when I turned up at WA training soon afterwards. Some of the boys had a real go at me. I had players who had also worked with Noddy asking me why I had done the wrong thing by him and others who said simply that the problem had to be solved. What had started as a private misunderstanding had become a public spat.
I don't like conflict and there was definitely no need for conflict in this situation, but sometimes there will be misunderstandings that cannot be resolved and it is important to hold your ground if your conscience is clear. This was one of them. I still see Noddy around the place. I always say g'day but we never converse much beyond that.
I'm enjoying working with Australia's new coach, Tim Nielsen. I know Tim from his time as assistant to John. He is enthusiastic and prepared to roll up his sleeves and do the hard yards. But the truth is I've reached a point where, whoever the coach is â and whatever personalities I have around me â I have a firm grasp on what works for me and I won't let anything influence that. It's been quite a procedure, but I've arrived at a point where I feel comfortable with my game and comfortable with who I am.
P
ut yourself in my shoes. All your life you have dreamed of playing for Australia. You have trained to the point of oblivion. You have learned from psychologists, doctors, coaches, current and former players. You have read books, done courses and been through the Australian Cricket Academy. Throughout long winters you stuck to your training regimen and, later, travelled overseas in the hope of improving further and making a life out of the sport you love. You have been through good times and bad, but made sure every box was ticked in order to achieve your goal. And, finally, you have made it: you are a member of the Australian Test and one-day cricket teams. Sounds pretty satisfying, doesn't it? Just say, then, that you were in the team meeting, talking about tactics for your next game and the coach, captain or a selector looks your way and says: âHuss, you'll be sitting out the next couple of matches.' How would you feel?
It has taken me so long and so much toil and dedication to get the chance to play for Australia. To have someone tell me that I have to sit out a game or two or three is very upsetting. I don't want to start picking and choosing which games I have to miss and I certainly don't want to give another player an opportunity to take my place, do well and possibly keep it! No thank you.
But cricket is not like it used to be and, at some point, you have to be realistic about the situation. We seem to play more and more games each year, go on more tours, make more appearances and have ever-increasing obligations. Playing international cricket is a privileged and exciting way to experience life. But there is only so much you can pack into a day or a season and only so much your body and mind can take before your performance starts to suffer.
Top-level cricket is all about pressure and how people handle it. You're there because you can cope with it better than anyone else.
I want to extend my career for as long as I can. I was 30 years old when I was first selected, quite a lot older than most debutants, and therefore I have a burning desire to play as many games as possible and make the most of every chance I get to wear the baggy green. To be at your best, however, requires careful planning and attention to detail. You have to be physically primed but also mentally sound and on top of everything that's going on. But even for the best, most disciplined cricketers there comes a critical point at which the burden becomes too great and starts to weigh you down, impinging on your ability to do your job.
TREVOR HOHNS
Michael was always considered by the selectors to be a very good player. However, there were a couple of things he had to improve and, occasionally, while travelling around Australia watching domestic cricket, we would chat with him to let him know where he stood. We told Mike that we thought he was on the right track but he had to show more than sporadic good form. To break his way into what was a very strong Australian team, he had to be able to string good seasons together, improve the consistency of his Pura Cup form and keep in mind the underlying message that if an opportunity did present itself,
he had to be scoring runs at that time.
When a chance came, it wasn't going to be only Michael who was to be considered. There were a few batsmen in the running and we let him know that it could well come down to the person who was in the best form at that moment.
We were well aware that Michael had scored heavily in county cricket in England. In fact, his record in county cricket was exceptional and we often discussed those performances in our selection meetings. Our policy was to keep an eye on all Australians who were performing well in England, especially when the national team was playing there, as they did for the Ashes in 2005. However, in relation to the Australian summer and tours elsewhere, form and scores in England were not considered very deeply. Michael's prolific form in England did catch our attention, but we didn't place much emphasis on it and it was not the catalyst for us selecting him.
Our decision to pick Michael came after a period of deliberation in which we concluded that he would be a suitable replacement for Michael Bevan in the one-day team. He had scored many runs for Western Australia and Australia-A â if still a little inconsistently in Pura Cup â but working to his advantage was that he had batted in various positions and we believed he could slot well into the middle order. He lived up to that expectation and performed very well in the one-day team. So well, in fact, that he pushed very hard for selection during the 2005 Ashes.
We were faced with some tough choices as we came to the latter part of that series. By the fourth Test we weren't going well and the openers hadn't performed as we would have liked. We had to decide to either stick with what we had or bring in a replacement player, possibly Mike. Rightly or wrongly, we decided to stick with the 16 players we'd selected in the original squad. Matthew Hayden scored a hundred in the final Test, not that that proved very much in relation to the series. Nevertheless, it was just one of those situations where we had chosen a squad and, because it was all Test matches by that stage, the fringe players who weren't playing in the Tests wouldn't have had the chance to get into Test match form. Another reason we stuck with what we had was because we felt it was warranted to show a bit of loyalty and faith. Those senior players had built up plenty of credit points over the years and we thought it only fair to stick with them.
Mike accepted the situation very well and continued working on his game so he would be ready when an opening in the Test team arose. When that finally came, we considered the positive impact of Michael's performances and contribution to the Australian one-day side and concluded that he had become the best candidate to make the transition. We knew he had great ability, but also a refreshing raw enthusiasm that we believed would add a lot to the balance of the side. Once selected for the Test team, he brought those qualities to the set-up and never looked back.
Many players wait a long time to get picked for the top level and, in the era we've just been through, vacancies in our side, particularly the Test side, were not a regular occurrence. I have little doubt that had Mike been around in a different era, he would have started his Test career much earlier. However, the team he was trying to break into was so successful and therefore stable. We had quite a few of the all-time great players in the one side and Michael, like others, had no choice but to be patient. What I really liked about him, however, is that when his chance finally arrived he embraced it with gusto and no hard feelings about how long it had taken.
It must have been challenging for Michael to stay focused on his goal of playing for Australia when there seemed so few openings. I know that earlier on in his career he had gone through a stage of wondering whether he had to alter his natural batting style to attract more attention from us. However, we never told him to change his style. In fact, even though he felt he had to be more aggressive, it was his one-day form that eventually got him his start in international cricket, not his efforts in the four-day game. I believe that, playing at the top level, it's imperative to just be yourself. Everyone playing at first-class level can play the game. But you've got to know your own game well and know what your limitations are. Michael came to understand that and keep that concept effectively under control. By the time we picked him, we believed that Michael knew his game very well.
His drive, work ethic and will to succeed â and the fact that he had to wait so long â have ensured that he's made the most of every day that he's been part of the Australian team. You can see that he enjoys and cherishes every moment. I would even go so far as to say that the exuberance he has displayed has rubbed off on others in the Australian side.
Despite his obvious joy at becoming part of both teams Mike has kept his feet on the ground at all times. He had some tough experiences early on as a state player, yet kept his focus. It appears that he has been able to maintain that attitude since entering the Test scene and has not allowed himself to be swept up in the success he's had. It hasn't fazed or changed him at all, which I believe is a wonderful example for young people to follow.
Towards the end of my time as a selector, we showed a little of our feelings about where we believed Michael was headed by picking him as vice-captain of the one-day side for a team tour. He'd captained Australia-A a couple of times and we wanted to see how he would translate those experiences to the next level. Leadership qualities are definitely there and he is someone who knows how to set a good example for those around him. Whether there will be time in his career to take the step to Test captain, given that he's not that much younger than Ricky Ponting, is uncertain. But we know now that Michael is someone who is a leader, has a great work ethic and sets about achieving his goals in a very impressive way.