29.09.13
Letter to the Editor
Following the debacle in India, followed by the debacle in England, is it not time for Aussies to call for a better method of selection for Test cricket players than the current politicized version that we have witnesses for more decades than I care to remember.
Recently North Queensland suddenly woke from its slumber to discover that the NSWRL actually controlled the NRL, though this has been the case for as long as the NRL has existed. The democracy that we believe we have in sport is actually an illusion with someone from time to time breaking the rules by swimming faster, or batting at a higher average (Ricky Ponting) but these people are outsiders to the Sydney sporting cliché they are tolerated but only until they can get their own player who performs half as good as the incumbent take Ricky Ponting as another example.
For some god given reason the typical New South Welshman and to a lesser degree the average Victorian have a superiority complex and they genuinely feel that because they came into being in those States that somehow they should be placed first in any line and that all those in the line need to measure up to themselves, as it is they who are superior to all other comers?
Take for example former Australian Test Cricket Captain Kim Hughes, after the disgusting treatment dished out to him after losing 6 Test matches in a row, he did the noble thing of resigning as Test Captain. Jump forward to today the current Test Captain had his last Test win against New Zealand, two years ago, and lost so many Tests I need a calculator to add the losses, He should be hauled out by his bootstraps, as quite clearly he isn’t or has never been up to the job, but, he’s a New South Welshman, so little criticism, even less hounding for him to do the noble thing and stand down.
What a great nation we think we are especially in the sporting field, politics is everywhere, in fact many moons ago my Grandfather told me that “politics is life.” I am nearing my twilight years now, and only now I understand what that great man told me, and how I wished that I had listened more.
Regards,
Shaun Newman
13 Laura Court
Deeragun, Townsville
Ph: 0747516184
Email – sne35565@westnet.com.au