Shane Warne says he hopes the introduction of youth will see an upturn in fortunes for the national side.
The former champion leg-spinner says while Rod Marsh has done a great job in Australian cricket, his selections in recent times had left a lot to be desired, and believes with Trevor Hohns now back on board as interim Chairman of Selectors the team is on the right track.
“Rod Marsh has been a great of Australia, but I don’t think he’s got a lot of selections right,” Warne said on SEN Breakfast.
“I think as soon as Trevor Hohns got on board and we looked for the Adelaide Test side it suddenly looked a lot better on paper and there looked to be a bit more of a plan.
“There was youth in there, rather than picking guys as a stopgap selection.
“I think we are starting to get on the right track now and hopefully it’s a sign of good things to come.” Warne lamented the poor form of the current Australian side, declaring it hasn’t played well for quite a considerable period of time.
“I think we haven’t played well for a long time,” he said.
“I think we played a really ordinary West Indies last summer, we came up against a good Sri Lankan side we got beat, we came up against a good England side we got beat.
“We came up against a good South African side and got beat, whitewashed 5-0 in the one-dayers. I don’t think we’ve been good for a while.”
One of his major concerns is the policy of pulling out certain bowlers in the middle of Sheffield Shield matches.
He cites Mitchell Starc being pulled out midway through his only Shield game prior to the South Africa Test series as a prime example of people being scared he will breakdown with further injury.
“Pulling people out of games, I don’t like that. You either play or you don’t,” Warne said on SEN Breakfast. “I think the sports science in all sports these days, we’ve got to make sure that’s not running the show. That should be a secondary matter.
“I don’t like people being pulled out because they might get injured.
“A perfect case is Mitchell Starc, he got better and better as the Test matches went on because he kept bowling and bowling, rather than have six overs in the nets, that’s enough, stop now, or pulled out of shield games.
“I don’t think that’s right, because they’ve got to bowl, that’s how they get match fit.