Australia's academy to be restructured

By Malcolm Conn

MELBOURNE, NOV. 18. Australia's Cricket Academy, elevated to icon status around the Test world over the past decade as Australia increasingly swamped all opposition, will be radically restructured following the departure of long-serving head coach Rod Marsh. While many major cricket nations are attempting to mirror Australia's success by developing elite finishing schools using the Adelaide model, a wide-ranging review is expected to recommend that the academy's focus now be the best young state players on the verge of international selection.

The current role of taking the best players from the Australian under-19 championships and polishing them for first class cricket is expected to be handed back to state academies, which have developed since the national programme began in 1987.

The review, which will be submitted to the Australian Cricket Board next month, comes as former Australian captain Greg Chappell warns there should not be an obsession with the much talked about institution.

``I think a lot of other countries have missed the point,'' said Chappell, who was on the ACB when the academy was established in conjunction with the Australian Institute of Sport. ``They look at Australia's success and say `we need an academy too. What they haven't seen is that the academy is the tip of the iceberg. The development programmes, the identification programmes and the elite competitions were developing the players to the stage where they could go to

the academy as the finishing school. Without properly qualified students the finishing school wasn't going to be all that good.''

Rod Marsh has been roundly praised for his 11 and a half years in charge of the academy, where he put a major emphasis on playing attacking, entertaining cricket. But there is a widespread feeling that it failed to keep pace with the changing face of the elite game in this country, particularly the ageing of players in the state and national teams as income rose dramatically in recent years. Now promising players, once rushed through to national and international level, may not even make a state side until their early to mid 20s. ``Everyone was quite comfortable with what the academy was achieving and perhaps didn't look past where we're at now to where we want to be in 15 or 20 years time,'' said Chappell, who is now coach of South Australia.

``Originally the academy was designed to enhance the underage elite competitions so the cream of the crop from that programme would be funnelled into the academy. ''The states have now picked up a lot of the slack in that area. That's why I believe the academy should now be aimed at the age group above.``

Chappell named players such as West Australian batsmen Simon Katich and Mike Hussey and Victoria's Brad Hodge, all in their mid 20s, as the type of player who should be singled out for special attention by a revamped academy.

''These sort of guys should be given not so much a live-in, nine months of the year programme but in the off season they should get the opportunity to be exposed to coaches who can help them more in the area of tactics and the process of how to utilise their talent to the best of their ability.``

Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said there was a ''common thread`` running through Australian cricket at the moment which suggested the academy needed to change its role. ''It must be a school of excellence where those who attend consider it a huge honour to be chosen.`` Hohns supported the attendance age being raised from 18 or 19 to as high as 24 or 25. ''It should be a funnel system through the state academies,`` he said. ''At the moment some states are not supporting it as they should or as academy people would like.``

Giving the states a greater role is endorsed by Ric Charlesworth, the former Australian hockey player and women's gold medal coach, who also once opened the batting for Western Australia.

''It should be decentralised,`` he said. ''In a country with our geography it doesn't make sense to have the academy in one state.``

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Bangladesh fighting hard
Next     : Kerala aiming to continue good show