Please disregard my previous blog post (Watson in, Hughes out). For having a go at your decision to bring Shane Watson in for struggling opener, Philip Hughes, I am sorry.
For a long time I have been a big fan of Shane Watson, of his fantastic batting technique, his steady bowling and his feisty temperament. I have always thought that he has been a very good all-round prospect for Australia.
I'm not sure what had gotten into me, to be honest. Maybe it was the fact that we were 1-0 down in the series, and that I was really at a loss as to what we were to do go regain some momentum after the loss at Lords. After seeing what Phil Hughes did in South Africa (losing momentum was not a word Hughes understood!), dropping him, to me, was simply out of the question.
Maybe, it was the fact the you have messed around with Australia's one day and 20/20 line-ups so much, that, you have tried so many different openers in recent years in the shorter format of the game, which in my humble opinion, has lead to our great decline. I have seen what makeshift openers have done in our 50 over sides, the likes of Marsh, Warner, Ronchi, Haddin, Clarke, Hayden and even Watson himself. I have seen most of them fail, so surely you can forgive me for thinking that bringing in this "specialist batsman" for a specialist opener would be a big mistake.
Or maybe, it was just due to the fact that, there have been a lot of cases over the last two years, when Australia have been in a "rebuilding phase", where you have simply made the wrong decisions. Like when you decided that Cameron White could do the job as a frontline spinner in India... one had to question your motives after that series. And how about all those times in 08/09 when you continued to stick with Matthew Hayden, even though he was horribly out of form and hence letting the side down? And what about when you kept Brett Lee in the side against South Africa, even when injured and playing poorly, and you had a fine replacement in Doug Bollinger waiting in the wings? Or how about when you dropped McGain off the cotract list after one bad game, or axing Krezja after failing in Perth, or getting rid of Beau Casson even after he performed so solidly in the Caribbean, which has ultimately lead to his demise as a bowler? All this past decision making ultimately lead to me thinking that bringing in Watson would be yet another mistake, and so again, I apologise.
Please forgive me, but also please take into account what I have said. You have done a fine Job for this Ashes series, not being afraid to ring the changes and play the inexperienced guys, which is something you have definately shied away from in the past. I also understand that you selectors are in a rebuilding phase yourselves, it must be hard to pick a side which once had everything, and now has nothing. I totally understand where you are coming from, desperately trying to stick with your tried and trusted players, your Lees, Clarks, Pontings etc...
And so all I can say is, as I end this letter, to not be afraid of losing. Don't be afraid of slipping down in the test match rankings a bit, and don't be afraid of getting rid of some of the more experienced players in order to develop a young squad.
Keep making the tough decisions, yours sincerely, Chris.
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