Australian cricket team are currently in panic mode

Steve Smiths Australia recently lost a Test series to South Africa and now face a tough challenge against Pakistan whom they take on in the opening Test at Brisbane today PicGetty ImagesForm is temporary class is permanent Dont read too much into Australias Test performances this summer They played poorly against South Africa will probably triumph quite easily against Pakistan and that will count for nothing when it comes time to board the plane to India Their issues run deeper than can be analysed in a snapshot The lesson that India can take from it is that when you are No 1 there is no time for complacencySystemic issuesAustralia has systemic issues that will take more than cosmetic changes to fix On the plus side in Peter Handscombe they have the makings of a future star Everything about him attitude work ethic and skill point to a career in the ascendancyHis twinkling feet will be on show against the spinners in India and whilst he may not score a mountain of runs on his first tour mark him down as a future great If his wicketkeeping is allowed to flourish that may be Australias longterm answer to a problem that is no closer to being solved with the selection of the feisty Matthew WadeSince when was Test cricket simplified to the extent that it can be fixed by picking players who can trash talk Wade Call it by any other name but they picked Wade because he can apparently sledge better than Nevill His batting is no better his keeping is significantly worse but hes more skilled at chatIf cricket can be reduced to that level of simplicity we dont need to worry about runs and wickets mdash just go down to the local pub and pick the most foulmouthed hooligans and give them a baggy greenOn that theme Peter Nevill was pretty stiff to be dropped A bad decision in the first innings in Perth no reviews left to refer it a brave not out in the second innings and two failures on a green pitch in Hobart when everyone else failed too Players are now very nervous because they feel that there is no loyalty in this new climate of panicComplete confusionThe problem is that no one in Shield cricket knows what to expect from the selectors anymore They talk about rewarding runs and wickets Matt Renshaw and Handscombe and then they also select players on the mythical Xfactor Nic Maddinson Complete confusion mdash for some players the benchmark is formperformance for others like Mark Waughs favourite Maddinson they opt for something intangible like potentialmagicX factorMaddinson averages mid 30s in domestic cricket he failed in the game leading up to his selection and then gets selected The selectors are panicking and it shows mdash theyre hedging their betsHow can someone like Callum Ferguson who has consistently scored heavily in Shield cricket be good enough to be in the first XI one week and on the basis of a runout and a poor shot on a green pitch in Hobart suddenly drop that far down the pecking orderWhat sort of message does that send Either the selectors got it wrong when they picked him in the first place or they were panicking when they dropped him a week later after one poor inningsHow can he go from being one of the best six batsmen in Australia to not being in the team on the basis of one innings Poor Joe Mennie He was told to rest after the Hobart Test and was not allowed to stake his claim in the selection trial round of Shield matchesPresumably if you are ordered to rest and not allowed to fight for your spot you can assume that your spot is safe The muchvaunted Shield cricket touted as the best firstclass competition in the world is a jokePlayers are being substituted halfway through a game Its being treated like a practice match and then they expect cricketers to perform to get selected Club cricket is heading the same way The fast bowlers are not allowed to bowl more than a few oversHow does this prepare batsmen or bowlers for the step up to Test cricket The batsmen arent facing the best bowlers so no wonder they get found out when they face Stuart Broad Vernon Philander Sean Abbott etc on a pitch that has a bit of lifeThe Futures League is full of young players U23 so the hardened veterans are being excluded from the next level downMichael Jeh is a Brisbanebased former firstclass player