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AlanJLegend · 03-04-2010, 03:22 AM

I was browsing Wikipedia and I happened to notice, Australia have had 5 test cricket captains in the last 25 years (one of them being Gilchrist who doesn't really count, so only 4 really). There are many teams (eg. England, Pakistan) who have shuffled through this many leaders in the past 5 years or so.

It begs the question, how important is the role of the captain? For as long as I can remember (and no doubt long before that) Australia has had a culture/tradition of appointing a leader who has been nurtured for the position for years and having them hold the captaincy until their retirement (btw we are talking test cricket, not a case of Clarke or Collingwood becoming T20 captains). Do you believe this culture has a lot to do with Australia's dominance over the last couple of decades?. Is this the best way to go about captaincy, or should it be more of a 'right-man-for-the-job-at-the-time' affair? Would it be suitible for test cricket teams to implement a captaincy rotation policy (as some teams in the AFL do and no doubt teams in other sports)?

Discuss.

03-04-2010, 03:22 AM	#1 (permalink)
AlanJLegend U19 Cricketer Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Tasmania, Australia Posts: 405	Captaincy; how important is it? I was browsing Wikipedia and I happened to notice, Australia have had 5 test cricket captains in the last 25 years (one of them being Gilchrist who doesn't really count, so only 4 really). There are many teams (eg. England, Pakistan) who have shuffled through this many leaders in the past 5 years or so. It begs the question, how important is the role of the captain? For as long as I can remember (and no doubt long before that) Australia has had a culture/tradition of appointing a leader who has been nurtured for the position for years and having them hold the captaincy until their retirement (btw we are talking test cricket, not a case of Clarke or Collingwood becoming T20 captains). Do you believe this culture has a lot to do with Australia's dominance over the last couple of decades?. Is this the best way to go about captaincy, or should it be more of a 'right-man-for-the-job-at-the-time' affair? Would it be suitible for test cricket teams to implement a captaincy rotation policy (as some teams in the AFL do and no doubt teams in other sports)? Discuss.