When the Kat was on the mat

PL is drawn back to a dark time when, like today, there was uncertainty at the top of the order

It never stops raining in Sydney. Ever. Been raining almost every minute of every bloody day since I got back from the Caribbean. Sun only comes out here long enough to make you think there’s hope. And then it starts to rain again. I’ll take it over Kingston’s gruelling heat, but my mind’s growing mould, and if you find me wallowing here, you can blame the weather.

Paul McGrath, artist and friend of Et Al, picked up on our musings in the pod the other day about the Simon Katich exit interview/press conference and sent through the video of that June day 14 years ago.

I reckon I owe Simon an apology.

I had an impression that he’d turned the lectern into a machine gun turret that day and laid waste to the Australian cricketing landscape. Having rewatched it, I was rather impressed by the calculating, intelligent and targeted takedown of those who’d decided to pull his contract following the 2010-11 Ashes debacle.

Katich didn’t spray bullets or abuse. This was a clinical demolition.

2011 was one of those times where Australian cricket was tearing itself apart. We don’t like losing to England anytime, but never is it as hard to stomach as when it’s it happens at home, as it had that summer. There was rising panic. The golden era was over when most thought it would never end. I’ll admit some complacency. When all the big dogs walked out the door post the rectifying five-nil 2006-07 Ashes win, I assumed the production line would keep churning out players of similar quality. On reflection, teams and players of that calibre are not to be taken for granted. Success may have bred complacency.

The sense of alarm was to some degree validated by the decision to bring in the experts and hold an inquiry. The Argus Review had all the solemnity of a Royal Commission. When you lose three of the last four Tests of the series by more than an innings, that is, arguably, a cap ‘c’ Cricket in Crisis type crisis.