Why can't bowlers be Australian captain?

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Catters 070911

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Oct 13, 2017
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I am hearing that people want Steve Smith as captain again. That would be a disaster, and rewarding him, when he has shown that he can't be trusted as captain to make right moral decisions.

I discussed this with my brother, and he said that there is no-one else in the side who can do it.

I have also heard the argument that Tim Paine isn't a good captain, because he doesn't make enough runs.

But if it is about a captain making runs, then that rules out all the bowlers. Why?

Why are our captains always batsmen? Why couldn't our new captain be a bowler, for example, Pat Cummins?

Are people afraid that a bowling captain would bowl himself all the time? That's not showing much faith.

Bowlers can be successful captains. Imran Khan was a great captain for Pakistan, and a great bowler. I don't think anyone questioned his captaincy.

So, before we go back to a captain who turns a blind eye to cheating, we should take the blinkers off and see if any of the bowlers have leadership qualities. Maybe the mindset of the Australian public needs to change as who can and can't be a good captain. All that is required is to be a leader of men, and set the standard, something Steve Smith failed at when he allowed Sandpapergate.
 
May 30, 2006
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They can be captains, but we haven't done it for a full-time captain as a regular bowler since Benaud. Leaving aside the one-off fill-ins like Watson (seriously, Shane ******* Watson).
With the rotation policies, etc, it makes it more difficult with fast bowlers. They get rested so often these days that you would be swapping captains out every few games. There is also teh consideration of over/under-bowling themselves, but anyone who has the nouse for captaincy should be mature enough to handle that conflict. And its not as though it wasn't an issue with part-time bowler captains.

Smith will get the job back after his leadership ban ends.
 

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HTPunter

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Not sure why. Don't think Smith was ever the greatest tactically - he got the job because he was the best and most reliable player, so following that Cummins should be up there.
 

DAlembert

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Batsman are just smarter and more tactically aware than bowlers. There coffins are usually neater and there clothing a bit smarter. Fast Bowlers are better drinkers usually although short stocky guys hold the drinking records. As another said Bowlers are not the sharpest axes in the tool shed. Look at Warne never made Captain as he was thick as a brick. I see he is the best captain in the commentary box. Always knows when to bring the spin on where to bowl and who should be bowling absolute genius in the commentary box. Smith will be Captain again as he should be. Best player. Will be the right man for the job. Cummins I agree is a pretty boy but just not captain material. Hazlewood good bowler reminds me of pigeon and let's face it he was a sandwich short of a picnic. In conclusion Bowlers do not stack up.
 

pugsville

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The Captain does most of his work when the team is in the field when the bowler is most distracted with his own duties as a player potentially interfering with his role as captain. A non bowling captain can observe the bowling attack while at slip, set the fields, and concentrate on the game, managing bowlers and fields. A front line bowling captain has to manage the fields and other bowlers while bowling himself, often fielding long on or fine leg, not the best field/bowler management position. A bowling captain could struggle in spell and rather spend the time between his overs to refocus and think about his bowling has to manage the field and the other bowlers. There is real conflict between bowler as a player and as a captain when his bowling himself there are so many other pulls on his attention and focus during his bowling spell. A bowling captain is constantly making decisions about himself as a player, does he come on to bowl now>? Does him give himself another over or two? Juts so often in cricket a bowling captain tends to chronically either under or over bowl himself. The happy medium seems not to exist. A long hard day bowling 30 overs and captaincy is a large mental challenge. Typically wicket keeper captains are thought to be a massive strain as well. Wicket keeping being a long tough day in the field all the time , the keeper is always on, also why keeper openers is not well regarded as good idea in test cricker.
 
Sep 23, 2006
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The Captain does most of his work when the team is in the field when the bowler is most distracted with his own duties as a player potentially interfering with his role as captain. A non bowling captain can observe the bowling attack while at slip, set the fields, and concentrate on the game, managing bowlers and fields. A front line bowling captain has to manage the fields and other bowlers while bowling himself, often fielding long on or fine leg, not the best field/bowler management position. A bowling captain could struggle in spell and rather spend the time between his overs to refocus and think about his bowling has to manage the field and the other bowlers. There is real conflict between bowler as a player and as a captain when his bowling himself there are so many other pulls on his attention and focus during his bowling spell. A bowling captain is constantly making decisions about himself as a player, does he come on to bowl now>? Does him give himself another over or two? Juts so often in cricket a bowling captain tends to chronically either under or over bowl himself. The happy medium seems not to exist. A long hard day bowling 30 overs and captaincy is a large mental challenge. Typically wicket keeper captains are thought to be a massive strain as well. Wicket keeping being a long tough day in the field all the time , the keeper is always on, also why keeper openers is not well regarded as good idea in test cricker.

Makes you wonder how Imran Khan managed it though doesn't it? Where did he field BTW? I tried a while ago to find out by doing a comprehensive search and asking in this forum, to no avail.
 

Pippen94

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The Captain does most of his work when the team is in the field when the bowler is most distracted with his own duties as a player potentially interfering with his role as captain. A non bowling captain can observe the bowling attack while at slip, set the fields, and concentrate on the game, managing bowlers and fields. A front line bowling captain has to manage the fields and other bowlers while bowling himself, often fielding long on or fine leg, not the best field/bowler management position. A bowling captain could struggle in spell and rather spend the time between his overs to refocus and think about his bowling has to manage the field and the other bowlers. There is real conflict between bowler as a player and as a captain when his bowling himself there are so many other pulls on his attention and focus during his bowling spell. A bowling captain is constantly making decisions about himself as a player, does he come on to bowl now>? Does him give himself another over or two? Juts so often in cricket a bowling captain tends to chronically either under or over bowl himself. The happy medium seems not to exist. A long hard day bowling 30 overs and captaincy is a large mental challenge. Typically wicket keeper captains are thought to be a massive strain as well. Wicket keeping being a long tough day in the field all the time , the keeper is always on, also why keeper openers is not well regarded as good idea in test cricker.
How did Richie Benaud go as captain?
 

pugsville

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Cummins is our current vice-captain, so he is next in line if Paine is dumped.

Nope. The appointment of vice captain is not a direct endorsement that the VC will be the next captain. Warner was VC under smith. I don't think he was even remotely close to appointment as captain.
 
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pugsville

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How did Richie Benaud go as captain?

It's not impossible for a bowler to be captain, but it is significantly harder for the host of reasons I enumerated. Beanaud was a great captain, but fairly exceptional cricketer. There have been some good/great bowling captains but they are few and far between.
 

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pugsville

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Makes you wonder how Imran Khan managed it though doesn't it? Where did he field BTW? I tried a while ago to find out by doing a comprehensive search and asking in this forum, to no avail.

I think Mid On (trawling a few youtube videos which is frustrating and spotty way to try and find out ), most captains are either mid on or slip. It's the best positions to manage things from. 88 tests 28 catches rules out any significant time in slips.

But your avergae fast bowler, is hardly a great fit for slips or mid on.
 
Feb 6, 2013
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It's not impossible for a bowler to be captain, but it is significantly harder for the host of reasons I enumerated. Beanaud was a great captain, but fairly exceptional cricketer. There have been some good/great bowling captains but they are few and far between.
Off the top of my head there's also Anil Kumble (briefly), Bishan Bedi, and Venkatraghavan for India. Don't think any of them captained long and all three are spinners which is a little less labor intensive than bowling quick. For Aus other than Benaud there's Ron Archer, don't know anything about him really though. Bob Willis captained England.
 
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traditionally wicket keepers in Australia in recent times have held the (vc) role r.marsh, healy, gilly, haddin.

end of the day paine got the job in unusual circumstances.

with bowlers, another reason could be they don't string enough tests in a row together (injuries etc, horses for courses). another could be they could underbowl or even over bowl themselves.

let paine captain the summer and give it back to smith.
 

Sammo360

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Nope. The appointment of vice captain is not a direct endorsement that the VC will be the next captain. Warner was VC under smith. I don't think he was even remotely close to appointment as captain.

Correct, but I should have mentioned Trevor Hohns is on the record as saying Cummins is next in line for captain, even over the other VC Travis Head.
 
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I think Mid On (trawling a few youtube videos which is frustrating and spotty way to try and find out ), most captains are either mid on or slip. It's the best positions to manage things from. 88 tests 28 catches rules out any significant time in slips.

But your avergae fast bowler, is hardly a great fit for slips or mid on.

Thanks for that. Cummins has fielded at mid on plenty. Can see no reason why he couldn't follow in Khan's footsteps who was one of Pakistan's most successful captains ever. As outlined below.

Beating Australia 3-0 and then India 3-0 at home in 1982-83.

Beating England in England and India in India in 1987.

Winning an international ODI tournament in India in 1989.

Winning the 1992 World Cup.

Captaincy Record: 48 Tests: 14 Won; 8 Lost; 26 Drawn. 139 ODIs: 75 Won; 59 Lost.
 

Simon_Nesbit

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Makes you wonder how Imran Khan managed it though doesn't it? Where did he field BTW? I tried a while ago to find out by doing a comprehensive search and asking in this forum, to no avail.

Along with everything else he was good at, Imran was an excellent fielder too. (sort of guy you just know he'd play golf off scratch).

Started in the gully and covers (almost unheard of for fast bowlers), but moved to mid-off/mid-on as captain. Don't recall him patrolling the boundary too often.
 

Simon_Nesbit

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I love Warne but he would have been an absolute disaster as captain

- Nurses petty grudges
- Plays favourites
- would have bowled himself too much
- poor ability to self reflect

Yes he was a tactical genius - which is why VC was his ideal position.

Agree - as VC you can throw up any number of ideas and can't lose - either the captain shoots you down and you can say it would have worked, or he backs you in and it's still his call if it goes wrong.

Warne's great in commentary because of that - he can talk all day about what he "would have" done. When he did captain, there were lots of "innovations" and new idea, but also lots of things that just simply didn't work as well as the 'normal' decision could have.
 
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Agree - as VC you can throw up any number of ideas and can't lose - either the captain shoots you down and you can say it would have worked, or he backs you in and it's still his call if it goes wrong.

Warne's great in commentary because of that - he can talk all day about what he "would have" done. When he did captain, there were lots of "innovations" and new idea, but also lots of things that just simply didn't work as well as the 'normal' decision could have.
If he did get the captaincy he'd be moaning endlessly about the selectors not letting him have Tim May in the side up to 2005 or something instead.
 

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