Couldn't help myself…

Try as you might, there are some things you just can’t ignore.

I was all set to give the cricket discussion the big miss until the end of Day One, but a couple of headlines in the old browser had me recapping some previous thoughts on the morning lap around downtown Bowen.

The first of them was on the ABC News feed: Ashes: Brad Haddin calls Mickey Arthur 'very, very insecure', lauds impact of coach Darren Lehmann, which doesn’t come as any surprise apart from the fact that someone felt the point needed to be made.

The second appeared in The Guardian: Australia's Michael Clarke out to put Ashes misery in England behind him, which probably comes as no surprise to anyone who has read Clarke’s diary from the first part of the series. I haven’t, and don’t plan to, because I gather it’s a depressing read. The Guardian also had Glen McGrath opining: Australia's restored self-belief will help win them back the Ashes, which looked to be a fair assessment of where things are, devoid of predictions about whitewashes.

Most of the pre-Jimbo section of morning walk was spent folding those matters into previous ideas, and it’s obvious that we don’t want to be complicating things too much. When you do that, the plot tends to go out the window.

Without dwelling too much on the Arthur era it’s obvious that, for much of that time,  we didn’t know what our best Test line up was. Uncertainty fuels insecurity, and it was a matter of plugging away until a couple of blokes stuck their hands up and looked to deliver. Pick and stick is an easy concept, but requires a bit of courage when it comes to the stick part. It’s easy to chop and change.

The side that goes out onto the paddock tomorrow is the strongest side we can assemble out of what’s available. McGrath makes the valid point that we’ll be in trouble if we lose Johnson, Harris or Siddle, but that’s not rocket surgery either.

You’d suspect Cutting is the next cab off the rank, and playing Faulkner if the track looks like it will help the quicks will share the work load, particularly since it looks like Watto will be right for a partial workload.

The cupboard might look relatively bare after that, but there are other quicks around, and if they’re needed it’ll be a case of waiting to see whether they measure up. Simple enough, that feller.

Having assembled the best side we can manage the next task is getting them to deliver, which brings us back to the Haddin article. The key quote, as far as I’m concerned, is this one re. the notorious homework incident: "That wasn't the Australian cricket team that I knew when I flew into Mohali.”

Now, it’s obvious that we not only didn’t know what our best side was, but we couldn’t get the squad working together. Allow individuals to pick and choose what they want to do, and you can probably wave a tearful farewell to unity of purpose.

Clear routines, an agreed way of going about things and some system to back them up are the key here, as is the need to make all this enjoyable. The homework issue probably stemmed from is this really necessary? matched up with a fair bit of well, this other bloke isn’t worried about it, so why should I be?

You can, of course, work your way around those mindsets by laying down the law. This is what we’re doing. Here are the reasons why. And here are the consequences if you don’t. You match those statements with a system of penalties and incentives. Impose fines for breaches, use the proceeds to provide incentives for the sort of behaviours you want to encourage.

Dummy spits and late arrivals for the team bus et cetera get pinged for the dosh that’ll create a slush fund to pay out for particularly good bits of banter. If the fund gets too big, throw a donation to some worthwhile cause, with the cheque being presented by the leading contributors.

The most recent incident with the Wallabies is a timely reminder that you need to ensure protocols regarding nights out are adhered to, so you appoint a social co-ordinator for each game who’ll generate an itinerary that will allow the team to relax away from the spotlight and have a good time doing it. That’s the official program. If you’re not keen on tonight’s option, there’s always room service at the hotel.

If you’ve got your wife, girlfriend, partner or kids along, here’s a family-friendly option you might want to consider, and for a quiet night for two, how about this one.

When you get to that point, of course, you have the risk of fragmentation, so it might be best to leave the family home for the first part of the series, but if that’s the policy, that’s the policy.

And, most particularly, if we find ourselves in a situation where we have to draft in a replacement when the cupboard looks relatively bare, there’s to be nothing resembling the can’t bowl, can’t throw incident. Don’t even think it. But if you do, and you’re sprung in the act, expect your wallet to be a fair bit lighter and anticipate being the face in the photograph when the cheque’s being handed over to the worthy cause...