The Australian cricket team is in the dumps having suffered another series loss. After having lost the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy 0-2 against New Zealand, the Aussies surrendered meekly against India to go down 0-3 in the five-match ODI series. Slamming the dismal show by the yellow brigade and captain Steven Smith, former Aussie speedster Rodney Hogg said the team needed a serious selection shake-up, starting with redefining the captain's role in picking sides.
"They're picking their mates. Smith shouldn't be a selector," Hogg quoted as saying by news.com.au.
"(Ashton) Agar's been pushed through and Cartwright's still there. We saw (Nic) Maddinson get selected (he's) a mate, he's one of Steve Smith's mates. You can't pick bloody mates! We've got to get fair dinkum. We're really off the ball a bit here ... I think the captain's getting his own way," Hogg said.
Hogg said Australia's selection panel and their decision-making process needed a serious review.
"All the way down, there's got to be question mark. All the way across Cricket Australia," he said.
Former Aussie pacer also took the selection committee to task for ignoring in-form batsman Travis Head.
The 23-year-old Head has averaged 57.33 from three innings. He scored a brilliant century against Pakistan.
After India clinched the ongoing ODI series, captain Smith said that his team need to find a way back in the game and execute plans which they weren't able to.
"I think a mixture of guys making probably the wrong decisions on the wrong balls. Also, some pretty well executed bowling," Smith had said.
The Australian captain had also admitted that it indeed becomes hard to motivate the team after such defeats.
"We've lost 13 of the last 15 games we've played away with two being no results. That's pretty ordinary. Not good enough for an Australian cricket team. We need to start turning the results around and winning some games of cricket," he had said.