Jason Gillespie has said he’d be “very interested” in a position as an Australia selector.
“I’d certainly love to be involved in selection at some point in the future,” the Sussex coach told cricket.com.au’s Unplayable podcast.
“It’s certainly a challenging role and it’s not to be underestimated how challenging it is.
“You only have to look at recent times, with the 50-over domestic one-day competition in Australia is played very early in the season. And then players are being selected almost on the back of Big Bash form, because it’s hard for the selectors to judge how a player is going in 50-over cricket when there hasn’t been 50-over cricket played for four-five months.
Justin Langer has stated that batting spots are up for grabs
“That’s just one of many challenges that selectors have to go through.
“I’d be open to discussing that in the future at some point. Right now, I’m very focused as a coach of the Adelaide Strikers and coach of Sussex County Cricket Club in the English County Championship.”
Gillespie, head coach at Adelaide Strikers and former head coach at Yorkshire, stressed that clarity of selection criteria is the fundamental issue to be addressed as Australia search for batting options ahead of their home summer. Head coach Justin Langer, who sits on the current selection panel with chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns and ‘talent manager’ Greg Chappell, has decribed the side’s Test batting places as “very open” following the team’s defeat to Pakistan in the UAE.
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“I think the absolute key is the messages that come out after the selections have been made,” Gillespie said.
“And the clarity of the communication to all players around the country in terms of how guys have been selected, why they’ve been selected.
“For me, that’s the absolute key and I’m sensing that’s been a bit of an issue in the past with players around the country. They’re not sure how much value is actually being placed on Sheffield Shield performances.
“I think that’s something that the selectors can look to address if they haven’t already done that. We don’t know, they may have done that. But certainly that clarity on selection criteria and how important Sheffield Shield performances are for selection into the Australian cricket team.
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“If the selectors are saying, ‘We are taking Sheffield Shield form in to consideration and players who perform will be strongly considered’, the potential issues that come up with that is that some players that are in contention for Test spots are not going to have an opportunity to play Shield cricket.
“I think Justin Langer has alluded to this, that some players may therefore be considered on the back of their shorter-form cricket form, particularly if they haven’t been afforded the opportunity to play Sheffield Shield cricket.”
