A couple of years back, more than a couple of our overseas Cricket following friends, asked me if there was another team in the world who could beat the then Australian Cricket team. (This was before the 2005 Ashes Loss!) I replied with a positive response.
My positive reply then was that yes there was. The bad news being that it was the Australian Second team. I then went on to explain my theory of why Australia was so good at that time.
It was because we had so many other players good enough to be a winning second string team, yet still not able to get a regular spot in the Number One team.
This discussion came to mind again today, as the Australian Team now has 3 world class champions retiring after the last Test. (4 if you count a world class Batsman who retired two tests back!). So now the question on every ones lips is, “Where to now for Australia? Can these 4 top players be replaced quickly? The answer is twofold.
As Individuals They will never be replaced. There is only one Glen McGrath. There is only One Shane Warne. There is only one Justin Langer. There is only one Damien Martyn.
All true, but as in the past, so in the Future. As far as fast Bowlers go there was only one Denise Lillie, There was only one Jeff Thompson. Still all true. But since them we have had, only to name a few, Massy, Pascoe, Alderman, Lawson, Lee, and oh yeah, McGrath!
As Individuals They will never be replaced, but collectively there are many other potential greats waiting in the wings. People who perhaps would never get a chance to show there potential wares as long as these champions are holding down their spots. Like wise with Batsman! Yes two top world class Batsmen have retired in Langer & Martyn, but as expressed on the TV by someone more knowledgeable than me on the subject, there areallready a couple of obvious talented batsmen in the wings already like Brad Hodges & Phil Jacques, who couldn’t previously hold down a permanent spot, but who now get their chance to regularly show their wares, and not have everything hinge on one performance to get a regular run.
Enough of Cricket. What about You and your life? Do you feel like you can never be replaced, yet still know you can’t go on forever? What will happen when you retire, whether voluntarily or involuntarily?
Are you training others to fill your spot, or whatever other spots that eventually there will be a need to fill? (It is always a shot to one’s confidence, when they hire two people to fill your role!) In Cricket it is not the players, but the Administrators job to train and prepare replacements. However usually in our lives, it seems that we don’t always have that luxury and if we don’t train our replacements, no one does! Thus either making it difficult for us to retire when the time is right or leaving a large hole to fill, when we have to. A hole that shouldn’t really be there if preplanning had been properly done.
Pre planning has been done by the Australian Cricket Board and thus we already have quality replacements ready and waiting, plus future replacements for them also being prepared. Stuart Clark, as top Wicket Taker this series, has already shown that he is a capable replacement for McGrath and in the wings are a couple of young guns like Mitchell Johnson, waiting to show his wares at the top level. So again, are you prepared for the future or do you need to start on it right now?
On the other hand perhaps you feel only a second string player and feel that you may never get the chance to take over the top spot? Are you continually frustrated because you never get a chance to show your wares and when you do, find you still can’t do enough to win the top spot permanently.
If so, spare a thought for Stewart McGill. He is a great Spin Bowler. Some would argue that as a bowler (but not Batsman) he is better than Shane Warne, yet he has had to play second string to Warne for nearly his entire career because normally there is only one spot in the team for a spin bowel and that spot has always belonged to Warne. The only way McGill could normally get a game was when Warne was injured or suspended. (They have played together a couple of times on the rare occasion that that particular Cricket Ground favored two spinners.)
Anyway McGill long ago accepted this reality but still kept playing his best, even though he thought he would retire before Warne. That has turned out to not be the case and now he again has the chance to prove he is good enough to do the job for his own now that Warne has retired.
What about you? Are you doing your best irregardless of your chances of getting the top job? Ready at any time to step into the breach and fulfill the task?
Or have you simply given up and simply going through the motions, or even worse given up altogether and walked away from something that you are in fact very good at, for no other reason than that you couldn’t be number One. Well remember, as in life, as in the Cricket Team. There may be many in a team but there can be only one no, 1.
My advice to you is to stick at what you are good at even if you will never be regarded as Number one, or even to get the chance to be No.1. Hang in there and do your best always, even if it is never properly recognized or rewarded.
If you are already doing that, great! If not buckle down, throw away the excuses and give your best in all things: Walter
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