Hilditch pleads for time to return team to golden days

Sydney, Jan 4 (ANI): Cricket Australia's chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch has asked critics to give selectors a chance to arrest the team's slump.

Hilditch made no excuses for recent series defeats by India and South Africa, but says the selectors intend to return the team to golden days, the Herald Sun reported.

"We are paid to pick players and teams on our experience, to get the right mix for a coming game, series, tour and the future. We just have to back our own ability at all times," Hilditch said.

And, referring to opener Matthew Hayden's meagre batting average of 22 in his past nine Tests, he said: "Everybody can access statistics. But we don't go on emotions or hunches or personal preferences. We make mistakes from time to time, but hopefully we minimise them. And experience helps."

A selector for 12 years of Australia's dominance of Test cricket, Hilditch knows he, David Boon, Merv Hughes and Jamie Cox are on a hiding to nothing when the team loses.

Despite it being standard practice, there will be those who stir a furore from the fact Hilditch is at his holiday house in SA this weekend while Boon represents the selectors at the Sydney Test.

"The reality is that unless Australia wins, you cannot win as a selector. If we lose, people have the right to say we should have done this or should have done that. If we lose, we must expect there will be criticism. There are 20 million Australians out there with their own opinions, and it shows how passionate they are that they express them," Hilditch said.

However, he said selection was not as simple as many cared to believe. "It is very challenging at the moment," Hilditch added. (ANI)