Former Test skipper Mark Taylor has urged the national selectors to use their gut feel rather than relying purely on statistics in picking a replacement for retiring batsman Ricky Ponting.
Ponting will bring down the curtain on his decorated international career at the conclusion of the third Test against South Africa at the WACA Ground.
The likes of Phil Hughes, Usman Khawaja and Rob Quiney head the queue to replace Ponting for the upcoming three-Test series against Sri Lanka and beyond.
But Taylor said selectors should think more subjectively rather than focusing only on the domestic form of players in choosing replacements down the track.
“It’s going to be more selecting on a gut feel … and I’d like to see the selectors do that going forward,” Taylor told ABC radio on Friday.
“Earmark the guys they think can play, who can handle Test match cricket, and then pick them.
“We know that Khawaja and Phil Hughes can do that. And they’re probably top of the ranks. But there are other players out there.
“A young guy from NSW – Moises Henriques – I think he’s a terrific cricketer and he’s probably as likely to get a hundred on Test debut as he is to get a hundred for his grade cricket side.
“Sometimes I think you’ve got to make a punt on a player.
“There’s so much cricket these days – with T20 all around the world – so it’s not always easy to pick guys on the old system of making runs in grade cricket, getting in the state team, making runs in the state team, and getting picked in the Test team.
“That may not necessarily work going forward. I think the selectors have to be more subjective in the way they pick their players in the future.”
The current selection panel is made up of coach Mickey Arthur, captain Michael Clarke, John Inverarity, Andy Bichel and Rod Marsh.
Taylor, who played 104 Tests for Australia before retiring in 1999, praised the influence of Ponting, comparing the 37-year-old’s captaincy skills to that of Steve Waugh.
Ponting’s appearance in Perth meant he equalled Waugh’s Australian record of 168 Tests.
