It was in the bar of the Sebel Playford hotel in Adelaide on the evening of 13 December 2014, after we’d wrapped up a thrilling and emotional Test win against India, that I first realised I had a chance of becoming Australia’s 45th Test captain.
I was having a drink with Brad Haddin, and former captain and now Channel Nine commentator, Mark Taylor and my assumption was that, with Michael Clarke injuring his hamstring and back during the match, Brad would take over for the foreseeable future. He was the senior professional within the squad, the vice-captain, a mentor for me at state and international level—and someone who was always prepared to cut to the chase, as he showed again that night.
‘You should give the captaincy to Smudge,’ he said to Mark.
Now Mark wasn’t just a prominent ex-player. He was also on Cricket Australia’s Board of Directors and it was those Directors who were the kingmakers when it came to deciding who captained the Australian side. The selectors put forward recommendations, but the decision to say yes or no lay with Mark and his colleagues around the board table.
Brad’s remark took Mark—and me—off-guard. ‘Don’t you want to do it, then?’ he said to Brad with a smile, perhaps thinking he was joking.
‘I’m not going to be playing for much longer and there’s no point in putting in a caretaker like me who’ll be gone soon. This’ll be a good opportunity for you to look at a long-term candidate to fill the role. Smudge is your man,’ said Brad.
‘Are you serious?’ said Mark, and then he turned to me and said: ‘Are you ready?’
I had absolutely no doubts that I was and said so, and with that Mark said: ‘I’ll go and make some calls then.’
I’m pretty sure Brad had already had the conversation with head coach Darren Lehmann, himself a selector, because it only took until the following morning as I was relaxing with Dani in Adelaide doing some shopping, for my mobile phone to ring and it was National Chairman of the Selectors Rodney Marsh calling.
‘We need to get this approved by the Board but subject to that approval, which I don’t think will be a problem, we’d like you to captain the side for the rest of the series against India, and when Michael comes back we’d like to make you vice-captain,’ he said. It all happened that quickly, and in less than 24 hours I went from a situation where the idea of captaining the side—at least at that point in time—hadn’t entered my head to being all set to take on the role. It was pretty amazing.
I’d grown up with one aim in mind, to play for Australia, and although the thought of captaining the side was something I’d dreamed of, it had never been anything more than that—a dream—up to that point in time. Now the dream was about to become a reality.
It was only after Mark had left the bar on the previous evening that I allowed myself to start thinking for the first time what it would be like to lead my country and I thought to myself: ‘This is actually happening.’ I started to get a little excited and I know Dani felt the same way when I told her later that night too.
So when Rodney called me with the news, my answer was a simple one: ‘Of course I’ll do it, yes—and thanks.’
I never had any doubts in my mind about taking on the role, either. I’d done a fair amount of captaincy throughout my life, throughout the age-group levels as I grew up, a season in first grade for Sutherland, and with New South Wales and the Sydney Sixers. And so although I knew this was a serious step up, I wasn’t daunted at the prospect in any way.
What was reassuring for me was that I knew Brad was in the team and that gave me a great deal of confidence. I was very close to him thanks to our time together, first at New South Wales and then with Australia, and knowing I would be able to call upon his terrific cricketing brain and experience was a tremendous feeling. He was a fantastic sounding board, not just for me, but for Michael too and, just as importantly, he had respect throughout the group.
Not that, as I soon realised, any of the players had to be won over to the idea of me taking charge. I’d known several of the squad, players like newcomer Josh Hazlewood, as well as Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and David Warner over a long period of time either through New South Wales cricket or our time together in the national side, while other senior players like Shane Watson—who captained the side when Michael Clarke was injured in India in 2013—Chris Rogers and Mitchell Johnson were very supportive. In fact, when the squad met up in Brisbane for the second Test of the series the whole group were very accepting of my appointment.
The speed of my rise from the ranks to the top job was best illustrated by the fact that in October in a tour game in Sharjah in the UAE ahead of our two-match series against Pakistan, when Michael and Brad were both off the field, it was Chris Rogers and not me who’d taken charge. And in early November in the ODIs against South Africa I wasn’t even in the first-choice starting eleven in that format and only secured a slot in the side when Michael suffered an injury in game one of that series. Fast-forward less than two months and now I was in the Test match hot seat.
The call I’d taken from Rodney was on Sunday morning and by the following day we were in Brisbane, it was two days before the second Test and I was officially announced as the new captain.
I knew I wasn’t going to be short of people offering their views on what I should do in my new role and how I should do it, but in the same way I had just a small group of people I trusted to chat with about my batting, the same was true when it came to discussing my promotion.
When I called my parents on that Sunday they were thrilled as it was justification for everything they’d done for me behind the scenes ever since I’d first had a cricket bat in my hands at the age of four. What came across to me when we chatted was the faith and confidence they had in me to do the job and do it well, which made me feel like a million dollars. They knew I was doing what I’d always wanted to do, that made them happy and that was enough for me. And Dad added: ‘Just go out and have fun.’
Warren Craig, my manager since the age of 18 when I was breaking into the New South Wales squad, was used to looking after high-profile sportsmen and women, including former Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath, and his advice was simple: ‘Just do it your way and back yourself in everything you do.’
That first team meeting is now a bit of a blur. I remember someone—Darren Lehmann, I think it was—announcing that I was going to be captain and then it was my turn to speak and, as I recall, what I had to say was pretty short and sweet.
‘I’m just taking over for three games and although I’ll be doing it my way, I won’t be changing too much,’ I said. That was because although I knew I was the vice-captain when Michael was fit to return, and so I had a pretty good chance of being the next permanent appointment, I also knew my role, at least for the time being, was that of caretaker captain.
By that stage Michael had sent me a text asking me to call him when I was free, and he was very generous in his congratulations when we spoke as he told me to enjoy the experience. ‘Don’t worry,’ I said. ‘I’ll hold on to it for you.’
From there it was on to the media conference at The Gabba where everything was made official in a public sense and it was undoubtedly the largest media gathering I’d ever attended. Again, just a couple of months earlier, I couldn’t help recalling I’d spoken to some journalists at the ICC Academy in Dubai as we prepared for the Test series against Pakistan and, by kindest count, there were maybe half a dozen reporters there plus a couple of cameras. My appearance then wasn’t exactly a crowd-puller but now every television news network, plus national and international reporters as well as the massed ranks of the Indian media were in attendance.
Just for fun I looked back at the video of that conference on ESPNCricinfo and I was pleasantly surprised at how relaxed I looked. I think that was a reflection of how I felt. This was where I wanted to be and I was pleased to be in that position.
The media gathering was just one aspect of my new job to get used to. Both Michael and Brad had told me that the on-field part of captaincy was the easy bit; it was all the off-field stuff, they said, that was the real drain on time and energy.
The role involved discussions with not only the media as the spokesman for the team but also with selectors and even board members. It was also a case of paying far more attention to the rest of the squad during net sessions, rather than just operating in my own bubble and preparing with just my own game in my mind. Ahead of team meetings it was no longer enough for me to know what my game plan was going to be against the Indian bowlers. Now it was a case of knowing what all my bowlers’ plans were too and so it was a case of watching footage, analysing where the opposition batsmen scored their runs and what their weaknesses were.
At the same time I was quite clear about my main responsibility. I was in the side as captain, yes, but I also had to score runs. If I didn’t do that then my place in the side was under threat because there are few, if any, teams that are good enough to carry a non-performing leader, no matter how tactically aware he might be. My desire, right from the outset, was to lead from the front, by example, and I knew the best way to do that was by producing big scores with the bat. If I did that then I felt that, with the quality of players at my disposal, everything else would fall into place.
An outsider looking on would only have noticed a few subtle changes to the way the side operated in that Gabba Test in comparison to what had gone on the previous week in Adelaide. It was only two weeks after the funeral of Phillip Hughes and so emotions were still raw within the dressing room, but having gone out and played as we did in Adelaide, we all now knew we could get on with the job at hand, however difficult that was.
What were those changes? Well, one of the first things I did was to make the group get-together out on the ground on match days a little bit later than had been the case under Michael. On the morning of matches players will go through their own preparations, whether that is having a bat in the nets, getting strapped up as a bowler or having a massage, but at a certain point in time the whole squad assembles on the outfield, the captain and coach say a few words about the plans for the day ahead and then the players and support staff break up into smaller groups and go through some stretches, loosening-up exercises and perhaps some fielding drills, while the bowlers might roll their arms over on a pitch adjacent to the one used in the match.
With Michael’s well-documented back problems and the acute stiffness and soreness he experienced as a result of that, he would usually like to have that group meeting relatively early in the day because, understandably, he liked a decent amount of time to get loose. The downside of that was it meant if others wanted to go through their own preparations then they would have to be correspondingly earlier as would, therefore, every other part of their preparation, from getting up to having breakfast, and so Michael’s timing for everyone to be ‘on deck’ was something that was not always universally popular. It was no criticism of Michael, but by shifting our get-together to a later time it meant the players could go through their individual routines at their own pace without one eye on the clock.
I took Michael’s spot on the field, at second slip, moving from my previous place in the cordon at third slip, Shane Watson remained at first slip, and Shaun Marsh, back in the side in place of Michael, moved into the cordon in my former role. It meant that players used to looking for the captain in a certain position on the ground would still be looking in the same place. It also meant minimal changes to the cordon too, something I was keen on as continuity in that area was vital. Slip catching is a skill like any other in that the more you do it, the better you become, and having players in positions they are used to—Shane was a fixture in his spot and Shaun and I both knew what we were doing there too—gives confidence to the bowlers that when the edge is found then it is almost always going to be taken.
The other major issue of debate for me leading into the Test was where I would bat, as the order was something that was always determined by the captain. I’d slotted in at number five in the first Test in Adelaide and been successful there, one place behind Michael, and now Shaun, with experience of batting throughout the top order, was coming into the squad to replace him. In my first media conference as captain I was even asked about whether I was going to jump up to number three, the position Ricky Ponting held down as captain with such success over many years and one which was now occupied by Shane Watson. Shane was settled there and so I was happy to bat at number four with Shaun following me at five, something he had been doing with a degree of regularity for Western Australia. It wasn’t a decision I arrived at on my own as I spoke with Darren Lehmann and also Brad and Shane, as well as Shaun, and I decided that my moving up was one way I could follow through on my desire to lead from the front, by example. I obviously wanted those players ahead of me to cash in and make big runs, but at the same time I knew that the earlier I got in, the more chance I would have of affecting the innings and the match in a positive way. It wasn’t a massive deal for me, but at the same time I wanted to be proactive and I thought that moving up the order was one way of doing that.
Mark Taylor presented me with my captain’s blazer at the start of the first day and, like Warren Craig a few days earlier, his message was simple: ‘Good luck, do things your way because you’re the one who’s remembered as the captain who wins or loses matches, and remember everyone is behind you.’ That was appreciated, but it was a prelude to what turned out to be a real baptism of fire as, after I lost the toss on a very hot day, India took control with the bat and our bowling resources were stretched to the limits by injury and fatigue. Looking back, though, that was perhaps the best thing that could ever have happened to me at that stage of my captaincy career. If things had been an absolute cruise, with wickets falling at regular intervals and every bowling or fielding change I’d made turning to gold, then it would hardly have prepared me for any tougher times ahead in the future. As it was, at the end of the Test I thought that having coped with everything that was thrown my way in the early stages, I could cope with anything in the future.
I learnt a lot about myself and my style of captaincy during that Test match. Being calm was not something that came easily to me and if you look back at footage of that match, you’ll see my frustration show itself from time to time, whether it was a shout, a wave of the hand or a look. I quickly realised that my body language was important as I was now the focal point for the rest of the team and everyone was looking to me for positivity. And I soon understood, too, that as captain, there was a camera on me at all times, either television or photography, and so I had to control my emotions to a far greater degree than I was used to doing previously. I quickly decided I had to come up with a coping technique to deal with any tension I was feeling at any point in time other than simply letting it out in full public view as I might have done in the past. My answer was to push my hands deep into my pockets and squeeze my thumbs hard. I found it offered a little relief for any pent-up feelings and it was something I continued to adopt from that time onwards.
The difficulties I experienced in the field after losing the toss on a decent surface began with Mitchell Marsh injuring his hamstring and he had to go off soon after lunch, unable to return to bowl for the rest of the match. Added to that was the fact that Mitchell Starc, back in the side in place of Peter Siddle, was really struggling for rhythm and Josh Hazlewood, on debut, was cramping badly. When all those factors were thrown together alongside India’s decent progress, as Murali Vijay made an excellent 144, then I honestly thought that I was going to have to try and get through quite a few overs myself to give Mitchell Johnson a break. It was a bit frightening for a while and I had the feeling of havoc unfolding on my watch, right in front of me.
As it was I only bowled one over that day, just before the new ball was due, as did David Warner, as Shane Watson and Nathan Lyon stepped up, getting through more than 30 overs between them. And although we only took four wickets on day one, we managed to take India’s last six wickets for the addition of less than 100 runs on day two to keep its score to 408—sizeable, but not match-winning.
It left us behind in the game and we were still in that position when Mitchell Johnson joined me at the crease on the third morning, one ball after drinks when Brad Haddin was dismissed with us still trailing by 161. From that point, however, we took the initiative thanks to some lovely clean striking by Mitchell while I went on my way at the other end. We added 148, of which he scored 88 of 93 balls, including 13 fours and a six, and although I was dismissed in the same over as him for 133, our tail then wagged so well through Mitchell Starc (52), Nathan Lyon (23) and Josh Hazlewood (32 not out) that we added 107 for the last two wickets, runs that gave us a substantial lead of 97 and proved crucial in the final wash-up.
I would have to rate my innings, spanning just over five hours, as one of my best in Test cricket and certainly one of my most important. It was necessary to help us first achieve a position of parity with India after its decent first innings score, but also because it gave me huge confidence to know that I could still perform as a batsman despite the added pressures of leadership. I knew I had the support of the dressing room, but to actually go from thinking about leading from the front to then doing so, gave me a huge mental boost and I hope it also won over any doubters of my ability among the public who, because of my rapid rise to the captaincy, may have been wondering at the start of the match whether I was up to the task in front of me.
For us to go on and win the match from the positions we found ourselves in both on day one with the ball and day three with the bat was a fantastic effort, and I told the players so at the end of the match. I did some research that I mentioned when I spoke to them, that it was the first time in two years, since the Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka at the MCG, that we’d lost the toss, bowled first and still gone on to win a Test. It was a tremendous achievement with a relatively inexperienced attack and I told everyone not only how proud I was of them but also how grateful I was for them to give me a winning start to my Test captaincy career.
We had been positive in chasing down the runs in the fourth innings, knocking off the 128 we required at close to a run a ball, albeit for the loss of six wickets. There was no pre-set plan to play in that way and I think it simply reflected the fact we were tense and wanted to get the job done. It was still a good surface and to win with a day to spare gave everyone a much-needed extra day of rest, something that was of vital importance, given that as the series timetable had been re-jigged there were only five days set aside in the schedule between the end of the action in Brisbane and a resumption of hostilities in Melbourne, with Christmas in between.
After Brisbane we drew the third and fourth Tests of the series, in Melbourne and Sydney, to seal a 2–0 series win and that, for the time being, marked the end of my time in the hot seat. We moved on to limited-overs cricket with a tri-series against India and England ahead of the ICC CWC and I slipped back into the ranks.
Throughout those three Tests in charge I only focused on the present and didn’t allow myself to look down the road at what might happen in the future. It would have been easy to think about the possibility of captaining Australia in that World Cup with Michael still rehabilitating from his injuries, but my mind didn’t work in that way. To start with, I’d never captained the ODI squad before and a World Cup was no place for a rookie captain, especially when there were experienced players like Brad Haddin, Shane Watson and George Bailey also in the line-up, with Shane and George two players who’d done the job previously. In any case, I was still trying to establish myself in the side again in that form of the game.
As it turned out, I did end up captaining the ODI side that summer, ironically at George’s home ground in Hobart when he was suspended for a match against England after we had maintained a poor over rate in a match against India in Melbourne. And, just as I did when I first took charge of the Test side, I managed to score a hundred (102 not out off 95 balls)—this time batting at number three—as we chased down a target of more than 300.
If I had to assess my captaincy in those three Test matches then I would give myself a mark of maybe seven out of ten and admit that, especially in Melbourne and Sydney, I was too conservative. My delayed declaration on the final day in Melbourne snuffed out the chance of an Indian win, something that ensured we would regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, but at the same time it didn’t give us enough time to bowl India out on what was still, even on the final day, a very flat pitch. And although we were more positive in Sydney, giving ourselves the whole of the final day to try and take ten wickets for victory, we again fell short, not helped by a surface that remained good for batting.
I would certainly do things differently in Melbourne if I had my time again, but at the same time I was conscious of the unique circumstances leading up to that point. Phillip Hughes’s passing was still fresh in everyone’s minds, all the players were emotionally tired after that terrible accident and the fact that the pitch in Melbourne offered so little to the bowlers meant we’d already spent 128.5 overs in the field getting India out a first time. There was also the matter of Shaun Marsh attempting to score a Test hundred and, although I knew it was a team game rather than one all about the achievements of the individual, it would have been needlessly cruel to deny him that chance. In the end he fell one run short when he was run out going for the landmark. The eventual closure was my attempt to take the pressure off the players as it came in the knowledge we could no longer lose the match and on that basis we could go out and relax, knowing the series was already won with us 2–0 up with just Sydney to come. If we won in Melbourne too then that was a bonus.
That final day declaration wasn’t without its moment of controversy as the television cameras captured Darren Lehmann, rather than me, calling our last pair off. That vision was seen by some as confirmation that it was the coach and not me who was pulling the strings, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. I was also signalling for Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood to come off the ground, but as the team’s viewing area was hidden away underneath a tiered stand on the members’ side of the ground, I wasn’t easily visible from the centre. On that basis, quite a few people were signalling, but it was Darren who was seen. The criticism that followed did sting me as I knew the truth of the matter but perception was a tough thing to fight against. It was just an indicator to me that although things had started well for me, they wouldn’t always be perfect.
The irony was that I found working with Darren very easy and we clicked very quickly as captain and coach. I knew he was a big supporter of mine, something that dated back to him seeing me score that 90 I mentioned earlier, for New South Wales in a Sheffield Shield match against the Queensland side he was coaching in late 2012, runs that were scored in a low-scoring match in Canberra. The start of his time as coach of Australia coincided first of all with me becoming a late inclusion in the Ashes touring party of 2013 after we had worked together on the Australia A tour earlier that year and I quickly went on to establish myself in the side. We both had a similar outlook on the game and it proved to be a terrific partnership that was resumed after Michael retired following the losing Ashes series of 2015.