Agence France Presse

Sydney, March 2:

The axing of popular Darren Lehmann sent a shiver through members of the Australian cricket team as the realisation dawned that major surgery awaits them in the coming years.

Selectors last month pulled the pin on Lehmann’s ODI career just weeks after his 35th birthday, and almost certainly ended his dream of playing in his first Ashes Test series in England later this year.

Lehmann, or ‘Boof’ as he is known, was much-loved in the Aussie dressingroom and skipper Ricky Ponting spoke up for his retention, but he was rolled by selectors.

Australia may be dominating world cricket, but the fear of repeating the synchronous

loss of greats Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh and the accompanying collapse of its Test team in the mid-1980s, still haunts the current-day custodians.

Australian cricket is amidst a golden era, but the team is growing old gracefully together and with that empowers the skill of replacing them without wiping out the whole set-up.

Three of stars — Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne — will be in their mid-to-late thirties by the time of the 2007 World Cup, along with Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Damien Martyn, Michael Kasprowicz and Stuart MacGill. Such is the roadblock at the elite level of Australian cricket that skipper Ricky Ponting turns 31 this year and paceman Jason Gillespie is 30 next month.

Selectors have been introducing new blood, among them 23-year-old Michael Clarke, but plenty of anguish lies ahead for Australian cricket to keep ahead of the rest. Two milestones are looming which could result in the break-up of the current team. This year’s traditional Ashes series will be the last for many of the contemporary side and many of them are expected to call quits after the 2007 World Cup.

“I think you’ll probably see a mass exodus of the guys after the World Cup from one-day cricket, and rightly so,” says batsman Damien Martyn.

“I know from a group of guys like Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and myself, we feel we’ve worked so hard to get here and we’re on top of our games, physically, but more importantly, mentally,” Martyn said. “A lot of us had to wait a long time to get back in the side. Sometimes you feel like there’s an attitude of ‘get rid of them now’.

“We feel that we’ve worked so hard to be No1, so why would you change it, if it’s going so well?” But chairman Trevor Hohns and his selection panel have shown they are up to the task of making the tough decisions on players’ careers.

Lehmann was the first major sacking since prolific batsman Mark Waugh was left out of the 2002-03 home Ashes series against England at the age of 37. His twin brother and skipper Steve made an emotional farewell from Test cricket against India last year.

World record-setting wicketkeeper Ian Healy was dumped for Gilchrist prior to the 1999 home series with Pakistan and not even allowing him the opportunity of seeing out his Test career before his own Queensland fans in the first Brisbane Test of that series.

Former selector John Benaud, brother of commentator Richie, believes Hohns’ panel has, if anything, erred on the cautious side with team rebuilding.

“They haven’t had to do anything too dramatic because times have been good,” he said.

“But there does come a time when you have to be harsh with someone like Lehmann.

It’s not about trying to keep every trophy on the mantelpiece. You’ve got to plan ahead,” he added.