Former Australia coach Darren Lehman says he is concerned the current selectors may be too close to the current Test line-up to make the really hard calls.

While Australia is in decent shape after levelling the series in Adelaide and on top in the third Test against India at the Gabba, not all the questions around the men’s team have been answered.

Most of them are around the aging nature of the team and the form of Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, as well as rookie opener Nathan McSweeney coming in to replace David Warner.

McSweeney is expected to be given time to work into the squad, Smith got a first-innings century in Brisbane and Labuschagne scored a gritty 64 in the second Test.

But Khawaja, who will turn 38 on the final day at the Gabba, has passed 50 just once in his past 17 innings, including a top score of 33 from his past 10 knocks.

Khawaja, along with many in Australia’s older brigade — 37-year-old Nathan Lyon, 34-year-old Mitchell Starc and 33-year-old Josh Hazlewood — have expressed a desire to play on through the 2025/26 Ashes next summer.

It comes after Warner announced months in advance that he wanted to play his last Test at the SCG last summer, precipitating a lengthy farewell tour.

Lehmann, a former coach and selector for the Australian men’s team, said he had watched “a lot of players” go too long before retiring or being forced out.

“Or selectors aren’t strong enough to actually stop players playing,” Lehmann said in commentary for ABC Sport.

“Are players playing too long? History shows in the last little bit, maybe they have been.

Lehamnn said he knew what it looked like when players went too long, because he did it himself.

After the Boxing Day Test during the 2004/05 series against Pakistan, Lehmann got a call from selector Trevor Hohns telling him he was being dropped from the Test team.

Lehmann was 34 and said he was not up to facing the likes of Shoaib Akhtar.

“He was too fast. I was … thinking of survival and four kids and happy marriage and staying alive, because he was lightning fast. He scared the life out of me,” he said.

“I probably played a year-and-a-half too long.”

When Hohns told him he was going to be replaced by 23-year-old Shane Watson, Hohns was shocked at Lehmann’s response of: “Thank you very much, took you too long.”

“I was too old to be playing at that level, I wasn’t sharp enough or ready enough to face bowlers at 150kph and I think you actually get to that stage,” he said.

McSweeney is the only member of the current XI under 30 years old, with fellow 25-year-old Cameron Green having played 28 Tests but currently out with a back injury.

Lehmann said selectors needed to figure out how to introduce the next generation before this current team is decimated in one fell swoop by a series of post-Ashes retirements.

He suggested chairman of selectors George Bailey may have gotten too entwined with the team, particularly since they were all grouped and travelled together during COVID isolations.

“In my opinion, he’s too close to the team,” Lehmann said.

“I would like him sitting up watching in a selectors’ box somewhere and be able to make his own decisions.

“My preference is the selector to be able to make decisions within a selection group and deliver a hard message if they have to. Make a hard decision if they have to for the betterment of Australian cricket.

“Now, you can’t do that sometimes if you’re too close because you actually get too emotional and you care about the players. As a selector, I cared about the players, as a coach you do, but sometimes you actually get too close and you forget about what’s out there.”

When Lehmann coached Australia, he spent some time pulling double duty as a selector alongside Rod Marsh, while Bailey also had a voice in his capacity as the T20 skipper.

Lehmann admitted he struggled with that set-up because he would be travelling with the national team and unable to watch as much Sheffield Shield cricket as full-time selectors.

Bailey, who played his last international for Australia in 2017, chairs the current panel for the men’s team alongside selector Tony Dodemaide and head coach Andrew McDonald.

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