Two years after Argus report, how did it come to this? The long-term goal of Don Argus, for Australia to be the No 1 Test-playing nation by 2015, seems a folorn hope. Picture: Luke Bowden Source: The Australian AS the Hyderabad horror unfolded on Sunday night, the tweets from past players ticked over almost as fast as the runs from the flashing Indian blades. Dean Jones adopted a glass half-full stance, urging the Australians to copy Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara - play straight early and keep their backlifts short. Darren Lehmann said Michael Clarke should move up to No 4, while Stuart MacGill defended his comments about Xavier Doherty not being up to Test standard. Bizarrely, Shane Warne also suggested making the stumps wider and taller to help Australia's struggling bowlers. And all the while Australian cricket gave a collective sigh and pondered: "How did it come to this?" GRAPHIC: Argus review in action Tom Moody spoke for many when he wrote: "I can't understand why Nathan Lyon was axed. He's not the finished product yet but was on track. Lack of patience and trust! Patience and trust. Australia's cricket fans have all but run out of the former and the latter has been eroded by Cricket Australia's "need to know" communications policy that treats players' injuries like state secrets. Twenty months ago the Argus review mapped out the path back to world domination. Yes, Australia has since inched up from fifth to third in the rankings. But Don Argus's long-term goal of being No 1 by 2015 seems a forlorn hope. And the medium-term goal - reclaiming the Ashes this year - seems as likely as a Warne comeback. Meanwhile, Australia has forfeited the No 1 ODI ranking and failed to hit the Argus target of claiming the 2012 T20 World Cup. Argus was critical of the previous selectors for some confounding decisions, but Lyon's omission appeared an act of panic. Clarke hinted Lyon would be dropped on the eve of the Test, but the official explanation did not come until Mickey Arthur fronted the media after the cataclysmic second day. "We thought it was the right time after Chennai to give him a little bit of a break," Arthur said. We are confident that Nathan will obviously bounce back and come back really strong. Dropping Lyon was designed to help his confidence, apparently, and address some "technical issues" that would remain confidential. Asked if Lyon remained Australia's No 1 spinner, Arthur's reply was less than emphatic: "Without a doubt he is up there." Lyon's omission appeared to be as much about reinforcing Australia's frail batting as the spinner's poor Test in Chennai. The selectors clearly liked the idea of Glenn Maxwell coming in at eight. "We wanted somebody who brought a bit more to the party," Arthur said. Arthur wanted champagne and oysters but in making just 13 in the first innings Maxwell instead turned up with a warm six-pack and a packet of stale chips. In the latest instalment of his manifesto for Australian cricket, Warne stressed yesterday one of the keys to bowling spin well was knowing the skipper was in your corner. "Nothing beats knowing the captain has faith in you and will back you, as Allan Border did with me when I started," Warne wrote. Well, only those in the dressing room know how the affable Lyon is taking his axing, but clearly he has some work to do in reclaiming some of his leaders' faith. The Lyon controversy aside, the Argus review highlighted spin bowling as a weakness and little has changed since. Steve O'Keefe was controversially overlooked for the Indian tour despite being the best-performed spinner in state ranks. Perhaps encouraged by events in India, the left-armer yesterday signalled he had not given up his quest for a baggy green by relinquishing the NSW captaincy to focus on his bowling. Recent events suggest Australia is repeating many of the mistakes identified in the Argus review. Argus stressed the need for sound succession planning after the side was rocked by the retirements of Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and company. Their loss was a seismic shock but the national side has been thrust back into rebuilding mode after losing Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey in one summer. After making his debut in the last Test of the previous Ashes series, Usman Khawaja might have expected to have been a regular by the time the sides met again. But Khawaja has been in and out of the side as the selectors preferred older players such as Ed Cowan and Rob Quiney. So on the face of it CA's succession planning as demanded by Argus has been a spectacular failure. The selection panel has been recast and communications between CA and the states appears to have been streamlined. And while apportioning credit, John Inverarity's panel should be praised for the inspired selection of Moises Henriques in India. To be fair, many of Australian cricket's deep-seated ills could not have been fixed in 20 months. Argus pinpointed the batsmen's weakness against the moving ball - as exposed by Sri Lankan swing when Australia was humbled for 74 at the Gabba in January. And Australia's vulnerability to spin, also highlighted by Argus, is self-evident. These blindspots might not be fixed for a generation.