DID Mark Waugh fool us all - or should he be Australia's next chairman of selectors?
The surprise omission of Usman Khawaja from the national one-day team was all the more perplexing because of the luxurious praise lavished upon him by Test selector Waugh during the Channel 10 Big Bash final on Sunday. 
Waugh claimed Khawaja was batting better than Brian Lara, a huge statement given Lara's standing and the fact that Waugh has never been known for gratuitous praise or overexcitement.
If Waugh truly believed his own words, he surely must have voted for Khawaja to make the team and was overruled.
Any man who is true to his word could not rate Khajawa "better than Lara" one day and worse than Aaron Finch, Shaun Marsh or George Bailey a day later.
Or was Waugh just foxing, perhaps trying to soften the blow by getting the message out there that the panel still cared deeply about Khawaja and his future despite his looming omission?
If Waugh was the voice of reason that stood up for Khawaja, then it might be a small signal that he is the man to lead the panel forward when 68-year-old chairman Rod Marsh either leaves of his own volition or is pushed out the door.
Weak opposition has made the selectors look good this summer but there is still a -feeling that Marsh struggles with the decisions that matter most and that a younger man would be a better choice.
Marsh has had a patchy reputation as a judge of talent since the day more than two decades ago that he slammed the door on Matthew Hayden's -attempt to join the Australian Cricket Academy with the line "we are really only after guys who are going to play first-class cricket".But the Khawaja omission is worse because, in fairness, Hayden was an unproven talent, whereas Khawaja is walking with the gods of batting.