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Michael Clarke, the Australian captain, admits he does not know whether Greg Chappell will remain on tour as the selector on duty ahead of the three Tests against Sri Lanka.
Chappell, Cricket Australia's national talent manager, is certain to stay for the tourists' warm-up match in Colombo, but has refused to speak about his future until meets with the Cricket Australia chief executive, James Sutherland, who was arriving late on Tuesday to speak with the touring party.
The Don Argus-led review into Australian cricket recommended Chappell's removal from the selection panel, and it remains to be seen whether he will stay as a caretaker until the new five-man panel is filled. However Clarke said he was happy to take responsibility for selection, alongside the coach Tim Nielsen - himself unlikely to keep his job much longer - if Chappell chose to fly home.
"I'm not sure to be honest. At this stage he's still here. I know he's here for the three-day practice game but I'm not sure if he's staying throughout the Test matches," Clarke said of Chappell.
"James comes tomorrow so I'll probably have the opportunity to talk to him about that … either way I'm not that fussed, obviously Greg is still a selector so if he hangs around we'll deal with that then, but I'm sure James will be telling me anyway, I'll find out from the boss when he gets here.
"I'm not bothered either way. If Greg stays fantastic, if Greg has to go back then obviously the coach and the captain are now selectors, we'll have the communication with the selectors back home like there normally is, so either way I'm not really fussed to be honest."
The head of cricket operations, Michael Brown, himself moved to one side as one of the recommendations of the review, was in Colombo to manage the announcement of the findings and has been seen in animated conversation with Ricky Ponting and the former Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody, among others.
Jamie Cox, the only remaining member of the selection panel who has not been given an immediate verdict on his future, has indicated that Chappell will stay on in Sri Lanka, as neither Cox nor the departing chairman, Andrew Hilditch, were intent on joining the tour in a caretaker capacity.
Hilditch released a statement on the day of the review's publication, indicating that his time as a member of the selection panel was effectively at an end.
The elevation of the captain to an official selection position is only the subtlest of changes from the accepted norms of Australian cricket. Mark Taylor once described the dynamic between himself and the selectors to the then England captain Mike Atherton: "I don't officially sit in on selection, but by and large they'll let me take who I want."
Similarly, Clarke did not feel any great qualms about holding the role and talking to players about their inclusion or otherwise.
"I understand what comes with it, but I think in regards to the players, they know the captain has some sort of input in the XI that take the field anyway," he said. "Not in all decisions but he gets to at least voice his opinion. Being a selector will be quite similar, I don't make or break the decision, I have my vote, and if I get outvoted, it doesn't go that way.
"The players understand the captain has always had somewhat of a say, obviously now being an official selector you'll have a bit more of a say, but for me it's about getting the best XI players we possibly can onto that field and we play our best cricket, it's as simple as that. None of the decisions I make will ever be personal, it'll be all about what's best for the team and I've tried to do that from day one."
That process, in Test cricket at least, begins when Clarke speaks to Nielsen and Chappell about how to approach the warm-up match, balancing his prospective Test XI against those younger players, like the spin bowler Nathan Lyon, who he must get a decent sight of.
"It's a tough one, you can go one of two ways, either you can pick your Test team, or close to your Test team, and play that to try to get a bit of momentum as a team," Clarke said, "but then you've also got to monitor where guys are at, the guys who've played all five one-dayers, and work out if you know your Test XI.
"It is pretty important that we make that decision, I'd like to give the guys as much notice as possible and I believe we've got to do whatever's right to get us 100% ready, day one of that Test match."
Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
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