As I sit here typing, my apologies for a lack of input over the course of this game. If you have been following my tweets on Twitter I haven't been finding this easy. Australian Cricket means alot to me and having been backing the boys through thick and thin, I can't lie and say it's easy to witness our state of affairs.
Losing the Ashes is like a kick in groin. Can't explain the pain but damn when it sets in it isn't great. Just a game? For some but I just know what measures are going to be taken to rectify these growing issues within the camp.
Politics, behind the scenes dramas, a complacent Coaching staff, a bunch of players not feeling value over their spots in the side, leadership frailties?
It was pleasing to Peter Siddle bowl a wonderful spell of all out aggressive bowling to the Poms. His figures of 6-75 was quite an achievement amongst the mess at the MCG. His home crowd loved it and he was a machine. I have always said Pedro has this burning ambition and intense pride in his duties for the Baggy Green. I wish more could take a page from his book. His just did what has brought him so many wickets. Banging it in hard back of a length, following through, showing his aggression and steaming in no matter what the situation. Always gunning it, what a bloke. Add two catches to that, he really did well.
Ben Hilfenhaus finally found a breakthrough after a very good return spell to back Peter Siddle with a better line and length and after never ending bad luck walked away with 2 wickets.
Ryan Harris also fractured his ankle and Punter had another failure with the bat and is in an even more horrific position. Hopefully Ritchie Benaud doesn't have a heart attack in the commentary booth seeing this carnage unfold.
A lack of opportunities were presented and a spree of bad luck with decisions and circumstances really took its toll on our guys. As for the Punter scenario? The bloke is operating under immense pressure, heavy criticism, on the verge of a serious blemish to his cricketing CV and faces an uncertain career. After being such a legend and good representative of Australian cricket, I do get angry with the way he gets hammered in the media. Doesn't deserve it but I think the whole side (including the NSP & Coaching setup) has alot of PROPER questions to answer to inform the public why things have turned out the way they have.
I feel sorry for this side as they are in for a very tough time from the media. They're going to be baited. It has already begun. This site is a supporters site so you won't find a written attack on our guys but rather just stating the facts and as you will gather, the lack of input should give you an idea how disheartening the performances have been. I don't want to be a negative moaner. Easy to kick a team when down.
On that note, I leave you with a comment that was posted on the site but a reader. While being short and to the point, I think it was a fair comment to make.
Hads & Steve Smith are grafting away at 5/154, still trailing 261 runs. Too much to do? Yes, Stevo has been bowled by Anderson. The Urn has been tossed away given courtesy of a start to the Boxing Day test with a mammoth 98 all out. Needn't look further.
'Australia has been riding the crest of the wave for a long time. Whilst they have fantastic training academies and strong domestic teams - and therefore a great pool of players to draw from- something has / is going horribly wrong.
All teams fall from grace at some stage, usually because players have been left in the team / squad for too long, with no new blood being brought in as none is available. I think that the board of selectors needs to take a good, long, hard look at themselves. Stop being pedantic about selecting players from certain states and stop bowing to pressure to keep players in the squad / team. Sadly Punter's prima donna behaviour today will further enforce the belief that he is on borrowed time. Heaven help us if Pup is made Capt - he has no back bone and is not a leader. It's time to face facts: hopes of regaining The Ashes are barely a glimmer on the horizon, the World Cup is around the corner and I am not too hopeful about that either. No, it's time to start rebuilding the Team and National Pride. Like the Phoenix, Australian Cricket will rise from the ashes (pardon the pun) to reign supreme at the top of the log in all forms of the game again.'
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9 comments:
One thing about the shambles of the Ashes, it takes away any expectations over the World Cup team doing well.
Which is a good thing.
I'm honestly surprised they are still batting, I thought they'd fold for about 150.
Punter is done, he really is. I know you are a great fan of his, Ian, but in the last 4 years he has averaged less that 40 for 3 of those years. That is a very, very long slump. It leaves Hussey's for dead.
Really sad seeing the state of Aussie cricket team, this was a team I adored since the early 90s while growing up, seeing the character of the team, back to the wall stuff by players like Tugga, the never say die attitude, the ability to turn the game on its head from any worst position...yes I know back then they had 11 superstars in the team, but each of them had an endless thirst and passion for win, can we say the same about the current crop of players...? I will say a big NO...
Earlier, giving a Baggy Green to a new comer was considered very prestegious and we Indians need not have to go to the stats to understand that the chosen one was exceptional at domestic level. Such was the significance of awarding the Baggy Green. And it happened very few and far between. But what is the case now...? I think the number of Baggy Greens given out over the last 2-3 years is more than what I have seen in the 15-16 years prior to that.
It shocked me these days when I see a baggy green awarded to a bowler who has a first class bowling average of 50 and for some one who has only played a handful of first class matches. An this is happening in a country where we all think the domestic competetion is the toughest....
Cricket literally is dying in the hands of Administrators who are just interested in making money. BCCI and PCB are the main culprits and I think NSP is also following the trend.
It really stings for us cricket fans seeing the state of the administration and the short sighted nature of the selectors who doesn't bother about the contingency plans...I am just horribly waiting for the same scenario for India, sometime in the near future, Sachin, Dravid and Laxman will be leaving and just a reminder that they haven't yet found a proper replacement for Ganguly (who retired 2 years back) at No:6
What can we say.........
Shane Watson really needs to work on his running and concentration. He needs to start playing some long innings
Just wish Siddle was more consistent, went MIA in the previous 2 matches. Johnson is pretty similar, went missing for 1.5 innings. The real blow was losing Harris who has been the consistent guy in all this. Hilfy has been too ineffective for me, he see, seems to have lost that wicket taking ability, he did bowl well to the tail but little too late.
And so the autopsy begins...
First and foremost, let's look at the biggest overarching problems facing Australia - namely Cricket Australia itself. Just have a look at how much cricket we have played in all formats in the last three years; far too much. For me, this has put great strain on the batting of Hussey and Ponting who, at times, have looked overworked. Why did we go to India so soon before the Ashes? Did Sutherland not realise how alien the conditions are to those back home, and just what a damaging effect back-to-back defeats would have on the team leading up to the biggest of them all? Clueless. Even after the world cup we're due to tour Bangladesh. When will it all end?
The board can also be blamed for changes at the wrong times, like sacking Merv and bringing in Greg C. on the eve of the big one.
Then there is selection itself. For all of his qualities, Shane Watson is NOT an opening batsman because he does not have it within him to get a BIG hundred.
Like Ian, I am a huge fan of Ponting but deep down we all know this is the end. I am glad he has not yet made a knee-jerk decision but I think he needs to wake up tomorrow and announce his retirement from test cricket after the Sydney test (I don't see why he cannot lead the boys out one last time on 3rd Jan). I would also say that Ricky deserves the chance to lead us into the world cup where ODI cricket is a different animal altogether and we still have a great chance of getting four-in-a-row.
Michael Clarke is an interesting one because he has been groomed for years as the next captain. Should we abandon him after so much investment? YES, would be my answer. Public perception of Clarke is negative but this should not matter. Nobody is the rightful heir to the throne of Australian cricket. Clarke is a graceful batsmen but he looks fragile and that's not what we need. In short, we need a real bastard as captain. It's so easy to draw parallels between 86/87 and now, but Allan Border is, in my eyes, the greatest ever captain we have had. His hard-nosed approach to dragging us out of the abyss in the first place cannot be understated. Whilst there are no players currently in the setup who can fit this description, we need to throw the keys to Brad Haddin or Simon Katich for a while whilst a new successor can find his way in test cricket. As did Graeme Smith for South Africa, a long-term leader could emerge after only a handful of tests, but one with progressive thinking and a plan in place.
cont..
We need to get back to picking the top six batsmen in the country, which currently does not include Steven Smith and Phil Hughes. How must Brad Hodge and David Hussey feel after years of consistent, top-notch performances being overlooked. It is a disgrace and does nothing to quash rumours of selection conspiracies and biases towards certain state teams.
There are plenty of fast medium bowlers in Australia but what England have demonstrated so well is the ability to keep things tight and create pressure through metronomic accuracy. Like we used to do. Too many of our bowlers are getting flogged at 3.5-4 RPO and cannot land the ball in the same place twice. I know poor batting performances have given the bowlers nothing with which to work, but too often we panic and lose discipline in trying to bowl magic balls all the time. Patience and probing is key.
Lastly, can we please settle on a spinner?! It's getting beyond a joke now. It would be a tremendous retreat but right now I think Nathan Hauritz is the best option available to us. His record is respectable at test level and until someone better comes along (Steve O'Keefe has impressed me a lot so far but it is still early days), we have to be resourceful with what we have.
Hence the steps I would take are as follows:-
1) Sack Hilditch - the man looks befuddled and completely out of touch. Selection has cost us dearly.
2) Ask for the resignation of James Sutherland. This man has an ego and an interest in flogging our best talent to death. It's time he was removed and someone who actually gives a damn about player welfare is installed. Playing a lot of cricket may generate money but playing less cricket of a better standard will make you more.
3) Settle on a core of 8 players to take us into the future and give them time to develop and hone their skills into becoming world-class performers. Khawaja, Siddle, Hazlewood, Starc, Ferguson, Copeland, Hauritz, Hughes, O'Keefe, Maddinson, Cutting, Smith, George, Paine, White, Hastings, Finch, Holland, Keath, Wade and Marsh could all be world beaters in time. From the current crop, Watson, Katich, Hussey, Haddin and Johnson are the only ones not mentioned above that I would take forward, two of which are close to the end. Clarke should not feel like his place is guaranteed. He needs to be dropped as this will mean that he can come back stronger.
As I sat there on Day 1 seeing us ransacked for 98, the same feeling that I felt at The Oval on Day 2 in 2009 took over. We must get over the disappointment and look to the future. We have no choice.
A national team should include the best players a country has on offer. Too many selection mistakes have been made in the Hilditch era which have led us to our "urnless" position today. So, in my opinion, the current Australian side (in order of batting) should look like this:
SHANE WATSON
SHAUN MARSH
BRAD HODGE
MICHAEL CLARKE (VC)
MICHAEL HUSSEY
DAVID HUSSEY (C)
BRAD HADDIN
MITCHELL JOHNSON
PETER SIDDLE
TRENT COPELAND
JASON KREJZA
Marsh hasn't got a very good first class record, why not stick with Katich who is the best opener at the moment?
The problem with your team in my opinion is that your making David Huseey captain when he isn't even captain of Victoria, You have Brad Hodge who has retired from first class cricket, and you have Krejza who isn't going to last long and has proven himself to be too expensive at teat level
Thanks for all your comments. Alot to absorb. Appreciate your input thoroughly.
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