Another 3 for 36 !!
We need Mike Hussey back!
Bring back Mr Cricket !
Another 3 for 36 !!
We need Mike Hussey back!
Bring back Mr Cricket !
Hughes just can't play spin. Needs to go. He's not the future of our batting line-up.
Very good point. You could argue we cant have both Smith and Henriques. I think the only other option for now could be to persist with Bailey that being the case. There aint much quality to pick from. Check out the last seasons Shield stats, only a handful of batsmen averaged 40s, 50s...Quote:
Originally Posted by asiafever
The Australian team of the late nineties and naughties had several once in a generation players with both bat and ball. So good in fact that players like Stuey Macgill and Brad hodge, who would have been walk ins for just about every other team, hardly got a game.
The fact that the team is forced to persist with such obviously flawed players such as Hughes is testament to the gap in quality. Michael Bevan, who was so much better than Hughes it isn't funny, got dropped after 15 or so test because of a perceived weakness against the short ball, despite averaging close to 60 over his career in first class cricket.
Its probably unrealistic to expect the current crop of players to perform at the same level. That said, selection and development decisions in recent times haven't helped the cause. Australia will probably have to suffer through a mediocre period for the next little while.
In MHO, we need a new captain, a real leader, not a "pretty boy" captain.
Honestly, If you look at our batmens, they have got talent and have been played very well in First Class cricket. They just lack of experience and self belief.
They need a tough & strong captain/leader to guide them through the difficult time to stand up for the team, to do the hard yard to get the team over the line. I am not sure Michael Clarke got that quality of the great leader.
He worries about himself more than the team. No doubt he is a very good player but not a good captain.
We need to built the team from the beginning, and we should start with a new captain.
This is my team for the Third test:
Warner, Roger, Khawaja, Watson, Clarke, Hughes, Smith, Haddin, Siddle (c), Paddinton, Harris.
Make Siddle or Harris a new captain.
I think we need to get over the allrounder obsession. We are not going to uncover a Freddie flintoff, even freddy himself was only a top allrounder for a couple of years. For the moment I would go with:
Warner
Rogers
Khawaja
Bailey
Clarke
Watson (Smith if it's a turning pitch)
Haddin
Siddle/Cummins/Hazlewood (Those two are bowling well in Zimbabwe)
Patto/Starc/Bird
Harris
Agar/Ahmed (who just took two 4-fa's vs Zimbabwe)
Hughes is not only flawed against the short stuff, but hopeless against spin. Watson just isn't good enough to open, he's suspect on his legs so guys like Anderson, Steyn etc just smile when they see him coming, they know he'll be out in about 30 balls. Warner is a wildcard, he can take a game away from you in a day, but he needs to be consistent. Khawaja looked good last night, I really hope he can forge a spot for himself. Agar has come back to earth. Rogers isn't great but I'm not sure who could replace him, no-one is screaming out to be picked.
Clarke is not a great captain, he had one of the best runs with the bat ever seen but that has dried up and now we're seeing just how reliant we were on he, Ponting and Huss to score runs at 4,5 and 6. Right now I look at our 1-6 and really only see Clarke as a guy who can make a big score. Even Haddin's spot can't be safe, with the angry midget looking to work his way back in to the side. I hope Shaun and Mitch Marsh get a game in the next Aus A match vs STh Af A as I think Shaun still has something to offer.
Good analysis brother.Quote:
Originally Posted by asiafever
What about Simon Katich ?? who is playing county cricket right now in England and scoring runs, he should be suited to the local conditions !!
Sorry mate, but Katich will not get back into the team because that would be upset Michael Clarke. Don't forget the reason Katich go drop.
To me that the Aussie team gone bad when the selectors gone personal/emotional with their decision instead of fact & figures.
Yeap, and the Captain should Never be also a Selector !! Cause once you are wearing the hat of the selector, you are no longer one of the boys !!Quote:
Originally Posted by Irene638
Can you imagine if Cameron Smith is a Queensland selector !!
Cheers
:cool2:
it's been happening for years though, Hayden could barely get a game after he didn't gel with an old crew of players, it wasn't until later that ego's were dispensed with and the best side picked. Guys like Damien Martyn were not popular in the dressing room but were an integral part of the side. Captains like Border, Chappell and Taylor played favourites with who they wanted in their sides, which is fair enough. Team dynamic is important. The Swans have a 'no dickheads' policy that has worked well for them. No matter how good a player is, if he's perceived by the playing group as a moron he won't play for the club.
Katich should never have been dropped, but we need to stop looking behind us, talk of Warne coming out of retirement etc shows we've got our eyes in the past, we need to look at the present/future and Katich clearly isn't that.. but then again they selected Rogers so a straight swap Kat-Rogers would make sense.
Have you guys heard the latest news that Pattingson will be out for the rest of the Ashes?
I don't know that is good or bad news.
Yeap, lower back problem and a couple of unknown names were throw up. But I think Mitchell Starc or Jackson Bird will get back in.Quote:
Originally Posted by Irene638
But may be they will play another spinner in Nathan Lyons!
Agar was not 100% either !
I just have another thought, since we lost the last two Ashes under Ponting, our team has not perform well at all, while we did beat India at home last year but that was just a Michael Clarke show!
Then we suffered out biggest 4-0 loss in India and didn't win a match in the Championship. Now England obviously had the woods on us.
I just don't know how we can dig ourself out of this hole!
But having said that, we only lost by 14 runs in the first test and could have very easily won that thanks to back to back heroic 10th wicket stands........lol
If only just 1 or 2 of the top orders can stand up !!
Mate don't hold your breath. These problems will not be resolved overnight.
The coach needs to resolve all the team conflicts before they can play well together.
This is the team sport after all, so if the members are not happy to play together as a team we will not win matches.
Michael Clarke should forget about "his look" when he captain the side and put the team on top.
Just my 2 cents
Well I am not a Watson fan never have been but to be fair to him he is an all rounder not an opening bat.
We were lucky with Gillchrist he could bat and slog as an opener but in real life test matches we need proper opening batsmen that can dig in and bat for one or two sessions with out worring about the score once they have done that the runs will come.
Games shouldn't be won until the last day we are loosing them on the first day or should I say the first session we bat.
Mind you our bowling isn't much better our spinner didn't take a wicket in the match the English one destroyed us. In the first innings a part timer took 3 wickets with spin but our specialist spin bowler didn't get a wicket?
We need to go back to basics and pick a team for test cricket and then when it come to one day matches or 20/20 pick a team for that type of game.
One problem I have is our arrogance has cost us big time.
While the rest of the world saw the rule change to allow an element of 'chucking' in finger spin bowling, we pig-headedly refused to teach our bowlers how to do it at all. FFS, this holier than thou attitude of being above 'resorting to that kind of thing' is just archaic pigheadedness. Grab Abdul Qadir, or Murali, or someone, and teach our bowlers how to do it, otherwise an off-spinner becomes nothing more than a tie-down-one-end proposition unless he has genuine finger spin talent like Swann. Watch how murali can, even now retired, knock a coin off the top of a glass, on top of a stump, while still spinning the ball more than any of our offies can... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZTo9dlmju8
It's time to bring back David Warner!!
He just made a 193 off 221 balls batting at No. 4, that will do me!
That's better than anyone in the team at the moment .
Cheers
Agreed... worried the used all his luck in the one dig though. He rarely plays two back to back like that but it'd be a damn sight better than the crap being offered up by our current top 6!
Could not agree more but again its not about how many balls you face at the end of the day this is test cricket and its scoring runs that counts if that takes 200 or 300 balls to get a hundred then that's better than getting out for 10 off 20 balls.Quote:
Originally Posted by AHLUNGOR
I still remember what Warner did to the South African in Perth, can't remember the exact score, it was a very fast Ton and he made 136 or something like that. But it's the way he did it, hitting the SA bowlers all over the park and broke their spirits! We need someone to stand up to the Poms and restore some national pride !!
Go Warner !!
It's on again tonight, the do or die third test at Old Trafford !!
C'mon Michael Clarke, win that bloody toss, take your team out there and make 600 before declaring !!
The Aussie and England has won 7 a piece in this ground but draw 14 times, so a draw to stay alive will be a good bet if we can't win it !!