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The Roar

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A shake-up is needed to halt the decline

9th November, 2008
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9th November, 2008
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Australian bowler Jason Krejza, center, is congratulated by teammates Ricky Ponting, right, and Mike Hussey for dismissing Indian batsman Ishant Sharma, unseen, on the second day of the fourth and final cricket test match between India and Australia in Nagpur, India, Friday, Nov. 7, 2008. AP Photo/Gautam Singh
No matter what the outcome of the final day of the 4th Test, what can we make of Australia’s performance in India? And who will start the first Test against New Zealand?

Is this the beginning of the Australian decline that so many teams around the world yearn for, especially the Black Caps who start the Australia summer campaign in only a couple of weeks?

Certainly the potency of the Australian attack was thoroughly examined in four Tests on the sub-continent, and found severely wanting.

This is not a situation Australian teams have found themselves in for quite a while.

Even the 2005 Ashes loss was founded on batting inadequacies rather than bowling short comings. McGrath’s ankle roll at Edgbaston became the fulcrum around which Australia surrendered the Urn.

The Border-Gavaskar pot will be lost for two significant reasons. 1. The bowlers could not find a way to take 20 wickets per game. (Krezja + run outs did the job in Nagpur.)

2. The batting capitulation at Mohali on a pitch where a draw should have been a certainty. The series could easily have been 0-0 and AB’s silverware retained with the discipline the top six displayed in Delhi and the first dig in Nagpur.

The blandness of all four pitches and Ponting’s inability to win the toss did not suit, nor help, the bowlers that the selectors decided were best chosen for the conditions.

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Despite the Australia ‘A’ team playing several matches in the preceding month and the selectors having plenty of data to confirm their suspicions, they decided that the back-up for rookie Bryce McGain would be part-time indipper Cameron White.

White, having failed to overly bother anyone in the 2nd and 3rd Test was retained for the 4th, but bowled about as much as Ray Bright at Headingly 1981. What had Beau Casson done wrong? Not much.

Clearly the selectors are confused by their own policies and that muddled thinking is being passed on to captain Ponting.

Finally Jason Krezja was elevated from chief net bowler and drinks runner, producing record breaking figures. Most runs conceded and most wickets taken on debut is truly remarkable.

He was tireless throughput the second innings and gave Australia a remote chance of winning. No one else could contribute. He only got a game through sheer desperation. There were no other options available, yet he was the lone bowler who kept Australia in this match, and ultimately, the series.

But will he get a start on a pitch were finger spinners have produced numerous bare cupboards, in Brisbane on November 21?

First choice legspinner McGain may eventually make his debut on a pitch were Shane Warne has been at his most productive and the New Zealanders have found wrist spin impossible to resist going back as far as Jim Higgs.

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Brett Lee has been low on energy: mental and physical. He did not trouble anyone apart from his own captain in four Tests. The response from the fitness trainer to Lee’s early tour lethargy was, ‘more exercise’ when what he needed was rest and counseling. He needs a rest now. He needs to get as far from cricket as possible, reassess, and come back renewed and refreshed.

Stuart Clark left Australia injured and never recovered, yet he was the bowler most likely to cause problems with extra bounce and a modicum of reverse swing. If he is fit then he will take his place at the ‘Gabba.

Mitchell Johnson must also be a concern for the selectors. He could not bowl an inswinger in India and neither could he do much with the old ball.

His pace was respectable, but he did not take early wickets and became a stock bowler rather than an attacking one. His angle was always across the right handers on dull pitches and he took wickets with persistence rather than thought and force. His mechanics have become stilted and his methods predictable, Doug Bollinger swings the new and the old ball, he should have been used in India. Brisbane awaits Bollinger’s debut.

Are these players becoming too comfortable because the selectors refuse to change players who are out of form? Perhaps a shake up is needed to jolt Ponting and his men from the comfort zones they currently occupy.

Hayden has had only one innings of substance and that was on the most perfect of batting tracks. The very much in form and run hungry Chris Rogers needs to come back into this fold to give an edge to a failing team psyche. Katich is run hungry and it shows. He has been the best of the batsmen by far.

Conditions will be very different at Wollongabba to that of India. There may not be a wider contrast in cricket parameters outside of Perth and Karachi so the selection panel will need to redo their models.

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It is difficult to see the hero Krezja getting a game despite his outstanding debut. S Clark plus Bollinger (no room for a second leftie, Johnson can go back to the bowling coach to find the swing and variety needed to get international quality batsmen out), Siddle and McGain with Watson to fill the all rounders role on his home turf.

Obviously Brad Hogg’s unorthodoxy and effectiveness was quickly forgotten by Andrew Hilditch and panel, and the Black Caps have never played wrist spin well, so put Casson in the 12 … just in case.

Don’t even think about Symonds until he makes a run or takes some wickets or doesn’t drop dolly catches, no matter what his analyst says.

So my team for the first Test against New Zealand is: Katich, Rogers, Ponting, Hussey, Clarke, Watson, Haddin, McGain, Siddle, S Clark, Bolliger, Casson.

A team with energy and ambition and the potential to bowl teams out twice.

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