Don’t despair, Australian cricket isn’t that bad
Roar Pro By simonjzw, 26 Aug 2009 simonjzw is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- Australian Cricket, Cricket, Stuart Clark, The Ashes
With the loss of the Ashes, we’re seeing the usual and expected recriminations and calling for heads to roll. Sells a few papers, but does it offer any substance?
Really, it’s not as if we were flogged in England. Actually the series was quite close.
I hated losing the Ashes and it hurts me to say it but full credit the English players who were able to find career best efforts when it mattered most. But does anyone really think they would beat us at home?
In the end, an inspired spell of fast bowling by Broad in the first innings of the last Test, a gritty performance by Panesar with the bat in the last innings of the first Test, a rock solid opening batsmen for most of the series, a good call of the coin toss in the last Test, and an uneven distribution of poor umpiring decisions all together took their toll.
If any one of those things doesn’t happen for England, we probably retain the Ashes. And maybe win the series.
We’ve all been spoiled by an era of cricketing greatness when we had three players who would make anyone’s greatest Australian XI of all time (Warne, Gilchrist and McGrath) another who would be a strong contender for that team (Hayden) and several other cricketers who were genuinely great players (Waugh, Ponting, Langer, to name a few).
With those players in the team, we were capable of dominating teams away from home.
The current Australian XI is a good team but not a great one, and in world Test cricket, where the home team enjoys a significant advantage, a good team playing away from home needs everything going its way to win.
We didn’t have that and we lost.
So where do we go from here?
With respect to the batting, we failed to record a significant opening partnership throughout the series. I don’t think Watson is the answer (too many small technical flaws to open at that level).
It’s not surprising that Hughes had a form slump, most promising young players do and I recall Ponting being dropped early in his career but let’s stick with him because no other opener in Australia has his potential.
And it’s time to find a replacement for Hussey.
If Watson’s body allows him to bowl maybe he could slot in down the order as an all rounder but otherwise I’d like to see us go for a young guy with talent that we can develop (someone like Klinger).
With respect to the bowling, everyone knows the first priority should be to find a spinner who can really turn the ball. But Hauritz did bowl well, better than I thought he could actually, and deserves to retain his place in the twelve until we find someone who can really threaten the opposition.
Our pace attack stands up well in comparison with any other the world today – we have a good mix of age and experience as well as considerable variety. Johnson could be more consistent and he has a worrying tendency to get too side-armed in his delivery action, but he’s menacing and dangerous when it’s all working for him.
Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t think the captain and selectors made too many mistakes with the bowling attack.
Surely you had to take the same pace bowling attack into the First Test as dominated in South Africa, and we very nearly won the First Test, so why make a change for the second?
Maybe Stuart Clark could have played in the Third Test, but I doubt that would have changed the overall result. And since the four pace bowlers got the required 20 wickets easily in the Fourth Test, I’d have stuck with them for the last Test.
So where does that leave us?
We’re still a good team. And we’ll be a very good team if we can unearth a good spinner and develop Hughes and young middle order batsmen.
But we’re no longer a great team. And whilst we’ll win at home more often than we lose, we won’t be able to dominate other good teams away from home like we have in our recent past.
Recommend this story.
- Explore:
- Australian Cricket, Cricket, Stuart Clark, The Ashes
August 27th 2009 @ 7:40am
quickjohnny said | August 27th 2009 @ 7:40am | Report comment
Everyone,
Let’s not forget what lies ahead this summer……Pakistan and the West Indies ( I think that’s right, but I haven’t been enthused enough to look at a schedule). In all honesty, how many of you can get excited about watching these series? Once upon a time there would have been reason to, but now????????????? So, therein lies a problem. Test cricket doesn’t have the appeal it once did. In many ways it has lost its mojo, and T-20 needed to happen to give cricket a ‘happening’ feel in the age of everything happening in the click of a finger. Although it hurts, the emphasis of the players will eventually turn away from test cricket. Call it evolution, call it revolution, call it whatever you like…….but the bottom line is that we should be grateful there has been so much talk generated by the result of the Ashes series because in years to come, test cricket will be considered an appendage of T-20. I really wonder how much the Australian players’ response to the loss has been theatrical. In this day and age, I wouldn’t mind better that deep down at least some players are thinking: ‘Well I missed out on a winning bonus in England, but hopefully I can make that up in the IPL.
August 27th 2009 @ 8:27am
stillmissit said | August 27th 2009 @ 8:27am | Report comment
Viscount Crouchback – As you think and agree with this article I can only assume that you know nothing about management.
One of the key things that this article assumes is that we still have the goods and all will be well. This approach is almost guaranteed to bring about a total failure and put us where the West Indies have been for years. All the signs are there, a sort of Laissez-faire approach to a great loss, a management team that has failed being given another chance, the players and particularly Ponting getting the message that it is OK to fail all will be well tomorrow.
Guys if you cant see the horror story that is written on these walls then Australian cricket is on its way to join the West Indies.
August 27th 2009 @ 8:46am
Viscount Crouchback said | August 27th 2009 @ 8:46am | Report comment
What absurd hysteria. Australia does not have a divine right to rule world cricket. Losing a close series by the skin of one’s teeth does not necessitate a complete overhaul of one’s cricketing system.
You chaps need to confront reality. Australia no longer has great, once in-a-generation bowlers. This type of thing is going to happen more often in future, so you’d best get used to it.
The factors I cite above will still enable you to be consistently competitive. But you won’t be competitive at all if you panic after every defeat and lurch into panic like England in the 1990s.
August 27th 2009 @ 9:04am
stillmissit said | August 27th 2009 @ 9:04am | Report comment
Hysteria is it? Well mate when you have a whole nation dedicated to one sport and we are on the skids things can and should be done.
To just sit here and say “Well we had a once in a generation players, we’ll just sit here and wait for the next set to come along” is a form of madness that thankfully Alan Border, Bob Simpson etc changed for us. It wasnt done on the back of a great set of players, the foundations were laid down by hard nosed work and setting a team ethos that was the foundation of this age of ‘Once in a generation’ players you refer to. The only reason we had such great players was the pressure to perform that was placed on them by captains, officials and other players. Take Borders legendary swipe at Dean Jones in India ‘If you cant take it I will bring on a Queenslander’. This is the stuff that articles like this one and your comments undermine.
Sit back and die or get off your arse and do something about it.
August 27th 2009 @ 9:14am
Viscount Crouchback said | August 27th 2009 @ 9:14am | Report comment
I disagree. Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath had God-given talent. The system had nothing to do with their success. In fact, it was a positive hindrance to Warne.
Don’t get me wrong – Australia is quite right to be demanding and quite right to put in place the very best structure it can. But the 1995-2007 team was a freak, a one-off. The idea that you can re-create such brilliance in every decade is simply fantasy.
I fear that, like an overly indulged child, the Australian public has been rather spoilt by the success of the past two decades.
August 27th 2009 @ 9:28am
stillmissit said | August 27th 2009 @ 9:28am | Report comment
Shane Warne had god given talent I give you that one but McGrath really; what is the difference between McGrath and Clark not much except the amount of bowling McGrath got v Clark’s lack of overs due to injury. Gilly had batting skill but he still didnt look like a great keeper. The key people in building Australia the last time were the ones I have mentioned plus Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh.
What we have a the moment is officials of very poor or no ability trying to guide a game going in reverse when all they have known is the forward gear. Sutherland is incapable of rebuilding a structure and Hilditch has been almost criminal in his control of selections. All this is by the by to a certain extent, the bottom line is the cricketing public’s opinion and there need for a real rebuilding of our cricket team. I believe that the spin that is being put out by cricket australia (which is what you have echo’d – thanks for that) and supported by articles like this one are guaranteed to keep us quiet until there time on the gravy train is up and cricket in Australia is in the ditch.