Australian cricket needs more than a band-aid
Roar Rookie By kangaroo army, 23 Jul 2010 kangaroo army is a Roar Rookie
- Tagged:
- Ashes, Cricket, David Hussey, Phil Hughes, Phil Jacques, Ricky Ponting
Australia’s poor first innings total of 88 against Pakistan at Leeds is one of the signs that Australian cricket is not in good shape. At what time are the selectors going to be put on notice for the disastrous decisions that they have been making?
Ever since the Ashes series in England, Australia has been lucky to escape with results and struggling to put away teams.
The series against Pakistan in Australia was another instance where Australia got out of jail.
Clarke is struggling and shouldn’t even been playing Twenty20, Ponting is averaging 43, Hussey isn’t consistent anymore, and North is hit or miss.
Are there any replacements? What logic is in place when selectors make decisions? Where is Phil Hughes, Phil Jacques and David Hussey?
The selectors picked Usman Khawaja as the extra backup batsmen.
Unless things change, the Ashes tour is going to be a hard and long one, and questions could be asked about Ricky Ponting’s future.
Should Michael Clarke be the next captain since his statistics are so poor? I think he’s lucky to be in the team at all.
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The Crowd Says (10) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
- Explore:
- Ashes, Cricket, David Hussey, Phil Hughes, Phil Jacques, Ricky Ponting
July 23rd 2010 @ 8:44am
the Garden Gnome said | July 23rd 2010 @ 8:44am | Report comment
Clarke’s statistics poor? I think averaging over 50 batting number four in test cricket puts him above the very good category slotting into the excellent category. Say what you want about his technique but he’s found a consistency and doggedness about his batting that has put him up there with the best in the world at the moment.
Once again, I really think people are over-reacting when saying things like: ‘Australian cricket is not in good shape’ and ‘disastrous decisions that they have been making’ (regarding selectors). Number 3 in test cricket (one point below SA) and number 1 in ODI’s illustrates to me that it’s actually in pretty good shape.
Australia can’t be expected to win every game and be the number 1 in all forms of the game forever! Anyway, as a cricket fan…. why would you want that? I’ve said it before a thousand times – isn’t it great to see competitive and exciting test cricket back with about 4 teams vying for the number 1 spot in the world?
July 23rd 2010 @ 5:24pm
mintox said | July 23rd 2010 @ 5:24pm | Report comment
I think that people fail to see that Australia brought a new found professionalism and innovation to the game on their way to becoming the world force they were. Our contract payment system, training and emphasis on things such as fielding have been emulated by other nations who have bridged the divide. Test Cricket has become competitive again and we can’t expect to dominate like we once did (though we should expect to work our way back up to number 1).
The most important thing for the team is to find some consistency, they have a lot of raw talent coming through but it has to be moulded into a No.1 team!
July 23rd 2010 @ 9:01am
Brett McKay said | July 23rd 2010 @ 9:01am | Report comment
I’m sorry K-army, but this is an over-reaction. “Australia’s poor first innings total of 88 against Pakistan at Leeds..” was for one reason: superb swing bowling from the Pakistani quicks. Pure and simple.
As it stands at stumps on Day 2, Australia trail by less than 40, after rolling Pakistan for 258 (a lead of 170), and getting to 2/136 in reply. Once again, we have a classic Test Match contest on hand…
July 23rd 2010 @ 9:31am
chris mackinnon said | July 23rd 2010 @ 9:31am | Report comment
it could be a over reaction but from what i saw pakistan should have made more runs but gave it away in the first innings, if we were playing england or south africa there would have been trouble. fair enough clake is averaging 50 but where is that toughness of digging and making big scores over a hundred at moment katich looks like only staying in, look im not knocking our batsmen its a hard job, hopefully clarke and punter can make big scores, but how i see the top 6 batsmen at the moment i cant see it being the same order when we finish the summer in feb next year.
July 23rd 2010 @ 10:44am
the Garden Gnome said | July 23rd 2010 @ 10:44am | Report comment
See i don’t see it as an individual issue and i don’t see a problem with the personnel (because they’re all under-performing except for Katich at the moment) – In my opinion it’s a collective issue. Aussie cricket culture has become more and more aggressive, which is brilliant to watch but is all too one dimensional…. when they go to England and need to bring the patience game, they can’t just play aggressive and if that doesn’t work just say, “Well that’s just the way we play”. They have to adapt.
Even the bowling is sub-standard (except for Watson) because they’re not patient and they’re not thinking about putting it on the same spot for 2-5 overs in a row. That’s why McGrath was so good. If you can swing the ball and are accurate – even better. Look at Terry Alderman and even today, Hilfenhaus and Watson. It’s blatantly obvious as to the type of bowling that works well in England.
It needs to be a collective look at how Australian cricket approaches test match cricket in England. Everywhere else seems to be fine, but if they don’t do something about it well we can get ready to kiss the next English Ashes series good-bye aswell. Having said that – test cricket is more than playing in England and dare I say it, even more than the Ashes. It’s on that basis that i think Australia overall are going pretty well and by no means think that it’s time to bring out the chopping block or burning effigies!
July 28th 2010 @ 5:53pm
Lolly said | July 28th 2010 @ 5:53pm | Report comment
Alan Donald said that modern bowlers have no patience. He’s right.
July 23rd 2010 @ 10:49pm
chris mackinnon said | July 23rd 2010 @ 10:49pm | Report comment
from what i have seen from watching foxtel tonight my comments can be justified.
July 28th 2010 @ 4:14pm
Shauny said | July 28th 2010 @ 4:14pm | Report comment
Naturally 1 team can’t stay at the top forever, you can’t replace Waugh & Warne etc over night…those guys are legends they only come around once in a while
July 28th 2010 @ 4:15pm
Shauny said | July 28th 2010 @ 4:15pm | Report comment
Ponting can’t go on forever either which spells even more trouble
August 18th 2010 @ 8:16pm
rugbyguy said | August 18th 2010 @ 8:16pm | Report comment
the first match of the current tri-series saw India bowled out for 88, and lose the match by 200 runs to NZ
A huge defeat but in India’s second match they came back to beat Sri-lanka by 6 wickets in the 34th over.
this goes to show that a quality side can have their bad days and bounce back quickly.
I dont think Australia has too much to worry about especially as pakistan cricket is almost the definition of inconsistancy.
Pakistan can be brilliant one day and awful the next. Australia may have a shocker every now and again but so long as they dont make a habit of it they should be ok.