Yes, New Zealand beat Australia in Hobart. Yes, they went from a dominant position to fall to 9-21 in South Africa. Yes, the most recent Ashes did the impossible, and made Alistair Cook look like a competent batsman, instead of a posh 19-year old English kid who lucked into the team.
However, it could be much worse and things will get better for Michael Clarke’s men.
While it looks like Phil Hughes will be away until he can sort out his technique, let’s not forget that he’s no mug, and hopefully with a bit of time and patience, he’ll be given another chance to nick it to the slips again. If he can’t, Watson and Marsh will be there, injuries permitting.
Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey and Brad Haddin might have been around a bit longer than they should have, but with their experience, would any of us be surprised if they hit a big score in their next couple of innings?
We probably wouldn’t, although a stunning, fluent century from any of them might be a bit much to ask for.
Dave Warner does look a bright prospect, and evidently his skills in the shorter form of the game look like they can be transferred to Test matches.
Certainly he’s an exciting Test prospect for the future, and if he can cement his position, it would allow Shane Watson to drop down to bat at seven.
Whether Warner can take his game to stronger bowling attacks remains to be seen, but he has the confidence and aptitude to succeed. His fielding, attitude and even his bowling will all help.
Khawaja might not have set the world afire yet, but he’s typically looked comfortable before getting out in the mid-thirties. It may be that he’ll go on to make big scores soon, or become another technically accomplished batsman who never had the luck and grit to make it.
Time will tell, and he deserves more than another chance.
Other than his 151 in South Africa, Clarke has struggled to combine batting and captaining, but we have to presume that he’ll get better, as Punter did, all those years ago.
While right now, the top-order is prone to collapses, there has been evidence of a strong tail. Lyon and Siddle have top-scored in the last few matches, and Starc looked in great nick in the Hobart match.
You may argue that this is the fault of the recognised batsmen to score runs, and you’d be right, but I’m trying to be optimistic here.
Speaking of the tail, bowling is the area where the future looks very bright. Peter Siddle will always bowl his heart out, whatever you think of him, and he is now a seasoned head in the team.
Among the rookie quicks, when Cummings is injured, Pattinson is ready to take a Test by storm, Starc looked good and reliable. All have the potential to become greats, Cummins in particular.
At very least, England must be kicking themselves that they chose the wrong Pattinson brother to play for them.
Added to this, Trent Copeland, Ryan Harris and others mean that we’ve probably seen the last of Mitchell Johnson – someone I am legally obliged to refer to as mercurial.
Nathan Lyon looks fine, and although he will need more experience, he looks like the wise cricket head that Australia needs from a spinner right now.
If the batting stocks were that strong, we’d probably have said goodbye to Ponting, Haddin, or Hussey, a few Tests ago. These are exciting times for Australian cricket, let’s just hope a new coach will help to realise all this potential.
P.S: Speaking of potential, I have enjoyed watching the West Indian team in India, captained by the able Darren Sammy. In a lot of instances, they were unlucky to lose, and had a great number of individual performances.
They have a series of emerging players, not least Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, and Kurtley-Beale-look-alike Sunil Narine. They seem to be a strong, likeable unit, who enjoy working together as a team.
If they can get that together over the next few seasons, we could be in for a resurgence of West Indian cricket.
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