Cricket Australia must do its homework

+1

Fire Mickey the Clown Arthur NOW!

The only way to assess the quality of a batsman over time is by looking at statistics. Hayden had very poor returns outside Australia. He had one good tour of India and played well in the West Indies (one tour). The selectors who dispatched Border, Mark Waugh , Taylor, and Boon kept Hayden in the team far too long and stopped a number of good younger players from establishing themselves at Test level. If you want to know why Australia is performing as poorly as they are look to the attitude of players like Hayden who put themselves ahead of Australian cricket and played on for 2-3 seasons too long.

Hughes should have been "rested" (call it what you will- i'm going with rest) after the 2nd test in India. He should of been immediately sent to England to start to prepare for the Ashes. Same with Uzzie. If he wasn't going to play in India he should of been kept in Australia to play the last 3 shield games and then also travel England to prepare. In all the time Australia had Adam Gilchrist there was only a handful of games he ever batted 6 and he's 3 times the batsmen Wade is or will ever be. This insipid continual search for an all rounder has to end. For Australia small .05% chance of winning the Ashes, Australia needs to revert back to the tranditional Test line up. 6 genuine batsmen, a wicket keeper and 4 bowlers! Anything else is doomed to fail. Why is it that only Dumb (Arthur) and Dumber (Invers) cannot see this?

What about Ponting?

I'm saying the same about Warner these days. I'm expecting him to get his head down and play the grinder game needed from your frontline batsman. He's actually looking more like fitting into a 5 or 6 rather than a 1, but I think a few conversations with Haden could fix his game and have him back to his menacing best. I wouldn't look at stats as being the be all. They don't measure swear grind sacrifice, dedication, influence, personality or relationships. While we were able to contain and get him out cheaply across the ditch, we were glad to see his back because he smashed us in the 50 over games. Luckily we were able to smash back at times

Mickey Arthur did the right thing by standing down those players. Good on him. It was a much needed wake up call for the guys who were slacking off and I'll be surprised if they all do not lift their standards and then maintain those standards. Players like Clark, Siddle and others are busting a gut to perform at their best and the lack of discipline displayed by some is totally unacceptable. As Clark has said a hundred times, playing for Australia is an honour and a privilege, those players needed to be reminded of that. Having a coach from overseas is the best thing that could have happened to this team during this crucial rebuilding period. The last thing the team needs is yet another "jobs for the old boys" selection for coach. Keeping it all inhouse is a relic from the past, let's grow up and move on.

it is time for mickey mouse arthur to get on his bike back to sa why cant we have an aussie coach such as when bob simpson brought the team back from the brink

Cowan and Hughes made fantastic starts but fell short again today. I stand by them all the way and feel they just need that little extra something to get them the centuries they both really need.

+2

How is the addition of Hayden and Warne immediately going to solve all of our problems? The Shield has weakened and subsequently so have the performances of our national team. Our problem is depth, experience and competition for places in the side. Our current summer scheduling has also created the situation where players are being picked for national test duty based on ODI and T20 form. Our players need competitive 4 day cricket on a variety of challenging wickets against good opposition. The Shield is and always has been the key

Enough of the excuses and get UTK in already, what other excuse can they think of, he is one our better test prospects

Hopefully Usi plays

That 99-2008 was an absolute drought, which sucked the life out of nearly every wicket within 1/2 hr. Looks like another 10 year drought around the corner, so the bowlers should cash in whenever they can.

+1

Hayden is the definition of a flat track bully. He struggled against good pace bowling early in his career (Donald, Ambrose). He struggled in England against good seem bowling (avg 34.50). He struggled in New Zealand (avg 28.14) and did not fare much better in South Africa (avg 34.66). He struggled against good fast bowling at the end of his career. (Steyne, Anderson). In the years where he amassed runs he did not have to face good quality fast bowling as there was a dearth of good consistent swinging and seaming bowlers being produced. When the art of swing was rediscovered Hayden was found out again on all surfaces(including Australian Wickets). He had a good average in Australia (57.88) and India (51.35) on the back of one good tour. His averages in Sri Lanka (40.12) & Bangladesh (35.66) prove that he wasn't the great player of spin suggested by the Indian tour of 2001. He has no experience as a batting coach so would be untested in that role. Australia will struggle because while we persisted with players like Hayden and Ponting (who should have got the tap on the shoulder some years before they were allowed to retire) we lost the ability to select players like Hodge and Rogers who could still be playing for Australia today.

Clarkey and Usi should have a great old time on the bench

Six bats has been out the window since Sydney when the selectors realised they'd have to play Khawaja if they did.

cricinfo seems to indicate that Doherty is not playing. So 6 bats looks out the window as Maxi the allrounder needs 4 bowlers to back him up rather than the other way around.

Nice one Ted, jokes aside Lehman would be our best coach not Moody who failed as WA coach