Agreed, that McDonald is a process driven throw down coach, not an inspirational game planner, but if you’re right that technique against spin, or problems playing on the sub continent are the issue, then doesn’t a process driven throw down coach come into his element? Shouldn’t he have been teaching footwork, head over the ball, rotate the strike with sharp singles…….? The players revolted a year or so ago and they control the Australian Cricket team. The decisions and therefore problem starts and ends there. They have a captain who has only been in charge of 5 ODI’s going into this, who didn’t even play in the South African preparation! Those decisions count when you need to throw the ball to someone when defending under 200! It’s barely possible to do that at home, but your main spinner (only) must bowl all ten, even if he goes for ten an over, because it matters later in the tournament. So what if the opposition wins in 25 instead of 35, it was the batsmen’s fault you had nothing to defend. A captain would get that. Ten each from your strike bowlers in losses are always important.

Smith & Labuschagne repaired and then got out. Kohli and Rahul repaired and didn’t get out! Poor preparation, poor plans, poor cricket when it matters.

All primed by the editor who wrote the article, mate! Banter is part of Aussie sport. Everyone knows it was a total batting failure on a deliberately prepared wicket, not one catch.

Because the Indians don’t follow cricket, they follow their favourite player in the Indian cricket team.

What a kick in the bazballs, for the Poms! All those actual cricket shots going into gaps from Conway & Ravindra. Revolutionary cricket!

I think two things are fairly obvious, at least to me. Firstly, many young players don’t see national selection as the be all, with short form role models world wide making healthy livings for limited blocks of work. Those young players in the national set up also have a weight of expectation, not commensurate with their experience. Secondly, the National setup is suffering from a lack of real, authentic leadership, which is the product of the senior players in the group having too much say over all aspects. Many inexperienced players who played in SA were looking to impress to make a squad and following a confused ‘plan’ which appeared to be a bazball derivative, completely unsuited to the personnel. Cummins is a worldbeater with an exceptional strikerate. He’s also an uninspiring process driven captain, apparently with marketing importance for the front office. McDonald is less inspiring than Cummins and a process throw down coach. Those two might work for a series in a set group, but have no appeal for setting a winning formula for new players in the setup. Every young kid used to dream of playing for Australia, but I’d head to Pakistan for the coin too if those two were the role model mentors on offer for the next five years of my development!

Green’s young and been around for a while, so there’s a belief he’s more experienced than he actually is. He seems rattled and running between wickets from the top order indicates a muddled group, not only unsure of their partner, but struggling with a game plan unsuited to them. It’s almost as if the ‘brains trust’ decided three weeks ago that they have to use Englands gameplan, but we’ll stick with the resting of most of the team, captain and give the players on the periphery of the squad a chance to prove their credentials if injury forces change. Australia has traditionally gone into World Cups with clear plans, semi settled squads and stuck to their plan. This mish mash of personnel in SA and India, ten minutes before a tournament is a reflection of poor organization from weak leadership. Unsurprisingly from what we’ve seen since the uninspiring McDonald came in to handle the throwdowns!

Don’t understand sarcasm?

Probably because the under 25’s are playing smash and grab, rather than building batting and bowling techniques in Shield. Anyone who can play a pull shot from outside off and chop on from shoulder height, like Inglis did last night batting at 3, certainly appears to be a product of ‘back yourself’, rather than cricket coaching technique, where some balls just have to be left alone, rather than premeditated. Coming into a scenario of 7 an over already being scored, a set batsman at one end and 40 odd overs to go, says the next generation is being short changed from coaching which doesn’t send a player with less than 10 ODI’s out there to build a five over base from, especially batting at four!

Yeah, must be hard, with 4 Test bowlers and another half dozen in the white ball squads coming from NSW touring constantly, or being rested for rotation or horses for courses purposes! A bit like the selectors taking all WA’s allrounders for white ball!

Thanks, sounds promising. Could do worse than Harris as a mentor.

Do you know where he’s from mate, all Cricinfo could tell me was he has played for the Adelaide Strikers and Sydney Sixers. Working with Harris – SA bowling coach, I assume he’s part of their squad, but is from SA? Also notice Cricinfo notes him as Henry Thomas Raphael James York Thornton. Jesus!

Agree David should be in the mix. Maxwell is irrelevant, in light of Head opening and the bowling experiment with him in SA means he’ll get enough overs thru the tournament. Agar’s left arm is preferable to Maxwell’s donkey drops and he provides stability in the bottom 4 with plenty of hitters above.
David has 10 years in front of him, not 2 like Maxwell. Warner is one passenger too many, but has a feel for Indian tracks.

I find it strange, as their openers are the most destructive weapon they have, especially considering the Saffers needed 8 an over from the get go with the experience of de Kock & in form Bavuma! Taking the pace off is one thing, but only upside is never throw Head the ball again before the 15th. I guess at least Head can brag to his grandkids one day that he opened the batting AND bowling for Australia in the same game once!

As a Saints fan, who saw the flaw in Lyon’s last stint at the Club, the hope was he’d matured as a coach realising there are two parts to a winning game. Every team cops injuries thru a game and a season affecting regular forwards, but to put all your eggs in the same defensive plan he’s employed in the past, at two clubs and come up short when it matters both times, smacks of blinkered arrogance. It didn’t work with seasoned forward lines and onballers in the past 2 stints, it certainly isn’t going to with raw talent. Teams can easily work out the Lyon plan as it’s a single threat. When that plan fails, you are always playing catch up, sometimes from a long way back as in this game. That isn’t a logical plan, let alone viable in a Finals Series.
It’s commendable that he’s promoted young blokes this year, despite having no choice at times with injuries, but if those young blokes are being taught that defence is the be all and end all, then the flaw in the plan remains if you average 70 points for! You can’t gain a double chance without decent percentage and you can’t win games when the defence is struggling. You DEFINITELY can’t win when your premier forward kicks ‘around the corner’ from 10m and misses!
A coach is going to hit on the fact that 10,000 hours of kicking for goal practice, using both feet with a repeatable routine, running straight at the goals will produce scoring results well above 2.9 or 1.5. There’s a place for ’round the corner’, but 10m out directly in front surely isn’t one of them?
What’s the point in getting the ball to ground in the forward 5o, or a big marking target taking contested marks 25 or less out when they can’t convert at better than 30%?
Professional forwards and onballers surely have pride in their craft enough to put in the extra, but the game plan has to involve proactive scoring, not Plan B to make up deficits?

Can anyone work out why Head opened the bowling? Zampa was the team chosen spinner, surely if the track is conducive your best spinning option is a walk up? I also understand this is a warm up to have a look at players for the WC, but surely if its a goat track and spinners are worth opening the bowling with, then you play Agar again in preparation for a reasonable workload in India? It isn’t like Agar is coming off a heavy schedule!
Well done Marnus, cricket shots work on any wicket, but particularly when there’s variable bounce.

Good Ole Marnus, the real role model for young players. Admits he deserved to be dropped, made himself available for an opportunity and took it with both hands……hitting thru the line of the ball on a goat track, rather than cement feet, chopping on from a metre outside off! Ably supported by Agar too. Never underestimate the value of a partnership either, in this slap happy reinvention of cricket. All proves sport is 90% mental!

That’s nine years away, both organisations want to be in maximum overdrive by the time it hits a traditional cricketing nation with subcontinent auto, tech and energy sponsorship revenue flowing in both the front and back door by then!

Absolutely spot on Paul, the ‘scent of a rupee’ is definitely the motivator, for both organisations. The recent T20 comp in the US was supported almost wholly by expat Indians and sub continent fans. There could be no other reason to investigate introducing cricket to the Olympics in a US Games.

Yet another no name article trying to drum up content, before anything is actually happening! Gilchrist seems to be the sane, analytical one in the ‘media team’ by calmly stating Test form in England two months before a One Day tournament in India has no bearing on team selections in different formats! a performance review is required on the writer of this article to determine if THEY should be in the team!

Fair enough let’s play with rules again, because three clowns messed up a game! While we’re at it, why not dock five runs from a batsman who complains that a paying customer moved four tiers up above the 400m2 of white sheet and holds the game up while that person is berated? Ridiculous all round. Oh and can stop putting gate on the end of everything that the media wants to turn into a headline? It’s naff and pointless!

Surprised they’d left at 10.45pm, after waiting around? Aha! Not even send a flunky in to say we’re sending Broad & Ali off, drop in at 10? Garbage.

Agreed, the standard of umpiring is appalling, starting with not having to call a no ball, but it is impartial!

The fact the headline question has been asked shows the nature of this series! Anyway, the forecast in London is 90% chance of rain for the next month, ironic isn’t it with the scaremongering headlines of an earth destroying heatwave there a month ago! Should help the Pommy press and ‘Bazballer Legacy’ players continue on their merry way of believing they were robbed of their spot in history! Anyway, even 2-2 buries that delusion!

That session you talked of is the last approach needed in the next two days. There are always plenty of gaps in the field under Stokes and singles rotating the strike is the key to taking the momentum away. Ponting again was right at the time, perfect opportunity to knock singles in the gap and rotate left/right between Khawaja/Labuschagne. The running between wickets is the pressure Khawaja puts on his partners as he controls the tempo. Cummins has been found wanting in this series, not enough no nonsense authority as a captain, his bowling strikerate has suffered as a consequence, which was one of our attacks dual weapons with Starc – both career striking under 50. The last two Tests have shown that in the Poms scoring. It’s obvious both bat and ball has flaws in both sides, hence the likely end result being 2-2, despite the drivel emanating from Britian about their obvious superiority and building legacies!