I wanted to get on here 1st and given my summary on another diabolical ashes campaign by our Australia cricket side. After losing the 5th test this morning and losing our grip on the Ashes urn once again, questions have to be asked.
1. Why was a part timer like Marcus North bowled for so long in the 1st test in Cardiff? England were 9 down and Ponting bowled North for over an hour at the end with the last 2 England batsmen seeing him off and drawing the test they should have lost easily. Surely any of the spearheads should have been bowling and dishing up chin music with fielders all around the bat. More poor captaincy I am afraid.
2. Why take Hauritz and not play him on a very spin friendly wicket? Even 1 week before the test started there was rumours that this track was to be a bit juicy and conducive to spin, so why not use your apparent best spinner? Another poor selection from our POOR selectors.
3. Why can't Australia bat against good swing bowling? We have had 4 years to learn how to play swing bowling and still have no fucking idea against it! Some of the poor decision making and shot selection sometimes makes the bowling look better than it really is but most of the time we were totally clueless.
Several things need to happen or Australia will continue to fall down the test ranking at a rapid rate.
1.We need to sack the selection panel. For years they have relied on the brilliance of players such as Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist and co to get us out of trouble, with them gone their selection mistakes are magnified. Not using Stuart Clark earlier in the series was a huge mistake when our bowlers for most of the part couldn't put any sustained pressure on the poms. Clark might not have taken many wickets but I guarantee he wouldn't have went for 4 1/2 runs per over either.
2. Ponting needs to give up the captaincy to Clarke immediately. Ponting is a very very average captain who makes poor decisions that have let teams off the hook quite a bit in his tenure. Great batsmen, great fielder, not captaincy material.
3. Hussey to be put back to no6 to save his career. Although he scored a ton in the penultimate innings, Hussey was looking like a park cricketer sometimes. Move him back to no6 and get his form and confidence back. If not he will continue to struggle and eventually be dropped.
4. Cut Brett Lee permanently. He was a good bowler in his time but hasn't been uninjured for years. The constant distraction and fuss over Lee from test 4 and 5 couldn't be good for the team and showed with their non results.
5. Make pitches to suit our strengths. Every country rolls out a wicket that will benefit their bowling lineup. India have dry turners, England have green seamers yet Australia has turned out flat boring pitches for years. Make out pitches fast and bouncy and give our pace attack a chance. The days of preparing turning wickets are over until we get a quality spinner so make them like rock and bring on the chin music.
Overall it was a terribly disappointing series which Australia should have romped in against an England side that lost their best batsmen (Pieterson) early in the series and were outplayed for lots of the series.
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Agree with most of your comments PAWD, however I dont think you can blame Ponting for this series. I dont think he is a great captain, however what makes you so sure that Clarke will be any better, Ponting has been his mentor and from what I have seen in ODI's when Ponting has been rested he seems to have similar values and beliefs on the game fostered by Ponting. Id love to see Marcus North given the nod, however whether he is entrenched in the team enough as yet Im not sure. He has done a great job with WA and is a smart captain who could adapt on all wickets, he also has better experience than Ponting in using quicks with his experience at the WACA.
ReplyDeleteThe series was lost because we lost the key moments. Should have won the first test, how we managed to let the two england tail enders survive for over 11 overs is a worry. Second test Flintoff takes a 5 for and wins them the game. Third Test was a wipeout. Fourth test we were excellent. Fifth test we should have picked a spinner I agree, however that doesnt change the fact that we posted 133 first innings batting thats not good enough. Ponting threw away any chance we had when he ran for a quick single when we are 350 runs behind with 150 overs to be bowled???? Begs belief. Clarke was just as dumb getting run out, its unforgivable.
Overall it was a poor standard series, much lower standard than the South Africa series home and away. Im a bit fed up with the Cricket because of the dumb selectors and the primadonnas we have playing like Clarke, Johnson and Watson. I think dropping Hayden was a big mistake we lacked experience at the top of the order, the reason for the push to oust Hayden was to put Hughes in who we dropped anyway.
Cricket in this country has been exposed since Warne and Mc Grath retired we struggle to take 20 wickets on all surfaces and struggle to play spin and swing bowling, how many teams bowl stump to stump in international cricket??? Not many. I predicted a 2-1 or 1-1 series result to England and stand by my comments, we cannot play swing bowling and the cracks were there for all to see when Steyn took thousands of wickets by swinging the ball in the series against South Africa. Gutted to be an Aussie.
I agree with all of your points Pawd except one- you cant lay the blame at Pontings feet. I dont think the result would've been different if Waugh or taylor or anyone was captain. Look at the team- how many of those blokes would've been picked ten or even five years ago? The talent isn't there.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, the selectors did a terrible job and should fall on their swords. I think the best point in your spray is the last one- we are the ONLY country that won't tailor a pitch to our needs- not that we have needed to lately, but we need to now- bouncy but true pitches will help both our batsmen and pacemen alike.
I disagree Deevs. If Border, Taylor or Waugh were captain they would have had enough clout to have the side they wished for picked. Yeah maybe Ponting did have the putrid side he wanted, but unfortunately he doesnt have the brain capacity to a) choose the right side, and b) drop his favourites when out of form. Yeah Mitchell Johnson came good after 3 and a half tests, but we could have had the Ashes all but wrapped up by that stage if Ponting AND the selectors had the guts to drop him for the 2 or 3 tests whilst he was obviously so out of form he wouldn't have got a bowl for Glenbrook 9th Grade a few seasons ago. Glenbrook 9th Grade wasnt a bad attack back then by the way!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, my blame goes to everyone involved really in the order of the putrid selectors for picking a paper thin squad and worse test teams out of this squad, to Ponting for his continued George W Bush like leadership or lack thereof, and to the rest of the players. All players were abysmal in the big moments, so take some blame yourselves you weak cunts and toughen the fuck up so we can rightly retain the ashes next time around! You've got two years to look at your pretty selves in the mirror and grow some balls to take heed of the big moments in upcoming series. Yeah I'm looking at you Watson, Clarke, Ponting, Haddin, Johnson, fucking HUSSEY!!!
Just to clarify, I don't solely blame Ponting for the series loss but he certainly contributed with his poor decision making at times.
ReplyDeleteDon't underestimate the role the WAG's played during the first month or so of the tour. What the FUCK were they doing there? Were the players in England to play cricket or go shopping??
ReplyDeleteAgain probably led by that slapper Bingle! Massive distraction. If Border was captain he would have told them to stay the fuck home and keep the house clean.
ReplyDeleteHahah good point with the WAGs, funny we lost the series. Mind on the taco not the cherry.
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