Cricket Season Thread

5/77 now…

smith isnt a good enough batter to have at number 6\. He should be at number 8 instead. We are missing a batsman.

And did sh!thaus get selected infront of Bollinger???

our batsmen need a bell in the ball i think... :frowning:
 
The Aussies have been as poor as England has been good. Discipline and swing for the Poms bowlers. No discipline in the Aussie batting. Playing at balls they don't have to. Where is the grit?

I guess your only as good as the 2nd innings of the match. Will England struggle?
 
It's clearly evident that the ACB didn't plan for life after Warne, McGrath, Langer, Gilchrist and co. This team and the results are a direct result of it, much like when Lillee, Marsh and Chappell retired. Get use to this because the next few years will pretty lean. Once we get a captain who stands down in tears and a new Allan Border comes along, we'll be on the road back.
 
Utter rubbish once again from the Aussie batsmen. If England make 200 in their first innings they will win the ashes from there.
 
The weather hasn't been good for the Aussies. The Aussies had overcast conditions when batting which assists swing bowling. The Poms have had the sun which has dried up the pitch. The Aussie bowling hasn't been as accurate either which is in complete opposite to England's bowling. A spinner has to be used an hour ago.

The Ashes is as good as gone now with the Poms building their land without the loss of one wicket. Nothing has gone right for the Aussies and the worst England can do with the win in this match is draw the series, which means they maintain the Ashes. Ponting I think has to go from the test side. Its time to rebuild. Khawaja comes in. Ferguson is an option, White maybe, as well as Shaun Marsh. Hughes needs to be given an extended run. Brad Haddin to skipper for the immediate future. Clarke isn't in the best of from and Haddin has the quality. Tim Paine is on his heals though and a ready made replacement. A spinner needs to be picked and persevered with. Hauritz should have never been dropped and is still young enough to have a good career in front of him while other State options develop. Smith isn't a test batsman and not a test spinner. Handy ODI player but not a test player. Johnson, Bollinger and Siddle are the 3 quicks for me. Harris has injury problems and his career is very limited. Hilfenhaus just doesn't have it. Some people don't make the step-up and he seems to be one of those guys. McKay would be next in line. Peter George, and the numerous NSW young quicks in Copeland, Starc, Cameron and Hazelwood are long-term options.
 
@alien said:
5/77 now…

smith isnt a good enough batter to have at number 6\. He should be at number 8 instead. We are missing a batsman.

And did sh!thaus get selected infront of Bollinger???

our batsmen need a bell in the ball i think... :frowning:
Click to expand...

Smith is a better batsman than he is a bowler, no matter how much crap about the next Shane Warne we hear about him. He averages 42 with the bat in Shield cricket and 45 with the ball. He has 3 test wickets, all in the same inning against Pakistan, North took 6 in the same inning, so make up your own mind from that. The guy is not a test player, he isn't good enough with the bat or the ball to be in the side. Hauritz isn't a great spinner, but he's better than all these other guys we keep trying, they should've stuck with him, or gone with O'Keefe.

Bollinger was no better than Hilfy in Adelaide, I like Hilfy, a lot of the time he bowls well with no luck, I rate him ahead of Siddle, that's for sure, on par with Bolly, behind Johnson and Harris.
 
as in perth, one swallow doesn't make a summer. oz team have been shown up again as been inept and in need of drastic overhaul. the poms/proteas team we are playing now are not that good yet they look like wordlbeaters !
NO BOWLERS, AT ALL !!
THREE BATSMEN ( INCLUDING HADDIN )

siddle ~ grade bowler at best
johnson ~ despite his ' one off ' game in perth has been as damaging a wet lettuce leaf
hilfnhse ~ back to tassie mate and no further
harris ~ a bit like siddle, just a plodder

and it so good that we only these four and no spinner in the side. aussie selectors give yourselves an uppercut and start picking players on form, if your young and good enough give them a go.
 
Heads need to roll for this capitulation and it has to to start with the people who have brought this team together.
 
What annoys me is when some selectors or people close to the cricket team say 'Its all good dropping Ponting down the order but there is no one putting their hand up to be Australia's next number 3'

Well to Khawaja is the perfect man for that spot and he is in form!
There's Klinger, Marsh and even the Katfish when he comes back from injury as well.

Also what is Justin Langer doing with our batsman?
 
Not sure where the answers lie peoples. The selectors definitely need to be shown the door for a start. Hopefully Greg Chappell might bring a bit of sanity to proceedings when he takes over shortly. I think there's a few players who need a massive reality check and instead of pretending to be models (Watson, Johnson, Clarke etc), they might like to concentrate more on what they're contracted to do.
I agree with most the comments posted in that the Aussies, in the main, are playing so poorly they are making an above average team look like world champions.
I could go on….... :deadhorse: 😛ray:
 
Obviously somebody is to blame here and for me, it is the coaches, whether it be batting, bowling or fitness. The sight of Hilfy just looking tiredly at the ball instead of running onto it made me spew.

It's not like this team has no potential, the selectors have picked a team which has a lot of potential, but the thing is the coaches are not bringing the best out of the players. Whether it be Langer as a batting coach. I have never really been a fan of Langer's technique TBH and I reckon we could get a way better coach than him.

In saying that, yes selectors do need to be blamed, not for the team they have picked in this test, the teams they have picked throughout the series, in chopping and changing etc.

Also, how could Ponting be so stupid and why on Earth was Siddle arguing the review. That was bloody pathetic.
 
The Aussies trail by 346 with 3 days to go. Unless it rains in a massive way and the MCG is buried under a foot of water then this will be an embarrassing defeat and heads need to roll for this debacle.
 
@tig_prmz said:
Obviously somebody is to blame here and for me, it is the coaches, whether it be batting, bowling or fitness. The sight of Hilfy just looking tiredly at the ball instead of running onto it made me spew.

It's not like this team has no potential, the selectors have picked a team which has a lot of potential, but the thing is the coaches are not bringing the best out of the players. Whether it be Langer as a batting coach. I have never really been a fan of Langer's technique TBH and I reckon we could get a way better coach than him.

In saying that, yes selectors do need to be blamed, not for the team they have picked in this test, the teams they have picked throughout the series, in chopping and changing etc.

Also, how could Ponting be so stupid and why on Earth was Siddle arguing the review. That was bloody pathetic.
Click to expand...

Another thing is how they carried on throughout and after the Perth Test.

The comments that were being made in the media about how sledging is back etc etc was just rubbish especially when you consider it was only 1-1, it wasn't as if we were leading 3-0, it was 1-1 with a loss being the end of the Ashes.

It has just backfired and made them look foolish.

Talk doesnt win matches, especially the Ashes.

It was similar in 09 after we won the 4th Test to make it 1-1, everyone was saying how they're back based on one win, and of course what happened, our batting collapsed again and we surrendered the urn.

I am also struggling to see what impact our coaches are having, what does or has Tim Nielsen done to earn a contract extension to 2013?
Langer was a fine player but he wasnt the best technically so I'm not sure whether he could help alot in that regard, another factor which may be small is the fact he is a left hander when 5 of our top 7 batsmen are right handed.
Mike Young has done a great job overall with ground fielding and throwing, but his background of baseball means our catching is terrible. Since Mark Waugh retired, our slips fielding has gone downhill and continues to do so, I say get Waugh in to give them some catching practice. Why not bring probably the best catcher/slipper the game has seen for the odd session here and there?
Also Troy Cooley, he has had 3 years with this attack now (Siddle, Hilfenhaus, Johnson) and they still have problems, Hilfenhaus has no penetration when it doesnt swing, and when it does he bowls too wide. Siddle has his moments but can go for runs, and we all know about Johnson.

And then the selectors, chopping and changes the spinners and now the quicks, yet keeping North for as long as they did, dropping Hughes when he needed to be backed in England, and then keeping the exact same side that lost the 09 Ashes instead of rebuilding…. Which has now lead to this mess.
 
We don't learn from our mistakes. We played 4 quicks in England as in Perth when the conditions asked for it and got the win. Than when the spinner was needed we played 4 quicks again. We lost the 5th and deciding test in 09 when North was our front-line spinner and Hauritz sat in the stands. Its happened again in Melbourne. The pitch was not a must play 4 quicks and we did, again. Hauritz, O'Keefe, Doherty, even Beer would have been a good option on this pitch.

Mike Young doesn't work with the team full time. Cricket Australia only has him on the payroll around World Cup time and more so the limited overs game I believe. I don't think he is around this Ashes campaign. His coaching either way is not a reason for poor catching. That comes with confidence, concentration and its application.

Too many out-of-form batsman with Ponting, Clarke, North and Hughes all really struggling. Katich wasn't getting big scores either. Watson, Hussey and Haddin have been getting the scores and when they fail, of course we will be lucky to make 100\. Poor bowling line and lengths hurt as well. Don't bowl straight to Trott. Everything goes leg side. Make him cover drive you with some out-swing if he wants to score. England bowled much fuller too. The Poms haven't scored much between the V which means we have bowled too full or wide when going straight. Siddle I think is one of our best quicks. He does a job for his skipper every time, sometimes not getting the reward for wickets like Perth. He has improved this series bowling a fuller length and has been rewarded with wickets. Hilfenhaus has less variety than Siddle.

Fitness has been an issue with the quicks. Bollinger hurt himself playing for his Indian 20/20 side and never recovered. Harris has no cartilage in one of his knees and has an injury riddled career. Hilfenhaus doesn't look right. Siddle is another bloke who struggles for fitness.
 
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