2010/11 Summer of Cricket

[Sarsippius]

Arrogance is still rife in the Australian team, and the sooner they show humility the better.

You hit the nail on the head norbs, one good win and they thought they were back at the top again. You could see it in all the talk leading up to the game and then on the first day thinking they could hit their way out of trouble like they used to.
Well done to the Poms, I think the result flatters them a little bit but they certainly deserve it and apart from crumbling at the end in Perth they've outplayed us in just about every way. They also shouldn't forget they've simply retained the ashes at this point, they haven't won the series yet.

[Big Kev]

I hope they don't back off now and ensure that the series result is 3 - 1 and not a 2 - 2 draw.

Yeah I'd love to see them seal the series as well.

Woo, and indeed, hoo!

[Bauer]

Shane Watson is a mother fucking sook.

That is all

[norbs]

Shane Watson is a mother fucking sook.

That is all

What happened Stud. Just woke up from a nap on the couch.

[Enforcer-J]

It might rain... so let's not play just incase.... WTF?

[Bauer]

Rain has halted play between the World XI and South Africa.

[mrleisure]

Slips catching practice again , seems very little in the way of footwork in the Australian batting again

[VTRacing]

Cook is making Australia pay for Beer's no-ball yesterday...

[Jiminee]

Given their complete lack of penetration one can only conclude that the Australian bowling attack has gone lesbian.

[norbs]

Given their complete lack of penetration one can only conclude that the Australian bowling attack has gone lesbian.

GOLD

[Hazelb]

Seems a change of captain has made bugger all difference....

[Johnny X]

[Montey]

Given their complete lack of penetration one can only conclude that the Australian bowling attack has gone lesbian.

One could also conclude that the bowlers are doing all that is possible and that our batsmen are just shite.

I think too much blame has been heaped on the bowlers and not enough placed at the batsmen's feet.

[Dr. Pain]

It's like we have slackened off in all departments and England have done what we use to do in terms of training and the whole approach to the game. I'm very surprised at how shit we are. I thought is would have been a closer series.

[Jiminee]

Given their complete lack of penetration one can only conclude that the Australian bowling attack has gone lesbian.

One could also conclude that the bowlers are doing all that is possible and that our batsmen are just shite.

I think too much blame has been heaped on the bowlers and not enough placed at the batsmen's feet.

Hilfenhaus has taken 6 wickets now? And he took one with his third ball! Siddle took that many on day one of the series.
Look at it another way - Cook, who was barely in the team 3 months ago, has batted for over 6 days now, 36 hours at the crease for nearly 800 runs.
They should now go down 3-1, beaten by an innings for each of those losses and that result still barely tells the story of how totally ineffective they have been as a squad.
The ABC is asking for the combined team and maybe 3 Aussies get a look in and two of those are questionable or barely scrape in. In batting order:

Cook
Strauss (Watson may be slightly ahead here, though Strauss' captaincy would get him over the line)
Trott
Pietersen
Hussey
Bell
Haddin (This is close and if Prior makes 100 tomorrow, could go his way)
Swann
Anderson
Siddle (Another close one, he has tried hard but arguably Bresnan is in better form right now)
Tremlett

The real scary thing is even with all that evidence I still feel that a lot of the hierachy feel that with a few bits of luck here and there they could of won so they are in total denial.

[Hazelb]

Yep - time to invest in young talent...push the broom through and clear out the older non preforming players.

Outplayed by the English / south african side...WD them.

[Johnny X]

A little bit too easy

[matticooper]

will be this morning!

[Dr. Pain]

Thank christ thats over. Well done England. I, like most Australians, didn't expect that result. I honestly thought it would be us beating England like that but how wrong was I. I hope it's a big wake up call to us and every level of our team comes under scrutiny. Been 21/22 years since we've lost so bad. We need to play more tests and cut back on the limited over stuff but greed may screw us for a while.

[Bauer]

Well done to the poms. As poorly as we performed, England played much better than they have for years and it is a real credit to them.

I hope we can learn some lessons from them and rebuild for our next series in England. Im looking forward to it already

[norbs]

Yep, congratulations to England. They out played us everywhere, including off the field. Their selections were way better and more calculated than the Australians.

A few stand out statistics for mine.

Brad Haddin took 8 catches in 5 tests! Prior took 23! That tells the story about the bowling line and length right there.

5 English batsmen averaged over 50, with 1 averaging 127. 1 Australian averaged over 50, Hussey.

England scored 9 hundreds to Australias 3.

England won 3 games by an innings. That is a flogging in anyones book!

I am actually happy for Strauss and the English team. They did an Australia on Australia. That takes some balls and a lot of skill. Well done them.

Australia have to go back to the late 80's to see such bad results. It is time to wring the changes. Ponting, Clarke, Johnson, Hiflenhaus, Hughes and Beer need to go. It is just a matter of who replaces them. Not another test until August, so there is plenty of time to sort it out.

[Jiminee]

Beer may actually have something - he is tall if nothing else and on a turning pitch and with support at the other end may be useful.
Clarke's decision to step away from T20 is interesting, shows some focus that has been lacking.

So many talented guys out there who are just not committed enough to take the next step. Maybe they felt that at the critical time, 5 years ago, they were not going to get a chance so settled in as Shield players. On talent alone Cosgrove, White, Voges, North, Henriques, Casson, Shaun Marsh, Noffke, Rogers, Nannes. A whole generation of players that have had no impact at test level.

Who has come into the team in the last 5 years and had an impact?

[Jiminee]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Au ... cricketers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That list does not make for good reading with regard to recent selections. Lots of one and dones and lost on that list who will never play for Australia again.
Mitchell Johnson the only player selected in the past 10 years to take over 100 wickets and Warne and McGrath were only there for half that time - and we can all see where he is at currently.

Also interesting to note that the 9 players picked after North were bowlers or all-rounders with Khawaja finally breaking that streak this week and of the last 20 players picked, only 3 were batsmen - Rogers (1 and done and not even in the Victorian team currently), Hughes (major flaws in his technique) and North (hard to see him ever playing again).

Also look at how many all-rounders (Smith, McDonald, White) have been tried - a clear sign that the bowling and batting has been weak and the selectors have been trying to prop things up. You could also argue North should be on that list.

One last thing - Brad Hodge must have grounds for some sort of law suit looking at all that!

[Johnny X]

Spot on with the stats and analysis Norbs. We beat you in every department this time around. I'm also looking forward to the next meeting for the urn, I'm sure the Aussies will be back with a vengence.

We just got to keep the momentum up when India arrive this summer

[Dr. Pain]

India come here next summer so the England/India series should be a good series to keep an eye on for our next season here.