I thought that first innings was the most inept batting I've ever seen, at whatever level. I don't think the batters, Hadin and Hussey excepted, are as good as they are made out to be or, in the case of Ponting, have been. Hence my question, is this all there is?
And so an absorbing match draws to a close. Haddin and Siddle have really put the top order to shame with that 8th wicket partnership. But the England bowlers have been outstanding. What next for Australia, I wonder?
Smith is an excellent prospect but I think most people agree that he has been thrown to the wolves a season or two too early. Few 21 year old rookies are likely to excel against this sort of opposition. Still, to say he 'can't bat, can't bowl, can't field' is woefully ignorant. Our batting has been poor allround but that's what happens when you're carrying so many passengers. Hughes was selected with crap current season form but we have no decent openers right now. Ponting and Clarke are horribly out of form and North should have been dropped 12 months earlier than he was. When you're constantly relying on three players (Haddin, Hussey and Watson) to make all the runs then a drubbing like this was only a matter of time. Don't see much improving in Sydney with the side just announced though.
Caeser, what has happened to the batting? Admitted, North was that creature reminiscent of England, the all rounder who couldn't really bat or bowl, but what about Clarke and Ponting? I can't work out Clarke, who has all the technique and eye of a truly great player but the mind, it seems at times, of a careless teenager. Mark Waugh, used to be like that, too, until they dropped him a few times, if I recall at all well.
Clarke's just in a slump, but the timing is unfortunate. He's a very solid player who is currently quite out of sorts. Probably isn't helped by the niggling back injury he's been carrying most of the summer. Ponting I think is just getting past it. Great player, but unlike someone like Tendulkar he hasn't moderated his style to adjust for his slowing reflexes. He constantly gets out playing the pull shot these days. Still, he's not as bad a player as he's showed in this series. I think the burden of being a losing captain coupled with a lack of confidence is probably taking a toll.
I agree with your comparison with Tendulkar-- probably the most complete batsman I've ever seen. Ponting was equally as good (and better in a lot of situations). It looks as if the pressure of leadership has a negative effect on some. I recall it almost destroyed Tendulkar and Lara. We also had Vaughan who, although a tactically brilliant captain, also declined in his batsmanship after taking over the captaincy. On a related note, do you think the selectors could have been more forceful in pushing Ponting down the order, say, even down to number 5, and also in not casting the net wider for a better opener than Hughes, or are there truly no better openers out there?
Openers are a problem at the moment. None of the state bats are really in form. There's a couple of middle order bats like Sean Marsh and Khawaja who have opened in the past, but their records at the top of the order are not great. Hussey has opened before but you don't really want to move your most in-form batsman when the rest of the side is so poor. Hughes got the gig mainly on the back of his previous experience and his form last season. As for Ponting moving down the order, it may help him recapture some form. Who knows, if Khawaja impresses at first drop in Sydney then it may well happen when he returns to the side.
Doesn't sound good for you, then. A long period of rebuilding and in the wilderness a la post-Packer Series may be in the offing, then. Then again, strange things do happen-- didn't Hussey come to the party at 29 or 30? Or was that only because of the talent ahead of him?
We'll be fine in a year or two. Plenty of young talent around, and we still have the strongest first class competition in the world. This is just the transition phase finally arriving, we've all been expecting it since 2007. Certainly not going to dominate like we have for the last 15-20 years but after a refresh we'll be back as one of the top couple of teams. Also, bear in mind this is all Test cricket we're talking about - despite a few crap results recently we're still #1 in ODIs. In that format we have very few weaknesses, likewise our T20 side is as good as any out there.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Very easy for an Englishman to feel smug about The Ashes right now. However, I have always found out through life, that pride does indeed, cometh before a fall, and it shall not always be like this. But WTF...feels pretty good right now!!!! On a slightly more serious note, I recently posted on our cricket forum, about an English all rounder. His name was John. Hope you will indulge in my pride. http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=22481676&postcount=42 Again..... WISHING YOU A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR! Rog.
*cough* 3-1 *cough*. 'ahem, but wasn't that sweet at all? I still can't get my head round to just poor the Australian batters have been Listening to some of them talk, I reckon they're in denial and I see a West Indies happening again, and a long period in the wilderness unless they grasp the nettle which is that the cupboard is bare. Or they are analysing the wrong set of problems. As a somebody who used to suffer through spectacular batting collapses, I can only smugly smile. Now, bring on South Africa and India.
Err, have you been reading our media at all? Apparently losing to the English at cricket is the most disgraceful loss of face since Troy didn't do their due diligence on a wooden gift. Cricket Australia have already announced that they're setting up an external review of the entire organisation from a development perspective, CEO to grassroots, and a technical panel to review the current selectors, coaches and players with a view to cleanout and renewal. The attitude is that Australia should never lose a cricket series to England at home unless they're doing something severely wrong. Which is crazy, but if you think Australia's going to shrug, sit on their hands and do nothing like the ECB did for 20 years, then you're in for a shock.
Let's hope so for your sake, because the evidence so far suggests that you've largely ignored the results of the last four Test series. Still, as you said, an absolute shellacking by England may provide the required kick up the proverbial.
lol, get you. 3-1 with the series alive in the fifth Test is a shellacking now? I guess when you're English you take what you can get. That said, it was a comprehensive win by the clearly better team. If you'd read any of the press you'd know the general reaction is very different from '05 or '09, when (rightly or wrongly) the general sentiment was that the Australian team was as good or better but England happened to get the rub of the green, helped by playing at home. This time the result is regarded as unacceptable and I'm sure heads will roll. However, the sky isn't falling. We've got a couple of passengers, a couple of guys in horrible form, and a couple of young guys who aren't Test quality yet. Collectively they make for a horrible side, but the latter two will be fixed with time. The former... we've got plenty of young talent coming through. The one area I have a concern will be finding a couple of genuine wickettaking bowlers. At the moment we have one in Johnson and he's like the girl with the curl - and these days, more off the boil than on. Plenty of young guys floating about - O'Keefe, Copeland, Hazelwood, Pattinson - but it's always a bit hard to predict what will happen with bowlers' development. Still, we'll bounce back relatively quickly - not to the dominance of the last quarter of a century, but certainly to matching it with any side. There's a reason that our only really long period in the wilderness in 150 years was during and immediately after the days of WSC and the rebel tours. Sooner or later, the Shield always provides. I would say this Ashes series and the next will be our nadir. Next time you're back here I severely doubt we'll perform this poorly.
Three innings defeats sounds like a shellacking to me but you're a better judge of what is wrong with Australia than me-- I depend on the media, and I know from their track record in football they are reliable as Mugabe's currency.
Was watching the ICC world cup the other day. Few things come to mind. 1. The referral system is one of the most strange form of undermining the umpires on field. Even the commentators find it difficult to explain it. 2. Ponting really annoyed me when they played Kenya. I am biased towards kenya when C.Obuya was aiming to get his debut hundred, Ponting brought his fielders around the first circle to prevent the runner from giving the strike to C.Obuya. This hindered his chances as he then faced two dot balls and only got 98. Tait on the other hand was abit classy when he had a chance of run out he delayed looked at the player coming in and then took the wicket. Had it been Obuya instead he might have missed. I know fair play is important and at the same time there is gamemanship C.Obuya will never get a chance to hit a 100 against australia. Also top marks to B.lee for coming to congratulate C.Obuya on his effort. 3. Players swear at each other and opposition in their national languages more then they have ever done before. However they never swear at the umpires. Something I would like to see in football but has never happened. Was not sure about the rules but a friend of a friend told me that as long as swears are not directed to refs you can get away. ******** you- booking, ******** off- Nothing.
I doubt Obuya would have appreciated having a fantastic innings devalued by Australia intentionally gifting him a century. That would have been ridiculously paternalistic. IMO any country competing at the tournament owes it to their opposition to give 100% effort 100% of the time.
Amazing collapse in Cardiff-- a slow burning Test has exploded into life as Sri Lanka capitulate in the face of some hostile bowling.
And that's it. All out for 82, and some awful batting from Sri Lanka. Good bowling and fielding from England, though.
Quite pathetic wasn't it. Last I looked they needed 28 runs and had 28 overs to do them in. But they were looking really nervous.
The batting was a level below ordinary. I have never seen top batters with such poor basic technique as Sri Lanks's in the second innings.
When I was watching the batsmen were practicing their technique at every chance, but even the practice was looking like they were playing defensive, trying to smother the ball. All that lead to was a lot of edging. I used to love playing slips or mid off... Took one off a guys bat from mid off once, he got caught on his back foot with the ball almost up his throat, I got it on his crease right at his feet. Schoolboy stuff but fun.
Needed 28 to avoid an innings defeat. They needed about 300 to avoid defeat entirely. And were 43-7. It's no wonder they looked nervous! ;p A mate of mine had £40 at 100-1 on the England win to cover his other bets on the Championship playoff final and the golf. He backed Westwood, Reading and England. Jammy bastard.
