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No thread on the biggest series in international cricket?

Probably for the best, it's been a rather forgettable one for Australia...

poor cricket in series in neutral fan point of view

England were the better side.
But we can't knock Australia. They have a lot of talent in that ODI squad, and it's going to be interesting if they show it

australia was stifled but confused and/or stubborn selectors...


they couldnt man up and admit hauritz is our best spinner once xavier failed.

and the comments that made me shake my head...

"we cant drop mitchell johnson because that will hurt his confidence" - merv hughes (recently duimped as selector.

"i dont think theres a proble. We selected the right team" -andrew hilditch, chairman of selectors.

reality is michael beer had not yet earnt his test spot...3 first class games where he hasnt performed that good....what are they thinking?

michael clake...uinjured and out of form.....drop him hamilton masakadza style

ponting...hes the capt, but give him a rest if his finger hurts....

pickign an allrounder like steve smith....but NOT for his leg spin bowling but for his batting....theres NO WAY he earnt his spot as a bastmen...at least 5 middle order bats that deserved it in front of him and thats generous. if they said there looking for an x factor all rounder it would have made more sense.

marcus north....was dropped but ket getting picked.


bollinger- absurd decision to leave him out for siddle given respective forms eading into the tournament. yes siddle got a hat trick....but to me thats a stroke of luck like nothing else. he NEVER should have been given that chance. full respect to him for making the most of it in that firsdt test though.

Australia should have gone with Brad Hodge in the middle order.

eugene wrote:Australia should have gone with Brad Hodge in the middle order.

He hasn't played for ages....what happened to him he was such a class act.

sloandog wrote:

eugene wrote:Australia should have gone with Brad Hodge in the middle order.

He hasn't played for ages....what happened to him he was such a class act.

Nothing really, his only curse was the stae he played for, plus i dont think him and ponting got along alot but i could be wrong

You could write a book on Australia's problems at the moment.
Spinners & openers are a problem as well as out of form middle order bats.
You wouldn't want to be a spinner for quids in Aussie. If you don't perform (Doherty) or if you don't fall into Ponting's plans (Casson, Kreja) then get ready for heartbreak. It will be interesting to see if Beer gets a call up next test series in Sri Lanka. Something was wrong back in 2006/7. Warne retires then McGill doesn't get fit enough to take over as #1 & then Hogg retires when McGill is discarded. This was Hogg's biggest break & a call from the nation.Why? Tean disunity I suspect.Very creepy!
12 months ago we were awash with international standard openers.
Now, Katich is injured Hughes, Jacques, Cowan & Klinger are having there worst seasons for ages- At the same time! Rogers is another not fitting into Ponting's plans & no longer is playing.
With Clarke as the golden boy, Katich is on borrowed time. He & Clarke had a fight after the Sydney test against India 4 years ago. Clarke loves the social pages & wanted to leave the dressing room early but Katich wanted him to stick with tradition & stay with the team. When Clarke is captain (god help us!), Katich is on borrowed time.
Chairman os selectors, Andrew Hilditch is a solicitor in private life. Start reading his excuses & comments & justifications for team selections. If you have him representing you in court than pack up for prison because he has more holes in his arguments than swiss cheese.
A journalist described Aussie cricket right now as a rotting corpse of a cat after being hit by a car.
This loss to England is worse than 86/87 because at that time we had South African defections compounding retirements. Now it is just retirements, poor selections, team disunity & arrogance. With Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, Sth Africa in Sth Africa & India at home looming, this is not a short term problem.
PS: What other country has picked 4 Express fast bowlers & 1 spinner in their World Cup squad?
No names mentioned but a couple of years ago a medium fast bowler with reasonable first class experience & performance was given his opportunity in a few one dayers. He didn't do too badly but didn't last. The story I heard is Ponting never even talked to him whilst he was in the team. A senior player who was a state team mate never spoke to him whilst he was in the Aussie squad either. This senior player later apologised that he didn't provide support.
Shane Warne wrote an article on strategies to fix Aussie cricket. One was get international players to play state cricket. Players are being picked & Ponting has never met them let alone seen them play. Another fix was to maintain traditions which made the team strong- a strong rebuke for that showpony Clarke.
The story could go on because the corpse is still rotting.

It was kind of uneven...England were better and Australia was not even the shadow of who they were...