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***Official Australia in India***

duffer

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Good article in the Age today where they reckon the Aussies, Hayden in particular overstepped the line where aggression meets anger. Think this is definitely the case with Hayden and the Indians were very in his face with the chirping which just encouraged this.
 

Top_Cat

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Really stumped by the Aussie batting tactics. Like it's a last stand and they have to throw absolutely everything at the Indian bowlers to put a win back on the table just so they can regain some semblance of control over the situation. I get the feeling that because they don't reckon they can just survive or it's less macho, they may as well just get bowled out quickly in a last blaze of glory.

That's the one drawback of personalities who are control freaks (as is the Aussie way in the players, coaches, etc.); when things are going well and everything is within their control, they're happy. They play high percentage cricket, play their own game and the result takes care of itself. When they do exactly the same thing and they're so far behind in the game it won't make a difference and they actually need to change their psychology just to get something out of the match, they flail. These guys are used to winning, futility does not sit well with them. It's a life lesson for each and every player more than anything, really.
 

Burgey

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Good article in the Age today where they reckon the Aussies, Hayden in particular overstepped the line where aggression meets anger. Think this is definitely the case with Hayden and the Indians were very in his face with the chirping which just encouraged this.
I don't think there's much doubt about that, but it was a positive thing to see him at least playing shots. They've overdone the cautiousness thing imo all series. Not saying they didn't go too far the other way yesterday mind.
2004 saw Australia play well off the back foot to the spinners in particular. Seems they've forgotten that this time around, although tbf there are a number of players in the side this time who aren't as well established.
Positives this test for Australia are few, but at least Watson has shown something with the bat, Clarke has got a decent hit and Haddin is contributing well with the bat this time around. Likewise Siddle on debut has been decent.
The killer's been the bowling with Lee disappointing so far and Clark being out injured this test. Given the lack of spinners, we need these two firing like nobody's business to take enough wickets. The big disappointment for mine has not been the sheer lack of wickets, but the inability of the bowlers to bowl consistent areas, which of itself removes pressure from the Indian batsmen.
 

Precambrian

Banned
I don't think there's much doubt about that, but it was a positive thing to see him at least playing shots. They've overdone the cautiousness thing imo all series. Not saying they didn't go too far the other way yesterday mind.
2004 saw Australia play well off the back foot to the spinners in particular. Seems they've forgotten that this time around, although tbf there are a number of players in the side this time who aren't as well established.
Positives this test for Australia are few, but at least Watson has shown something with the bat, Clarke has got a decent hit and Haddin is contributing well with the bat this time around. Likewise Siddle on debut has been decent.
The killer's been the bowling with Lee disappointing so far and Clark being out injured this test. Given the lack of spinners, we need these two firing like nobody's business to take enough wickets. The big disappointment for mine has not been the sheer lack of wickets, but the inability of the bowlers to bowl consistent areas, which of itself removes pressure from the Indian batsmen.
I think the biggest difference between 2004 and now has been the wickets and Ishant Sharma.
 

Top_Cat

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Isn't it interesting that the two series' Aus has been in trouble during Ponting's time as captain, he's had public problems with the leading bowlers going through marital problems at the same time. Coincidence?
 

Precambrian

Banned
Isn't it interesting that the two series' Aus has been in trouble during Ponting's time as captain, he's had public problems with the leading bowlers going through marital problems at the same time. Coincidence?
I know Lee had marital problems. Who is the other?
 

duffer

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
That's the one drawback of personalities who are control freaks (as is the Aussie way in the players, coaches, etc.); when things are going well and everything is within their control, they're happy. They play high percentage cricket, play their own game and the result takes care of itself. When they do exactly the same thing and they're so far behind in the game it won't make a difference and they actually need to change their psychology just to get something out of the match, they flail. These guys are used to winning, futility does not sit well with them. It's a life lesson for each and every player more than anything, really.
Goes back to a point made by someone earlier in the thread that it was almost as if batting out 4 sessions to save a match was below a lot of these guys. Really hope we can wrap this up quickly. Would be a hell of a reality check.
 

duffer

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I don't think there's much doubt about that, but it was a positive thing to see him at least playing shots. They've overdone the cautiousness thing imo all series. Not saying they didn't go too far the other way yesterday mind.
Mark Waugh made a point a couple of days ago that the Aussie players and Nielsen seemed a bit in awe whenever they spoke of how well the Indians have reversed it and how they were trying to match it. He said the attitude was showing in their batting and they're giving far too much respect to them instead of trying to do what they normally do and impose their own game on India.
 

Precambrian

Banned
What a spell of bowling that by Ishant Sharma!!! He got Punter with ball of the series, pushed back Clarke with short balls and beat him with a length ball, got Watson lbw, and then struck one smack on Haddin's helmet the next ball !!
 

archie mac

International Coach
What a spell of bowling that by Ishant Sharma!!! He got Punter with ball of the series, pushed back Clarke with short balls and beat him with a length ball, got Watson lbw, and then struck one smack on Haddin's helmet the next ball !!
Looked raw in Aust last season, but has improved greatly, I always worry about really tall and lean fast bowlers:)
 

Top_Cat

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Mark Waugh made a point a couple of days ago that the Aussie players and Nielsen seemed a bit in awe whenever they spoke of how well the Indians have reversed it and how they were trying to match it. He said the attitude was showing in their batting and they're giving far too much respect to them instead of trying to do what they normally do and impose their own game on India.
It's the control thing, I reckon. Because India is reversing it and they're not, it almost seems mythical and that breeds the awe, etc and consequent feelings of being out-of-control. This Aussie team hates dealing with things out of their control, out-of-the-ordinary or a bit different. It's why when they play South Africa, they feel like they'll beat them every time but when they play India, there's always the threat of a loss. Psychologically it goes back to fear of the unknown (probably a bit of xenophobia); when they play India, instead of seeing them as opponents on a cricket field, they probably see them as these creatures who can do magic tricks with the ball they can't. Breeds the most basic human emotion in these circumstances, fear. What follows? Panic.

Notice how the tension regarding losing the Ashes in 2005 didn't fully dissipate when they beat them in the return series and only when it as found English bowlers were apparently using sweets to get the ball to reverse? Suddenly, they had a reason, something they could blame for the loss. Was a way to regain control of the situation. "We knew it! So there you go, they had to cheat to win!" Look for something similar to be uncovered after this series, whether true or not (i.e. there's no proof that using sweets on the ball affected it at all). Need an outside influence to blame. Why?

The Aussie team is built on having trained and planned for every possibility in cricket and doing all the little things right that the other teams either ignore or don't do as well (ground fielding, for example). Being beaten on their merits is incongruous to this psychology because they would think, they're doing everything right and should win. So if they lose, must have been something else, the oppo cheated, etc.
 
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Top_Cat

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I thought he had it from a longtime back.
Was going through his divorce whilst on tour in 2005 with the Aussie team. He'd obviously been a philandering idiot for years but that was when Simone finally cried enough.




Then took him back, then he messed up again, THEN she finally said 'enough'........:ph34r:
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
I think the biggest difference between 2004 and now has been the wickets and Ishant Sharma.
In the scores Australia has posted, maybe.

In the results so far? It's clearly Australia's bowling. Australia's attack in '04 was superb and pretty much dominated for the entire series. Gillespie had his last great series with the ball, and McGrath and Warne were the same bowlers as always. Australia only got into bad situations when the batting failed in '04, and the bowling generally bailed the team out. There's no bowlers in common this time around, Lee's had a bad run and Clark has been injured, depriving Australia of it's two best bowlers, and it shows.
 

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