Ashes: time for changes
Good article from Darren Berry.
Two myths about the Aussie team are:
(a) That we’re a young team. This is rubbish - the average age of our batting line-up is 33 years. Further, Johnson, Hauritz and Hilfenhaus are all in their mid-late 20s, and our keeper is pushing 34.
(b) That we’re a team in transition. This is rubbish too – a mere 18 months ago we beat the best team in the world at the time (South Africa) in their own backyard with basically the same players that are still in the team today. We’ve gone backwards since then.
Fact is, there are only about seven serious Test playing nations in the world. Of those, we are ranked a paltry
5th. At least on rankings, we’re back with the hapless Kiwis and the ramshackle Windies!
It’s not good enough, and not acceptable that we continue to accommodate players like:
- a 35 year old in serious decline for the last
two years (Hussey) and
- A 32 year old, who averages in the 30s in Tests and in the low 40s in Shield Cricket (North). North is a number six who according to Cricinfo gets out for under twenty in 4 out of 5 Test innings. Is that Test standard?
It used to be cut-throat at the selection table, but nowadays they retain proven failures.
As far as I am concerned, Ponting ought to get used to copping critical tweets from greats like Warney. Because, guess what? Punter is now presiding over the
5th ranked team in the world – and he needs to get his head around that. He is no position, and has no right, to be stifling/deflecting/rejecting criticism – thinking he is above the fray. He is presiding over a mediocre outfit at the moment and needs to cop it sweet (or, in this case, cop it tweet).
Phew...that had been building up in me for days...
