*Official* Sri Lanka in Australia 2010

[Ikki]

It has been, and so has been our inability to get the opposition's tail.

Look at the line-up, just how many of our players have more than 30 tests? Katich, Clarke Hussey and Ponting. That's it isn't it?


EDIT: Johnson has 38, but still wouldn't consider him an "experienced" test player. Still a lot of simple stuff going wrong and inconsistency.

 

[Jono]

Ludicrous.

Honestly if any other team just used inexperience as a reason for it losing tests it'd be lambasted.

Australia lost to friggin Pakistan, and almost lost twice to them.

 

[Ikki]

If they'd lost most of their team in the last few years, they probably wouldn't be.

Players we've used since 01 Jan 09, and their total number of Tests played for Aus.

Manou - 1 test
George - 1 test
McKay - 1 test
McGain - 1 test
Smith - 2 tests
Harris - 2 tests
Paine - 4 tests
McDonald - 4 tests
Hughes 7 - tests
Bollinger - 11 tests
Hilfenhaus - 13 tests
Siddle - 17 tests
Hauritz - 17 tests
Haddin - 27 tests
North - 19 tests
Watson - 22 tests
Johnson - 38 tests
Katich - 54 tests
Hussey - 54 tests
Clarke - 64 tests
Ponting - 148 tests

IMO we produce talent. We just need to get a solid first XI on the pitch as much as possible and let then learn their way.

 

[Jono]

Yet there are calls for Usman Khawaja, Ferguson, White etc. to be selected...

Making the team more inexperienced seems to be what people want?

 

[NUFAN]

The decision to not include Xavier Doherty at the SCG was an absolute joke. He performed so well at the MCG, I thought it might have been a decent time to experiment Doherty and Hauritz bowling in tandem.

I also think that in the run chase it was a perfect opportunity to move Steve Smith up the order to give him a bit of a chance to build an innings.

The reason why SL, Ind and SA are good batting units these days is that they each have a top 4 who are very capable of scoring 80+ at a good strike rate, Australia are just not picking the batsman.

At the GABBA, I'm looking forward to the return of Doherty and Ferguson - Ponting is out of the 3rd match to get into some first class form.

 

[sifter132]

The batting has been the primary reason for Australia's recent failings though. You can't just wash away the last 18 months down to inexperience IMO.

Well actually I haven't minded our last 18 months. One wicket from keeping the Ashes, one wicket from drawing the India Test series. Won the Champions Trophy, 2nd in T20 World Cup. It's also pretty satisfying given the huge turnover of players we have had and that we haven't got one reliable bowler. Well Hilfy is reliable - that's it. Watson is our 2nd most reliable...

And channeling Tony Greig - full credit to those little Sri Lankans. Man their bowling was good last night.

 

[Top_Cat]

Yeah I think there's too little credit being given to the Sri Lankans in general. They've played top cricket, good professional stuff and with serious mojo. Sign of a top team when the less flashy guys know their role, stick to it and give the batter guys the freedom to do their thing. A run-off effect is that it gives the lesser lights opportunity to shine as Tharanga did last night.

 

[NUFAN]

Yeah Sri Lanka have been awesome and I haven't given them enough credit.

I would have to rank SL and SA as the two countries with the best chance of winning the next World Cup.

 

[Noble One]

Very little credit to the Sri Lanka team. They have performed in every aspect, and have a very tight unit. From the start of the tour, I'm sure most would have classed Tharanga and Perera as the two weak links in the side. They have both performed beyond expectation, and when your weakest players play well the entire side should play well.

Listened to an interview with Stuart Law by the SEN guys this morning. Too many questions regarding what Australia need to do, and what went wrong for Australia. Questions should be entirely focused on the development of the Sri Lankan batsman and how well the Sri Lankan team is coming together right before a World Cup.

 

[Neil Pickup]

The missed run-out

Possibly the most hilarious bit of ****house fielding I've ever seen - and that's saying something.

 

[Jarquis]

On first view I didn't get what made it so bad, I mean Watson just gets in the way. Then I noticed the Sri Lankan batsman had literally given up any hope of making his ground and Clarke could've bunny-hopped his way to the stumps and knocked the bails off with his tongue whilst balancing the ball on his lips he had that much time.
Also explains Jono's avatar for me.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Yet there are calls for Usman Khawaja, Ferguson, White etc. to be selected...

Making the team more inexperienced seems to be what people want?

I don't think there's much option, given we had the same blokes around the team for so long from the late 90's/early 2000's and so many retired around the same time.

It's nice to keep guys with experience, but if that means keeping someone like an out of form Hussey then I can't see the sense in that. Don't think there's a need to get rid of too many players, but persisting with someone who is making a major contribution to weakening the middle order doesn't make sense.

There's no point building a team of players who eventually become well-experienced at test level if they're not effective.

 

[Son Of Coco]

I think it was about three years ago that I had written on this forum about impending trouble with Australian cricket with detailed analysis of the seniors who had left without replacements and aging cricketers who would be leaving shortly and no replacements of quality being blooded for half a decade or more. At that time I had predicted that Australia.
's decline from the ranks of the top cricketing nations of the world was inevitable and would be prolonged.

Some worthies here had sought to underplay the issue and names of youngsters were bandied about who would be good enough to challenge the best in the world.

Well the time is upon us now. Australia has declined way below the position they have held for a decade and a half, not because the rest of the world has made great strides but because they have not been able to produce "quality" - real quality - cricketers for quite sometime. It is sad, not just for Australian cricket but for world cricket as a whole for we may soon be comparing players of much lower caliber against each other without young fans realizing standards have slipped, and how?

Yeah, I agree with this mostly SJS. Also wonder whether it being so difficult to break into the team for so long had any effect on the number of top quality replacements being available once the inevitable retirements caused an exodus in talent.

We were always going to be much worse off once those guys left. You don't lose possibly the best paceman and spinner ever, as well as the most devastating wicketkeeper/batsman and some pretty decent top and middle order bats and just keep on keeping on, but I think in the situation we're in it's time to get a bit daring with selections again ala the early 90's.

 

[Spark]

If Australia lose in Brisbane then Sri Lanka will have equal points to Sri Lanka I believe.

Really? What is this insane proposition, Sri Lanka couldn't possibly have the exact same number of points as themselves!



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But SJS raises an important point. The fundamental reason we're not dominating like when we had Warne and McGrath is because, well, we don't have anyone anywhere near as good as Warne and McGrath. It's just a fact of life.

On first view I didn't get what made it so bad, I mean Watson just gets in the way. Then I noticed the Sri Lankan batsman had literally given up any hope of making his ground and Clarke could've bunny-hopped his way to the stumps and knocked the bails off with his tongue whilst balancing the ball on his lips he had that much time.
Also explains Jono's avatar for me.

It was a pretty silly moment /understatement

 

[howardj]

Ponting resting from tomorrow.

More rubbish theories, more meddling.

What about put our best team on the park and build some confidence and continuity.

No, that's too obvious and too straightforward.

 

[howardj]

Yet there are calls for Usman Khawaja, Ferguson, White etc. to be selected...

Making the team more inexperienced seems to be what people want?

It's not about experience, it's about ability and performance.

The team with the batting lineup with an average age of 33, and keeper pushing 34...that set up has seen us slide to number five. And none of our Test regular bowlers are in the flush of youth (not that I am saying our bowling lineup is old)

Do we need more 30-something hacks like Norf and Hussey?

Under this panel, Warne, Ponting and McGrath would have debuted five years later than they did.

Warne, McGrath, Langer, Hayden, Slater, Martyn, Gillespie, Ponting, SWaugh, Healy all debuted before their time. Ultimately, they all had fine careers.

I'd rather have a host of young punks losing some games but learning and improving, than old guys like North, Hussey etc losing games and plateau-ing.

Anyway, back on topic...SL did well last night. A serious WC contender.

 

[Spark]

Ponting resting from tomorrow.

More rubbish theories, more meddling.

What about put our best team on the park and build some confidence and continuity.

No, that's too obvious and too straightforward.

Yeah I get the logic of resting for a three-day game but...

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Agree with the sentiment that a lot of people - not on here so much - either are forgetting or are simply refusing to acknowledge the fact that Sri Lanka are a really good side and would give even a full-strength Aus (read: Harris Bollinger Tait) team a serious run for its money.

 

[Ruckus]

I'd rather have a host of young punks losing some games but learning and improving, than old guys like North, Hussey etc losing games and plateau-ing.

Totally agree with that. If the players aren't performing, it gets freakin' boring just seeing the same old players in there as well.

 

[Redbacks]

Totally agree with that. If the players aren't performing, it gets freakin' boring just seeing the same old players in there as well.

To follow Amartya Sen's economic theory through to cricket. Selectors should be judged on 'capability management' rather than just W/L records. Get the former right then the latter takes care of itself.

 

[pup11]

Sad to see our predicament right now, but its hardly surprising, we seem to be playing games against other teams, but all we seem to think and talk about is the Poms and the Ashes!!
It also doesn't help that we have people like Clarke & Johnson, who can play like ****, till they turn old and grey, without even having their place questioned....