Australia - the aftermath of the Ashes

[marc71178]

Looking to the future for Australia, based on what I've seen of the players this series:

Watson - yes he needs to work on the running between the wickets and making the most of his starts, but Australia aren't in the position where they can afford to drop a consistent opener. RETAIN.
Hughes - doesn't look at the races. Might be because of his poor form coming into the series coupled with England having the sign over him but needs to go away from the national side until he's in form. DUMP FOR NOW.
Katich - getting towards veteran stage, but still got enough to be of benefit to the team in the short term. Probably the best bet to cover until Hughes can prove if he's good enough or not. RETAIN FOR NOW.
Ponting - terrible series and looks to be in a state of permanent decline. Mind you it's not that long ago that the same could've been justifiably said of Tendulkar and look what's happened there. RETAIN.
Khawaja - came in for 1 game with huge expectation based on the way he was being talked up by the Aussies on here. Didn't excel but certainly showed more than enough to keep his place. RETAIN.
Clarke - poor series on run on the back of a poor year, but 2008/9 suggests he's got the talent. Not sure how best to get it out of him, but for the time being a drop down 1 spot in the order may work. RETAIN.
Hussey - funny to think that bar a decision to not enforce the follow-on in the one Sheffield Shield game he played this season he'd probably have not made it to the 1st Test. How would it have turned out if he'd been dumped pre-series? From now whenever he plays he'll always be in the last chance saloon by virtue of his age, but still has a place for now. RETAIN.
Smith - come back when you know what your role is. DUMP.
North - too many misses for the rare hit to justify playing him. DUMP.
Haddin - looked a good bat for a keeper through the series, but didn't look a great keeper. Still the best available all things considered though. RETAIN.
Johnson - the enigma, you never know which Mitch is playing today. I don't think I've ever seen someone who makes more of a mockery of his series stats than this guy. As others have said, that's OK if you've got him as the 3rd seamer behind 2 superior bowlers, but Australia don't have that luxury at the moment. DUMP
Siddle - if most Aussies had had their way he'd not have started the series. For all the jibes about him running in all day and the like, at least he did that and didn't stop trying. Also showed himself to not be a rabbit with the bat. For me the biggest surprise package of the series and should be a guaranteed pick for a fair while to come. RETAIN.
Beer - the other Aussie bowler to surprise me. When he was picked in the squad then eventually played I expected almost nothing. He showed a lot more than that and for me is definitely worth preserving with. It may not work out (and his career to date suggests that it shouldn't) but you could do a lot worse. RETAIN.
Harris - when he played he was dangerous. Problem is he's never been the fittest of players and is getting to the age where one injury could be the end of him. Assuming he's fit next time Australis play a Test - RETAIN.
Hilfenhaus - what was his role this series? Started so well getting Strauss 3rd ball, but after Strauss again and Pietersen, his other 4 wickets were Tremlett (twice), Swann and Prior (off what might have been more scrutinised as a potential no ball if it wasn't 609-8 at the time). Didn't actually do a great job of keeping it tight either if truth be told. DUMP.
Doherty - should never have been picked, Took 2 Tests to show why (which was 1 too many). DUMP.
Bollinger - possibly Dougeh enhanced his reputation best by only playing 1 out of 5 games. Not sure what the selectors were doing with him, not enough match-fitness to play the 1st Test then not allowed to play any domestic cricket to get match fitness? RETAIN.

That leaves me suggesting the following eleven (assuming fitness on a couple of players):

Watson
Katich
Khawaja
Hussey
Clarke
Ponting (c)
Haddin
Siddle
Harris
Bollinger
Beer

It might not work out, and I will point out that I have no knowledge of the ability of players who've not yet played Tests so have ignored them from this selection, but I think the key thing to recognise is that although Australia have some players out of form, that situation was exaggerated by facing a very good England side, one that was driven to succeed by 24 years of failure and also by a fantastic support cast of coaches, analysts and Andy Flower.

 

[Midwinter]

From what has been seen in this series the obvious things to do are

Play every test in Perth

Pick batsmen who can make at total of over 700 in each innings as the bowlers can' t get the opposition out for less than 600

Alternatively

Pick bowlers who can get the opposition out for less than 150 as the batsmen in the team struggle to make an innings total of more than 200.

From a selection point of view without injury there was only one change in the batting lineup in the series by the selectors, North dropped for Smith.

The bowling was changed by dropping Doherty for Beer who only played in the last test.
Harris was brought in for Hilfanhaus, Bollinger for Johnson.

Not exactly shaking the side up is it. Swapping debutant spinners and replacing an underperforming batsman with an "allrounder" .

The selection policy It was all about "decks chairs on the Titanic". No hard decisions were taken unless you count the dropping of Hauritz, which is still yet to be explained officially.

Were the selectors unwilling to drop established players or did they simply fail to recognise players out of form ?

 

[Spark]

Looking to the future for Australia, based on what I've seen of the players this series:

Watson - yes he needs to work on the running between the wickets and making the most of his starts, but Australia aren't in the position where they can afford to drop a consistent opener. RETAIN.
Hughes - doesn't look at the races. Might be because of his poor form coming into the series coupled with England having the sign over him but needs to go away from the national side until he's in form. DUMP FOR NOW.
Katich - getting towards veteran stage, but still got enough to be of benefit to the team in the short term. Probably the best bet to cover until Hughes can prove if he's good enough or not. RETAIN FOR NOW.
Ponting - terrible series and looks to be in a state of permanent decline. Mind you it's not that long ago that the same could've been justifiably said of Tendulkar and look what's happened there. RETAIN.
Khawaja - came in for 1 game with huge expectation based on the way he was being talked up by the Aussies on here. Didn't excel but certainly showed more than enough to keep his place. RETAIN.
Clarke - poor series on run on the back of a poor year, but 2008/9 suggests he's got the talent. Not sure how best to get it out of him, but for the time being a drop down 1 spot in the order may work. RETAIN.
Hussey - funny to think that bar a decision to not enforce the follow-on in the one Sheffield Shield game he played this season he'd probably have not made it to the 1st Test. How would it have turned out if he'd been dumped pre-series? From now whenever he plays he'll always be in the last chance saloon by virtue of his age, but still has a place for now. RETAIN.
Smith - come back when you know what your role is. DUMP.
North - too many misses for the rare hit to justify playing him. DUMP.
Haddin - looked a good bat for a keeper through the series, but didn't look a great keeper. Still the best available all things considered though. RETAIN.
Johnson - the enigma, you never know which Mitch is playing today. I don't think I've ever seen someone who makes more of a mockery of his series stats than this guy. As others have said, that's OK if you've got him as the 3rd seamer behind 2 superior bowlers, but Australia don't have that luxury at the moment. DUMP
Siddle - if most Aussies had had their way he'd not have started the series. For all the jibes about him running in all day and the like, at least he did that and didn't stop trying. Also showed himself to not be a rabbit with the bat. For me the biggest surprise package of the series and should be a guaranteed pick for a fair while to come. RETAIN.
Beer - the other Aussie bowler to surprise me. When he was picked in the squad then eventually played I expected almost nothing. He showed a lot more than that and for me is definitely worth preserving with. It may not work out (and his career to date suggests that it shouldn't) but you could do a lot worse. RETAIN.
Harris - when he played he was dangerous. Problem is he's never been the fittest of players and is getting to the age where one injury could be the end of him. Assuming he's fit next time Australis play a Test - RETAIN.
Hilfenhaus - what was his role this series? Started so well getting Strauss 3rd ball, but after Strauss again and Pietersen, his other 4 wickets were Tremlett (twice), Swann and Prior (off what might have been more scrutinised as a potential no ball if it wasn't 609-8 at the time). Didn't actually do a great job of keeping it tight either if truth be told. DUMP.
Doherty - should never have been picked, Took 2 Tests to show why (which was 1 too many). DUMP.
Bollinger - possibly Dougeh enhanced his reputation best by only playing 1 out of 5 games. Not sure what the selectors were doing with him, not enough match-fitness to play the 1st Test then not allowed to play any domestic cricket to get match fitness? RETAIN.

That leaves me suggesting the following eleven (assuming fitness on a couple of players):

Watson
Katich
Khawaja
Hussey
Clarke
Ponting (c)
Haddin
Siddle
Harris
Bollinger
Beer

It might not work out, and I will point out that I have no knowledge of the ability of players who've not yet played Tests so have ignored them from this selection, but I think the key thing to recognise is that although Australia have some players out of form, that situation was exaggerated by facing a very good England side, one that was driven to succeed by 24 years of failure and also by a fantastic support cast of coaches, analysts and Andy Flower.

This. All of it.

Let's not become 1990 England and turn the team into a revolving door.

 

[Furball]

Strongly disagree with dumping Hughes and Smith. I'll justify it later when I'm less tired.

 

[Spark]

I think we should keep them around the test side, but not in the team.

 

[marc71178]

Strongly disagree with dumping Hughes and Smith. I'll justify it later when I'm less tired.

Long term I can see a place for Hughes, but currently he's devoid of confidence. Katich is a stopgap measure IMO.

Smith has done nothing to justify his retention, for a start he needs to know what he's selected as - is it a front-line spinner, a top order batsmen to bowl a few overs or a specialist number 7?

 

[Uppercut]

I think I'd agree with most of that but our opinion isn't worth much because we've barely seen any of the alternative options to Khawaja/Beer/Bollinger/Katich. Can't possibly make a call with only half the relevant information. To some extent I think we have to defer to those who see at least a little bit of Sheffield Shield cricket.

 

[NUFAN]

I think we should keep them around the test side, but not in the team.

Yeah Smith is the perfect 12th man, while Hughes is a decent net batsman.

marc's post above is terrific btw, I agree with it all except I'm 50/50 on Beer still as I would prefer someone at 8 like Hauritz or O'Keefe who I believe can do as good a job as a spinner.

 

[marc71178]

To be honest, from what I've seen of Hauritz I'd have had him playing all 5 Tests, but for whatever reason he's not an option any more, and seeing as he's now keeping O'Keefe out of the side I can't justify playing him, so Beer gets my nod as he did IMO bowl well and prove another case of the stats belieing the performance (see Johnson, M for the opposite case)

By the way people, make the most of it, that was my one well-thought out post of 2010, back to snide one-liners now for me!

 

[Spark]

Nah, unfortunately, now that we've played Beer and he's shown some promise, you have to stick with him. It's important that we show faith in players, especially young ones, otherwise they feel they're constantly playing for their place and their output will drop.

I realise this is somewhat at odds with Hughes/Smith but the difference is they have obvious and major issues that they need to overcome before they can find success at this level.

 

[NUFAN]

To be honest, from what I've seen of Hauritz I'd have had him playing all 5 Tests, but for whatever reason he's not an option any more, and seeing as he's now keeping O'Keefe out of the side I can't justify playing him, so Beer gets my nod as he did IMO bowl well and prove another case of the stats belieing the performance (see Johnson, M for the opposite case)

By the way people, make the most of it, that was my one well-thought out post of 2010, back to snide one-liners now for me!

Pity it happened a year late.

Just regarding Beer, I didn't really watch his bowling too closely, what I saw was pretty average but the batsman were quite set and the fielding placings defensive. The fact that he's not a very good batsman counts against him too, especially if you are getting rid of Johnson and picking Bollinger in your XI. Yep, bowlers should be picked for their bowling, but Beer is a marginal call at best so batting and fielding should come into it.

Yep, I know Johnson makes heaps of low scores...

 

[Spikey]

Siddle - if most Aussies had had their way he'd not have started the series. For all the jibes about him running in all day and the like, at least he did that and didn't stop trying. Also showed himself to not be a rabbit with the bat. For me the biggest surprise package of the series and should be a guaranteed pick for a fair while to come. RETAIN.

Not sure if I agree with that. he took 12 of his 14 wickets in two innings and did nothing else. In the end he didn't have that good of a series. Certianly the last thing we need is a bowler who performs like Marucs North did - saving himself right before the axe comes down. He can stay if Johnson goes but one of them definitely need to go and Siddle certainly shouldn't be assured of a place long-term right now.

 

[GotSpin]

Ideally Ponting would stay for another season or two until guys like Maddinson or Lynn get more FC matches under their belt - Presuming both continue their.great starts.

Both Hughes and Steve, while not in the XI, should be kept around the fringes while refining their techniques with further FC play.

Hope to see Copeland come into the set up too

 

[Redbacks]

Sutherland on grandstand live now.

So many excuses, hilarious to hear the excerpt from Hilditch yesterday saying the selection panel has done a 'great' job.

In Summary:

- There will be a full review conducted in the lead up to the ODI WC for Cricket Australia. They are looking for members from both inside and outside the organisation with a specific interest in other 'high performance' sporting setups.
Will be a total look at the entire system from the national team through to the 6 state sides and development pathways to bring in the next generation cricketers

- We were thrashed by a far superior team.

- It is expected that 'things change' as current operations aren't working.

- In response to the question about the Coach and Selectors having his backing, he simply stated 'everyone is disappointed' with the current results and avoided the question about Nielsen's extension to 2013.

- Given the tour schedules, he can't see more FC games from the test squad, points to similar situation for England. Concedes that perhaps this has weakened the standard of the FC matches

- Thought that the preparation for the Ashes was adequate, whilst not the right conditions, the competitiveness of the series in India was liked by the players and the Sri Lanka ODIs were a 'necessity' due to scheduling issues from this years ODI WC.

- Ponting has full backing as current captain from the selectors

 

[Midwinter]

Why keep Hughes in the team ?

He is a walking wicket.
The Poms worked him out in England and they did excatly the same here.

The rest of the world has seen it as well.

Unless he makes a mountain of runs in the shield ala Hayden there is no future for him.

Not having seen him play since England I was in favour of giving him another go on the basis of "all the work that had been done on his technique".

The first innings he batted showed the same problems were present and against disciplined bowling it was only a matter time till he got out and so it was every innings.

An average of 16 is not what the team needed . Ponting and Clarke were already averaging that.

If the selectors can pick a test spinner from someone with an average in the forties and 5 FC games, surely they can pick a test opener from those currently playing FC, after all every team has 2 of them.

 

[Spark]

Ideally Ponting would stay for another season or two until guys like Maddinson or Lynn get more FC matches under their belt - Presuming both continue their.great starts.

Both Hughes and Steve, while not in the XI, should be kept around the fringes while refining their techniques with further FC play.

Hope to see Copeland come into the set up too

Like all of this. If we're holding onto Ponting just for Lynn/Maddinson maybe he'll have a bit longer than we thought - those two are very very young IIRC and there's no reason to be rushing them into international cricket whilst extremely raw.

 

[Oscillatingmind]

Just get rid of Johnson.

 

[robelinda]

Worth remembering that after England being thrashed 5-0 in 06/07 they kept faith in Strauss, Bell, Anderson, Collingwood, Cook- who all had less than stellar series, and in the case of Anderson a shocking series. They stuck with the players they knew had the ability. I say stick with Hughes and Smith, but Johnson has had 4 summers to show his stuff, and by now should be maturing into the leader of our attack, instead he's going backwards. Hilfy, big trier, just not good enough. Bollinger deserves a long go, Siddle is a good 2nd or 3rd pacer. Bring bak Hauritz, and do it now.

 

[howardj]

Short term issues

- Coaching staff
- Selectors

Then we can start to assess the damage they've done

Spot on, mate.

These are the easy, upfront issues that can be addressed quickly.

Then we can start the hard stuff.

If JL, the cheer leading brown nosed gnome, remains batting coach, then the world's gone mad!

 

[howardj]

SL Tour

Khawaja
Watson
Clarke
Hussey
Ponting
Smith
Paine
Hauritz
Harris
Bollinger
Siddle

If Clarke can't and won't bat first-drop in a time like this, then see you later to him.