The State of Australian Cricket

[benchmark00]

Cummins, Pattinson, Copeland, Starc, Hilfenhaus, Siddle, Johnson, Beer, Lyon and Harris are the bowlers used during the last 12 months in test cricket, the thing is no name on that list is an established player in the team because they are just an injury or a few bad games away from fading from the side, which is something we saw plenty of in the last 12 months.

Australia has done well over the last 12 months because there is pool of talent to pick from and despite poor handling of that talent it has made its presence felt in the limited opportunities that were provided.

Cricket is not like it used to be where you would have the same four bowlers playing every single game. You need a pool of fast bowlers that you can cycle through to minimise injury risk and for the conditions.

I have no idea why you're making out that having depth is a bad thing.

Australia's bowlers have essentially won them the last 12 months worth of cricket.

 

[Spikey]

so we have a good spread of bowling talent...**** DA SELECTORS

 

[Arachnodouche]

As long as Pattinson, Cummins, Siddle are managed well (Hilfenhaus looks good too but he's only bowled well against a crap India...Starc will go well too, I reckon), and Lyons keeps developing, I don't see much reason for panic, and Australia should get by even with a fairly average batting side. There aren't many teams who'd turn down most of those bowlers.

 

[uvelocity]

I ****ing hate losing to the poms, even if it's an out of season, meaningless, rain affected, three quater toss losing, experimental, middle of the night, other side of the world bilateral ftp joke one day series.

But without over-reacting, we weren't amazing against the windies and really did more or less scrape through the early season away, and recent home summer, 4-0 drubbing of lolindia nothwithstanding.

The thing is, there are massive questions over the team and quite likely even selections can't even fix the gap in class between what a generation has expected of our team, and what we are gonna get for a few years. It's just a bit of premature desperation perhaps.

 

[Burgey]

It's a funny thing. The top sides have the best players. I know it's a revolutionary thought, but there we are.

 

[benchmark00]

People were praising that report when it came out saying that there needs to be a bigger focus on test matches. People have to accept that this comes at the expense of ODI matches, where Australia is going to field a team which they know isn't their best available, but instead with a focus on test matches.

Personally I don't like the way they've chosen to do it, but it is what it is.

 

[Dan]

I love how utterly random your criteria for 'destroyed careers' and 'phantom potential' are.

Dussey, Katich, Bollinger, Bracken, Clark, Ferguson, Jaques, Noffke, Ronchi, Harris, et al.
Sure, Dave Hussey should have tests behind him, but he's played plenty of ODIs and is the first name on the team sheet in T20s. Katich played stacks of Tests for a 45 average, they just bumped him too soon. Concede Bollinger, they screwed him over. Bracken, Clark and Jaques were used well; its a shame Jacques was never the same after his back injury, but that's hardly the fault of the selectors. Ferguson hasn't had the form behind him to play Tests, and that's what we're building towards. Noffke was, by all accounts, a bit of a dick and a poor fit for the team. Ronchi was never good enough, and Ryan Harris has been our best quick in the last two years, but has been affected by injury. They've hardly been destroyed.


Johnson, Cowan, North, Smith, Hastings, Manou, Krezja, Bailey, Forrest, Beer, McDonald, Laughlin
Johnson was, for a time, the best bowler in the world (note, for a time. He should have been dropped far earlier than he was). Did England do the wrong thing by selecting Harmison? North and Forrest had Shield form behind them (FFS, hardly 'worshipping phantom potential' when Bailey, Forrest, Manou and Laughlin have one test between them), Hastings was one of our best performed bowlers, Krejza was the best option we had, given Hauritz was only playing grade at that stage, Casson lost the ability to bowl and the Cullen's weren't capable of taking grade wickets. Beer was uninspired, sure. Manou only played due to circumstance, Laughlin was tried in a meaningless ODI series and discarded. Cowan has the form behind him, and could well come good with an extended run; and McDonald was hardly the worst cricketer to represent his country. Oh yeah, and Smith still has potential. He's making runs at FC level, and could well become a good quality batsman in years to come (not necessarily Test first XI, but still..)

FFS, you act as if Hussey, Katich, Clark, Bollinger and Harris haven't played more than 5 tests apiece, while Manou, Krejza, Beer and Laughlin got selected for a decade without doing anything.

****ing dire posting.

EDIT: I can't believe I just defended Mitchell Johnson's existence...

 

[howardj]

legitimate thread IMO

read argus

one of the biggest issued that was flagged was injury management

that's improved, has it? the presumptions that more bowling means more injuries, and the myth that these guys play more cricket than players in the 90s and 00s

and forrest at first down just lol

i love what clarke was brought and we have come a significant way since Sydney 2010, but i just hate the above ****ed up thinking that helped make our slump deeper than it should have been

 

[Burgey]

Up to number two in the Test rankings. It's all ****ed, obviously.

Abbott's relentless negativity even pervades our view of sport at the moment.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

I think the most pressing issue in the Aussie squad at present is the injury management of the young bowlers. They have the ability to fire you to the top again despite a dodgy batting line up but if they keep breaking down as soon as they come back then you will not get anywhere for a while.

Yes the batting looks dodgy but you can only work with what you have and it is an almost bare cupboard at present. it will come good again though as you buggers always do.

 

[howardj]

Up to number two in the Test rankings. It's all ****ed, obviously.

.

It's more nuanced than that