A pessimistic look at Australia's WC chances

[pasag]

C'mon mate, cut him some slack, Clarke has had one bad season, where he has struggled to score quickly, but even then he scored runs when others have generally failed to do so, Clarke through out his career hasn't had much of slump in form, its only been in the last season where he has had lean trot, and I think he atleast deserves a chance to resurrect things before he is shown the door.

As I said before, if a guy was breathing down his neck in order to get selected, then it would make sense to drop him, but in the present scenario that certainly isn't the case, and therefore dropping a proven campaigner like him, in favor of some underachiving batsman is a bit silly.

It's hardly silly, it's how cricket works. For everyone aside for Michael Clarke, that is. If this was anyone else I guarantee you we wouldn't even be having this discussion, he'd have been long gone. It's not a matter of telling him to do better, it's a matter of him working on his game in the lower levels and coming back a better player for it.

 

[Smith]

So, as an aside, we've pretty much just accepted that Smith is Precam and are letting him stick around on a multi? Shouldn't play the man rather than the post, but when such utter tosh is being posted by someone who's actually been banned and seriously damaged the atmosphere of the forum, it's a temptation that's hard to resist.

I've made my feelings on Clarke as an ODI batsman pretty clear in the past. Suffice to say that I think his place is properly secure.

Could you please clarify the utter tosh I've been posting here around.

As for the rest, I shall ignore them.

As to the topic, Clarke's slow scoring has been one of the reasons why Australia have not been able to post huge totals as it used to, especially in the last 2 years since WC 07.

Clarke since WC 2007 (Series summary)

Series		Season	 Mat  	 Runs 	 Avg 	 SR 	Winner	 	Verdict 
Aus-in-India	2007-08	 7 	 222 	 37 	 86 	Australia	Average
Chappell-Hadlee	2007-08	 3 	 55 	 28 	 62 	Australia	Poor
CB series	2007-08	 10 	 314 	 39 	 70 	India		Mediocre
Aus-in-WI	2008	 5 	 117 	 29 	 57 	Australia	Very poor
Bangla-in-Aus	2008	 3 	 40 	 13 	 38 	Australia	Disaster
SA-in-Aus	2008-09	 2 	 19 	 10 	 45 	SA		Disaster
Chappell-Hadlee	2008-09	 4 	 188 	 47 	 75 	Drawn		Good
Aus-in-SA	2008-09	 5 	 157 	 31 	 80 	SA		Poor
Aus-vs-Pak	2009	 5 	 235 	 78 	 70 	Australia	Good

That's 2 good series out of 9 he has played. The rest he has all been poor-very-poor and disaster. I'd believe that Australia has definitely better players than guys who contribute in every 2 series out of 9 they play.

 

[Matt79]

Could you please clarify the utter tosh I've been posting here around.

As for the rest, I shall ignore them.

As to the topic, Clarke's slow scoring has been one of the reasons why Australia have not been able to post huge totals as it used to, especially in the last 2 years since WC 07.

Clarke since WC 2007 (Series summary)

Series		Season	 Mat  	 Runs 	 Avg 	 SR 	Winner	 	Verdict 
Aus-in-India	2007-08	 7 	 222 	 37 	 86 	Australia	Average
Chappell-Hadlee	2007-08	 3 	 55 	 28 	 62 	Australia	Poor
CB series	2007-08	 10 	 314 	 39 	 70 	India		Mediocre
Aus-in-WI	2008	 5 	 117 	 29 	 57 	Australia	Very poor
Bangla-in-Aus	2008	 3 	 40 	 13 	 38 	Australia	Disaster
SA-in-Aus	2008-09	 2 	 19 	 10 	 45 	SA		Disaster
Chappell-Hadlee	2008-09	 4 	 188 	 47 	 75 	Drawn		Good
Aus-in-SA	2008-09	 5 	 157 	 31 	 80 	SA		Poor
Aus-vs-Pak	2009	 5 	 235 	 78 	 70 	Australia	Good

That's 2 good series out of 9 he has played. The rest he has all been poor-very-poor and disaster. I'd believe that Australia has definitely better players than guys who contribute in every 2 series out of 9 they play.

**** off Precam.

 

[superkingdave]

Since this one worked so well, would love for Gelman to start a' A pessimistic look at Australia's Ashes Chances' thread now.

 

[G.I.Joe]

What's eating Matt? Toys all over the place.

 

[pup11]

It's hardly silly, it's how cricket works. For everyone aside for Michael Clarke, that is. If this was anyone else I guarantee you we wouldn't even be having this discussion, he'd have been long gone. It's not a matter of telling him to do better, it's a matter of him working on his game in the lower levels and coming back a better player for it.

On that basis even Ricky Ponting should have been dropped by now, because by his own admission, he has been very inconsistent in the limited overs format since 2007 WC, but selectors haven't done that, because he is proven player, who the selectors expect to come good sooner or later.

There is no denying that Clarke has had a pretty poor 2008, and tbh, this is his first real slump in form in the ODI format, ever since he has started to play, and to his credit, he was the first one to raise his hand and admit it in South Africa, that he was disappointed with his own form, and he was working hard on improving his game.

As I already mentioned, despite all this it would make sense to talk about dropping Clarke from the ODI side, if a bloke was ready to replace him, but as we have already seen highly rated OD middle order batsmen like David Hussey and White have struggled to seize their chances, so therefore the Australian selectors aren't left with too many options.

 

[Matt79]

^This.

There's a difference between form and class, and I remained convinced Clarke is all class in ODIs, and that the team is better off with him there.

 

[Matt79]

What's eating Matt? Toys all over the place.

Precam ****s me. The fact 'Smith' acknowledged being Precam more than a week ago but has still been posting ****s me. That was what was largely eating me in this situation. I'm not inclined to debate politely with someone who disrespects this forum and us so regularly.

Besides which, as I said in my initial post, I've gone on at length about my views on Clarke elsewhere and find it tedious to repeat it again. I think, contrary to claims that he's a protected species for non-cricket reasons, he actually gets treated rather harshly on CW compared to say, Katich - for rather silly reasons.

 

[aussie]

It's not important, it's an overrated role that many others can play (not to mention he's not very good at it).

Like who right now?

I don't know what you've been watching if you call him free flowing. He stutters around, digs himself into a long and painful whole and gets out. It's horrible to watch and it's horrible for the side. It's the story of how far his limited overs game has fallen. All you have to do is watch him to see. Sometimes I think people are blinded by the personality and the colour of his hair, tbh.

As i said, the series in PAK - where after AUS where spun out in the first ODI by Afridi, Clarke was easily the most free-flowing batsman on either side.

You also seem to be forgetting that given the injury woes the ODI side was having quite recently, Clarke was chosen to open the batting. Although he didn't disgrace himself, he clearly was suited to the role.

I call a spade a spade & all this Clarke should be dropped from the ODI side talk is extremely knee-jerk...