Duncan Fletcher Blasts Australia

[social]

And Pratt was most definitely legitimately on the pitch.

He was but Id have more respect for Fletcher if he didnt come out with the "toilet break" excuse. That is simply nonsense.

England have been taking advantage of a ridiculous loop-hole for 20 years or more and this year it really benefitted them.

BTW, how's Pratt doing in whatever lower-grade comp he's playing in this winter?

 

[SquidAU]

I really don't think this issue would have come up had Australia retained the Ashes.

Like someone has already said, it's just an excuse to sell more books.

Everyone already has the opinion that the Aussies are the dirtiest players out there. Nothing can be done about that.

 

[Top_Cat]

Geez, Fletcher should rename his book 'Of Mountains and Molehills'!

The sub fielder thing is such a non-event. Unfortunately for Ponting, greg is right; Marto ran him out. If Ponting was coasting or didn't send Marto back because he forgot it wasn't Michael Vaughan but was Pratt in that fielding position, as a professional cricketer, who's fault was that? His.

As for the gloating thing, I expected it to be MUCH worse. The English forum members have been remarkably restrained I reckon. Respectful, really. The most irritating thing about Australia's Ashes loss has been the ultra-super-dooper-'the-world-is-ending' Aussie fans (not just here, but in life and media). Suddenly there are a whole lot of Aussie fans lining up to take pot-shots at the Aussie players. It's sounding a lot like laying the foundations for excuses when the Aussies lose another series or the next Ashes series ("Ah, we're going through a re-building phase anyway, mate.").

 

[Sanz]

And Pratt was most definitely legitimately on the pitch.

And when did I say he wasn't ?

Anyways for those who want to read Mr. Fletcher's whinning in his book :-

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/cricket/story/0,10069,1595336,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,16518,1596281,00.html

He has been trying really hard to sell the book.

 

[SquidAU]

The most irritating thing about Australia's Ashes loss has been the ultra-super-dooper-'the-world-is-ending' Aussie fans (not just here, but in life and media). Suddenly there are a whole lot of Aussie fans lining up to take pot-shots at the Aussie players. It's sounding a lot like laying the foundations for excuses when the Aussies lose another series or the next Ashes series ("Ah, we're going through a re-building phase anyway, mate.").

So very true. Of course, I was disappointed we lost the Ashes but one cannot expect them to be in Australia forever!

Whats most irritating for me is all the ex-players predicting another black period like the 80's coming up because we apparently don't have the players to keep in the top 3, let alone the top spot!

 

[greg]

The sub fielder thing is such a non-event. Unfortunately for Ponting, greg is right; Marto ran him out. If Ponting was coasting or didn't send Marto back because he forgot it wasn't Michael Vaughan but was Pratt in that fielding position, as a professional cricketer, who's fault was that? His.

The Australian batsmen were trying to get themselves run out all series. They were lucky to have as few(!) as they did. Although thinking about it, perhaps Martyn only set off for the run when he realised it [ii]wasn't[/i] Michael Vaughan. He'd already tried the alternative once...

 

[Dasa]

As for the gloating thing, I expected it to be MUCH worse. The English forum members have been remarkably restrained I reckon. Respectful, really. The most irritating thing about Australia's Ashes loss has been the ultra-super-dooper-'the-world-is-ending' Aussie fans (not just here, but in life and media). Suddenly there are a whole lot of Aussie fans lining up to take pot-shots at the Aussie players. It's sounding a lot like laying the foundations for excuses when the Aussies lose another series or the next Ashes series ("Ah, we're going through a re-building phase anyway, mate.").

What annoys me more is so many people saying that England only won because Australia played much worse than they usually do...it's as if some people cannot fathom that England may have actually outplayed Australia!

 

[aussie]

Fletcher seems to be taking this overboar, whats wrong with him??

 

[honestbharani]

Fletcher is simply trying to make sure his book sells well and is doing a really good job of it, with a lot of help from Ponting. Anyways, why the hell is Hayden involved in this thing? This is what really annoys me. He always sticks his nose into everyone else's business. Maybe that is why Ponting and the selectors like him more than Martyn, who usually minds his own business.

 

[Sanz]

Everyone is cashing on this ashes success, first it was Flintoff who suddenly discovered that he was shot in New Delhi 4 years ago, then came Mr. Captain Vaughan who suddenly remembered that he was called 'Queer' by Graeme smith some one year ago. And now comes the Coach himself who suddenly remembers that 2 months ago Ponting hurled abuses at him after he was run-out.

Good on them, perhaps they also know that this is the best time to cash in , and sell whatever crap they have written in their book.

And Bharani - I think Hayden has already justified the faith selectors put in him by scoring century in last 2 tests.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Fletcher is simply trying to make sure his book sells well and is doing a really good job of it, with a lot of help from Ponting. Anyways, why the hell is Hayden involved in this thing? This is what really annoys me. He always sticks his nose into everyone else's business. Maybe that is why Ponting and the selectors like him more than Martyn, who usually minds his own business.

Or maybe someone asked him?

 

[greg]

I sometimes wonder if book serialisations don't work in the same way in other countries. Whenever people ask questions (a la Hayden) about why such views are being expressed now, they miss the obvious answer that the book is coming out and the newspaper (which usually has control over the serialisation) thinks that the particular extract is what will sell newspapers on that particular day - what is published is not intended to sell the book so much as to sell the newspaper. Of course the author sells the serialisation rights because it will help the book sales but (unless they're Edwina Currie) they can't really know which bits of the book the newspaper is going to use.

In the most part the "just trying to sell their book" argument doesn't really hold water - I'm pretty certain that every one of Fletcher's comments had been made before, it's just the Guardian (knowing that most people's memories can't go back more than a week) can publish it "as new". Even the Flintoff 'shooting' we discovered with a bit of investigation wasn't a 'new' story, there had been a fair bit of comment about it at the time. It was just treated as an anecdote used to fill part of his book, it was hardly a "bombshell revelation" given as part of a deliberate interview.

In fact of the recent arguments only the Vaughan/Smith thing had any real news value, although even a lot of that had been heard before (the stuff about him nicknaming him "the witness" etc)

 

[social]

You're completely missing the point. Australia are getting slagged off because they go on about upholding the spirit of the game and then do the exact opposite when they play.

Aus has actually been criticised here because they were "too nice" during the Ashes. They were lulled into a false sense of security by their own egos and paid dearly for it.

Anyway, so Ponting complained about a few decisions during the Ashes series. Sure he could have gone about it in a different manner, but did it bring the game into disrepute? No.

Was England's use of the 12th man against the spirit of the game? Yes.

Did it cost Aus the Ashes? No.

Series is over, let's get on with more timely issues.

 

[Craig]

And of course he is gloating because they the Ashes for the first time in how long? Or an attempt to boost his ego?

 

[Scaly piscine]

Aus has actually been criticised here because they were "too nice" during the Ashes. They were lulled into a false sense of security by their own egos and paid dearly for it.

Anyway, so Ponting complained about a few decisions during the Ashes series. Sure he could have gone about it in a different manner, but did it bring the game into disrepute? No.

Of course it did.

As for Australia being lulled into a false sense of security... over a 5 Test series which they led for 1 Test? Tosh, they were outplayed, simple.

 

[honestbharani]

Or maybe someone asked him?

Ok, so why do you think they ask McGrath and Hayden about these things and not Lee and Martyn or Katich and the like?

 

[honestbharani]

Everyone is cashing on this ashes success, first it was Flintoff who suddenly discovered that he was shot in New Delhi 4 years ago, then came Mr. Captain Vaughan who suddenly remembered that he was called 'Queer' by Graeme smith some one year ago. And now comes the Coach himself who suddenly remembers that 2 months ago Ponting hurled abuses at him after he was run-out.

Good on them, perhaps they also know that this is the best time to cash in , and sell whatever crap they have written in their book.

And Bharani - I think Hayden has already justified the faith selectors put in him by scoring century in last 2 tests.

No doubt he has done really well in his last two tests, but the fact remains that he got 15 tests to prove himself and Martyn got 3.... Ends don't always justify the means.

 

[social]

Of course it did.

As for Australia being lulled into a false sense of security... over a 5 Test series which they led for 1 Test? Tosh, they were outplayed, simple.

How the hell did it bring the game into disrepute?

He queried decisions on the pitch and was proven correct in almost every instance.

Did it do him any good? No

Did it do his team any good? Not judging by the weight of poor decisions in the series and the fact that none of them were reversed.

Bring the game into disrepute - youre kidding

I notice you didnt refer to the 12th man fiasco or the claiming of catches that clearly bounced - that, if anything, brought the game into disrepute.

England deserved to win but they are hardly saints on or off the field.

 

[Scaly piscine]

How the hell did it bring the game into disrepute?

He queried decisions on the pitch and was proven correct in almost every instance.

Did it do him any good? No

Did it do his team any good? Not judging by the weight of poor decisions in the series and the fact that none of them were reversed.

Bring the game into disrepute - youre kidding

I notice you didnt refer to the 12th man fiasco or the claiming of catches that clearly bounced - that, if anything, brought the game into disrepute.

England deserved to win but they are hardly saints on or off the field.

'He queried decisions on the pitch' - heh, he and usually someone else (obviously Ponting being fairly small wouldn't be intimidating enough by himself) immediately went over to the umpire and started being aggressive towards them. That brings the game into disrepute because he's showing up the umpires, whether the umpire got the decision right or not is irrelevant.

 

[Linda]

No doubt he has done really well in his last two tests, but the fact remains that he got 15 tests to prove himself and Martyn got 3.... Ends don't always justify the means.

I think I love you.