*Official* Australia in decline thread

[pup11]

I think to be fair aussie batting reserves were in top form today the likes of haddin and hodge and even white batted very well. But bowling is the real worry and it was our best bowling line-up(barring lee) that got whopped today so depth factor goes out of the window there.

 

[pup11]

You just got to realize that these guys aren't machines and can't perform at their best every day and also bound to get tired or injured. IMO McGrath and bracken are tired after a long season of cricket and the likes of Hogg and watson are rusty due to lack of games. Got to agree though johnson has lost form at the wrong time and really needs to work hard to get things right, and lee's injury is an obvious blow.

 

[Pup Clarke]

IMO the bowling for Australia leading up to the WC is a concern.If Lee doesn't play they might struggle to bowl teams out.Bracken doesn't look in good form atthe moment and neither does McGrath.

 

[Zinzan]

IMO the bowling for Australia leading up to the WC is a concern.If Lee doesn't play they might struggle to bowl teams out.Bracken doesn't look in good form atthe moment and neither does McGrath.

There seems to be a real "sameness" in the Australian bowling without Symonds and Lee. They certainly don't have the variety of a Sri Lanka atm.

 

[Richard]

Well, yes, but you seemed to be interlinking England and 2nd-best-Team-in-The-World, which somewhat strengthened the force of what you were saying.

And I was pointing-out that it didn't deserve to.

 

[Richard]

Haddin and White are good enough to play internationally as batsmen alone

Nonsense. Haddin will probably be good enough as a wicketkeeper\batsman, but no way on Earth as batsman alone. As for White...

Tait, Johnson, Hilfenhaus and Clark (who cant even get in the team at the moment) are the most promising group of quicks in the world

Michael Clark? Are you serious? Is he even playing any more?

Tait and Johnson are currently not remarkably promising, their international outings have been unconvincing to date. Johnson's barely even played a full domestic season.

 

[Richard]

Hogg and watson are rusty due to lack of games.

Hogg and Watson just aren't that good.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Tait and Johnson are currently not remarkably promising, their international outings have been unconvincing to date. Johnson's barely even played a full domestic season.

Johnson 23 wickets @ 28

I'm sorry but you can hardly call his international career "unconvincing" to date.IMO he's impressed whenever I've seen him bowl.He has the makings of a very good bowler in one day cricket.

 

[Prince EWS]

Johnson 23 wickets @ 28

I'm sorry but you can hardly call his international career "unconvincing" to date.IMO he's impressed whenever I've seen him bowl.He has the makings of a very good bowler in one day cricket.

Yes he has indeed impressed at times, but being a good prospect and impressing occasionally (or even regularly over a short period of time) is very different to being convincing.

 

[Richard]

Johnson has basically had 3 very good games, a couple of decent ones and several very poor.

New Zealand have had no trouble at all with him (nor SA in the whole 3 overs he bowled against them) and 2 of those 3 were against England who were about as poor as you could wish to see.

Dunno about the other one, that India game, but by all reports you couldn't wish to find more swing-friendly conditions.

Johnson has very much still to convince me.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Michael Clark? Are you serious? Is he even playing any more?

Tait and Johnson are currently not remarkably promising, their international outings have been unconvincing to date. Johnson's barely even played a full domestic season.

Are you on crack? Why would he be referring to Michael Clark? Let's see, would the "Clark" in question be an occasional mediocre First Class cricketer who hasn't represented his state in years, or Stuart Clark, the current member of the Australian test team with an average in the teens? Hmm...

 

[adharcric]

Haha.

 

[pup11]

Richard, if Hogg and watson are just not good enough then how does Hogg have 112 wickets of 95 games and how did watson managed to have an average of under 20 with the ball through the last year.

 

[The Argonaut]

The Aussies will go through a small trough as they get used to life without McGrath and Warne. There are a lot of guys who look good but will need time to show that they can play at the higher level. McGrath looked very ordinary early in his test career but given time never looked back.

Jaques or Rogers will replace Langer.

Tait will come good. People will just have to put up with occasionally erratic displays. Johnson is another that will need time. He still has a lot to learn. He's a very good prospect.

White and Watson are handy batsmen who can bowl a bit. Neither bowls well enough at the moment. Watson is better of the two with the bat and is good enough to play as a specialist batsman.

People should not expect Australia to dominate for the next two years until selections get settled. There are also a few more retirements to come. Expect Hayden and Gilchrist next summer. They will still be a good team but not a great one.

 

[pup11]

How can you even say watson can bowl only a bit, i mean he was in tremendous form last year with the ball. Even yesterday he looked the best of the aussie bowlers, IMO he is one of the better 2nd change bowlers in world cricket atm, and his bowling and white's bowling are not in the same class for sure.

 

[pup11]

What i find funny is that everyone is only talking about the aussie side and its depth and how they would struggle when some of their great players retire. I mean you also need to take into account that lots of great players from other teams are also going to retire pretty soon so their depth is even further questionable. In that case the situation evens out.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Not reallly sure how you can claim that Tait isn't a matchwinner. He's the sort of bowler that can really rip through a side.

Point is, he might be a match-winner, but he's also a match-loser. He's the sort of bowler you can't be 100% sure isn't going to go at ten an over and cost you the game. In the past Australia have fielded match-winning bowlers all round, who were dependable to go with it. Soon enough they're going to have a front-line pace attack where Nathan Bracken is the most reliable of the lot, and while he's a very good ODI bowler, he's no McGrath.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

MO he is one of the better 2nd change bowlers in world cricket atm,

Haha, I wouldn't quite go that far, but he's obviously more than just a batsman who bowls in ODIs. It's been rare in recent times that he doesn't take wickets, and he usually bowls most of his full 10. And really, for a guy who also averages 30 odd with the bat his bowling is quite good. There's probably only Flintoff and Kallis who are clearly better bowlers in that bracket atm, with Gayle and Shoaib Malik also up there.

 

[pup11]

Yeah certainly watson might not be as big a name as Kallis or flintoff or not as talented as them with the ball, but his effectiveness with the ball hasn't been any less than there's over the last year in the odi's.

 

[Richard]

Are you on crack? Why would he be referring to Michael Clark? Let's see, would the "Clark" in question be an occasional mediocre First Class cricketer who hasn't represented his state in years, or Stuart Clark, the current member of the Australian test team with an average in the teens? Hmm...

Well given that he said "Clark (who can't even get in the team)" I kinda presumed he didn't mean Stuart Clark, given that he's been in the team for the last 2 series and has a completely unquestionable place.

And while Clark isn't in the ODI side to describe him as a bowler "with promise" in ODIs is so far-fetched I presumed he wasn't referring to ODIs but Tests.