*Official* Australia in decline thread

[The Maestro]

They 'll have nothing, Australia in their typical arrogance have done little to blood new players. Its reminds me of the decline of the once great West Indies. While I dont think the 2010 aussie team will stoop that low this is definetly the end of their era of dominance. All their posturing about the Sheffield Sheild being uber-strong and having enough players to have two great sides have been *mostly* proved to be all bulls__t. Shane Tait is rubbish and I will LOL if they play Watson in the final test

England and NZ (only if they have Bond) to dominant the next era of world cricket. No aussie batsman will ever "walk" and they will start claiming catches they scooped off the ground again

 

[SquidAU]

They 'll have nothing, Australia in their typical arrogance have done little to blood new players. Its reminds me of the decline of the once great West Indies. While I dont think the 2010 aussie team will stoop that low this is definetly the end of their era of dominance. All their posturing about the Sheffield Sheild being uber-strong and having enough players to have two great sides have been *mostly* proved to be all bulls__t. Shane Tait is rubbish and I will LOL if they play Watson in the final test

England and NZ (only if they have Bond) to dominant the next era of world cricket. No aussie batsman will ever "walk" and they will start claiming catches they scooped off the ground again

Whoa! Calm down, son!

I think the only problem for Aussie cricket in the future is bowling.

Batting, there's oodles of players making runs.

 

[vic_orthdox]

I'm just going to list a whole heap of players who've been around the fringes for a while. Whether they'll ever be good enough, or in the right place at the right time, is debatable.
Openers
Rogers, Hussey, Jaques - in my opinion, after Hussey retires, this could be a bit of a problem area. I'm going to chuck the name "Matthew Innes" in there, just for the fun of it too. I'm also a bit of a Tom Plant fan, played a few games for SA at the top of the order last year.
Middle/lower order batsmen
Ferguson, North, Marsh, Cosgrove, Watson - massive question marks over Marsh and Cosgrove over whether they've got the smarts to be able to succeed long enough at FC level to get a game.Philipson a bit hot headed at the moment, but long term might be an option.
all rounders
Simpson, White, Hopes - Simpson is one to really look out for over the next couple of years. He'll be very very handy for QLD in the coming season, can fulfil the role of spinner as much as what is really required at that level on the Gabba, and can make good runs too.
spinners
Doherty, Cullen - I think Xavier has been marked a bit harshly. He's still only 22 (maybe younger?) bowling on the flattest track in the country that offers no real spin, and very little bounce. He'll mature - spin bowlers tend to do it a little bit later - and will have seasons that are good enough to earn him a spot in some form of Aus colours. We'll still have some people arguing that his FC stats aren't good enough to earn a spot, but they're clouded by the fact that he was given a game very very young, when he probably wasn't ready and wouldn't have gotten a game in another state. Enough has been said about Cullen. I don't know enough about Casson.
pace bowlers
Cleary, Rofe, Dorey, Knowles, Geeves - McFadyen, Head Coach of the Academy, named Geeves in his Australia "A" side. Probably slightly skewed by the fact he used to coach him in Tassie. Enough has been said about Tait. Dorey's height makes him a bit of a Tremlett-type, if you want an English comparison, but has only been doing it for one season. Cleary and Rofe are probably guys who need to find a little bit extra to get themselves out of the "Brad Williams/Paul Wilson" mode of being good FC cricketers, but looking fairly pedestrian at International level. I'd be looking out for a few debutants for Victoria this year too. And Knowlesy
keepers
Hartley - looks the likely option now. There are two young keepers who would be rightly aggrieved at their non-selection as reserves for the Aus "A" side. It'd be interesting to see how Hartley would fare against top class spin - I guess it's just a question mark all QLD keepers have to put up with, much like the WA ones have to as well.

 

[Pedro Delgado]

They 'll have nothing, Australia in their typical arrogance have done little to blood new players. Its reminds me of the decline of the once great West Indies. While I dont think the 2010 aussie team will stoop that low this is definetly the end of their era of dominance. All their posturing about the Sheffield Sheild being uber-strong and having enough players to have two great sides have been *mostly* proved to be all bulls__t. Shane Tait is rubbish and I will LOL if they play Watson in the final test

England and NZ (only if they have Bond) to dominant the next era of world cricket. No aussie batsman will ever "walk" and they will start claiming catches they scooped off the ground again

NZ will never dominate anything other than the egg chasing nonsense you all seem to love, the day they dominate the Test arena is the day I start calling myself Susan, touch down in Wellington and procede to ask the check-in girl to point me the way to Mount Doom.

Aus have had three legendary players recently, and it's not surprising that there will be a come down when those players retire.

All it means is the playing field is more level, and the rest of us have a chance of beating them more often, it doesn't mean that Pura Cup will turn out a load of hobbits.

 

[vic_orthdox]

I think all the stuff about Australia having "two good sides" stems more from the mid to late 90s, when guys like Lehmann, Siddons, Fleming, Kasprowicz, Reiffel, Hayden, Elliott, Blewett, Ponting, Martyn, MacGill all couldn't get a game at respective times. It was around the turn of the century where a little bit of the depth in Australian cricket disappeared.

 

[The Maestro]

Well Pedro I wouldnt make such a staement if was you, considering how low the NZ bats down these days. If Bond stays fit, Australia declines and NZ just happens to discover ONE more decent strike bowler (not that difficult to fathom) you may be calling yourself Susan after all

ps I dont dig rugby at all

 

[chaminda_00]

I think vic pretty much summed it up, but im not sure about the fast bowlers. Personally i think the up and coming fast bowlers are Johnson, Bird and Griffith. If Australia play Clearly, Rofe, Greeves, Dorey and especially Knowles there in some big trouble. But in saying that Johnson hardly played any FC matches and Bird yet to make his debut, so their likely to be in some trouble anyway.

Overall it looks likes there is some good batsmen coming through, some of which can open the batting as well as bat in the middle order, so i don't think they will have too many problems at the top of the order. There are a lot of keeping options coming through, personally i think that even Manou would be as good as some of the keeper in the current Test sides. Australia have some decent spinners, but nothing exceptional. Fast bowling in terms of depth coming through is a bit of a worry, but Johnson and Bird seem to have great potential.

 

[chaminda_00]

Well Pedro I wouldnt make such a staement if was you, considering how low the NZ bats down these days. If Bond stays fit, Australia declines and NZ just happens to discover ONE more decent strike bowler (not that difficult to fathom) you may be calling yourself Susan after all

ps I dont dig rugby at all

Considering they only ever produced two decent strike bowlers since they came into Test Cricket, then i don't think anyone will be calling themselves Susan.

 

[Pedro Delgado]

Well Pedro I wouldnt make such a staement if was you, considering how low the NZ bats down these days. If Bond stays fit, Australia declines and NZ just happens to discover ONE more decent strike bowler (not that difficult to fathom) you may be calling yourself Susan after all

Well good, I've always liked the name Susan and will let you call it me if NZ become a force in Test matches.

ps I dont dig rugby at all

Good for you

 

[The Maestro]

heh well it is a bit optimistic....but at least we dont claim catches off the ground after we've dropped them chaminda

 

[chaminda_00]

heh well it is a bit optimistic....but at least we dont claim catches off the ground after we've dropped them chaminda

If your talking about Sri Lanka, we can't catch anyway , so anything that is close to a catch is good enough for us.

 

[The Maestro]

ya why doesnt that shock me......you dodgy little buggers

 

[Simon]

i agree with you jack about Doherty, what ive seen ive been very impressed, lets face it, Bellerieve oval is hardly a place you want to visit if you're a spinner, hes done well at his age just to make their state side. imo hes the best of the up and coming spinners and if he gets a chance in more favourable conditions he will thrive...

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Possible 2007+ side:
P Jaques
C Rogers
R Ponting (c)
M Clarke (vc)
C Ferguson
M North
S Watson
C White*
C Hartley (wk)
B Lee
S Tait
D Cullen

*M Johnson to come in at 9, if the pitch is seamer friendly

Pretty much the top up and coming players plus Ponting and Brett Lee

Katich and Mike Hussey could still be around as well.

Some odd choices there, really. Katich is only 29... why is he going to retire in 18 months?

If we're going by the assumption (and it's not a certain one at all) that all of Hayden, Langer, Martyn, Gilchrist, McGrath, Warne and Kasprowicz will be gone after the WC, I'd look at something like this:

Phil Jaques
Michael Hussey
Ricky Ponting (c)
Simon Katich
Michael Clarke
Shane Watson
Brad Haddin (k)
Brett Lee
Johnson//Bracken/someone else
Dan Cullen
Shaun Tait

The concern, obviously, is the bowling. I'd be surprised if Australia didn't still have close to the best batting lineup in the world after the 2007 WC, especially since I think it's very likely that at least Langer will play on, and maybe Martyn as well.

In ODIs, throw in White for Cullen or one of the seamers. He's got a definate future in ODIs, but not in tests I don't think.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

heh well it is a bit optimistic....but at least we dont claim catches off the ground after we've dropped them chaminda

Do you do anything on this forum other than bait Australians with pointless rubbish?

 

[aussie]

They 'll have nothing, Australia in their typical arrogance have done little to blood new players. Its reminds me of the decline of the once great West Indies. While I dont think the 2010 aussie team will stoop that low this is definetly the end of their era of dominance. All their posturing about the Sheffield Sheild being uber-strong and having enough players to have two great sides have been *mostly* proved to be all bulls__t. Shane Tait is rubbish and I will LOL if they play Watson in the final test

England and NZ (only if they have Bond) to dominant the next era of world cricket. No aussie batsman will ever "walk" and they will start claiming catches they scooped off the ground again

absloute nonsense.......

 

[aussie]

Some odd choices there, really. Katich is only 29... why is he going to retire in 18 months?

If we're going by the assumption (and it's not a certain one at all) that all of Hayden, Langer, Martyn, Gilchrist, McGrath, Warne and Kasprowicz will be gone after the WC, I'd look at something like this:

Phil Jaques
Michael Hussey
Ricky Ponting (c)
Simon Katich
Michael Clarke
Shane Watson
Brad Haddin (k)
Brett Lee
Johnson//Bracken/someone else
Dan Cullen
Shaun Tait

The concern, obviously, is the bowling. I'd be surprised if Australia didn't still have close to the best batting lineup in the world after the 2007 WC, especially since I think it's very likely that at least Langer will play on, and maybe Martyn as well.

In ODIs, throw in White for Cullen or one of the seamers. He's got a definate future in ODIs, but not in tests I don't think.

yes agreed with the point on Australia having one of the stronger batting line-ups in world cricket after the 2007 WC at this stage looking at what most other sides have seems a forgone conclusion. But with reference to Langer & Martyn they remainding in Australia's side for a fair period after 2007 will all depend on performace (i do hope they do well it will help Australia).

Looking at the bowlers i'll back Gillespie to come back, at least if Australia have Lee & him at the helm when Pigeon goes would help methinks. Although i do hope Watson gets into the test side then but if not i could see Hodge doing a Lehmann & getting a chance their.

Finally with regards to the spinner Cullen is definately the front runner but i wont write of White just yet (i'm still annoyed he didn't get a chance to debut in India last year) & this is also Doherty who i have heard good things about, so you never know which one could spring & become Australia's next big spinner....

 

[reverseswing]

4 players Steve Waugh said would play regular Test cricket early in their careers Brett Lee,Shaun Tait,Shane Watson and....Shaun Marsh. He said his century against NSW was the best innings hes ever seen by a teenager

 

[marc71178]

England and NZ (only if they have Bond) to dominant the next era of world cricket.

Bond's already 30 though...

 

[aussie]

4 players Steve Waugh said would play regular Test cricket early in their careers Brett Lee,Shaun Tait,Shane Watson and....Shaun Marsh. He said his century against NSW was the best innings hes ever seen by a teenager

shaun marsh hmmmm, i missed that wasn't aware of that innings & what steve waugh said about him, but that good to hear no doubt.