Stratergic ways of beating Australia

[Craig]

Well if you can speak another language your opposition don't speak it sets you up to sledge the opposition and they won't know what you said.

 

[The Argonaut]

Let's face it. At the moment you need to have a pretty good side to beat Australia. Teams need to come out and compete, believe in themselves and back their abilities. I think Australia wins a lot of games mentally before the game even starts.

Fielding is extremely important. Take a great catch and it lifts a side. Drop an easy one and the heads drop as well. The sides with a bad mental attitude will not recover and the Aussie batters are great at making teams pay for mistakes.

On the bowling side you need good plans and bowlers that can consistently bowl to them. You also need a contingency if things don't go your way. A lot of teams drop their bundle if they don't get early wickets. Be patient. Some bowlers let their plans fall away when the Aussie manufacture ways around the plan. Hayden is particularly good at this. He will attack by coming down the wicket putting the bowler off his length. Lehmann can also do this. Ponting may be vulnerable against the short ball if the bowler is quick enough. DOn't set the second man at depp square leg. Give him the odd one around head high with pace. If he hits it square then good shot but if he's late then fine leg is into play. I look forward to the Ponting vs Harmison match up next year. The Kiwis have shown the plan against Martyn but no one has really done it since. The no. 6 slot could be anyone's in the future. Katich hasn't set the world on fire against Sri Lanka. You must get Gilchrist early. He is an all or nothing player. He prods around against good spin bowling. He will eventually back himself to play the big shot. If it comes off he's away and you may as well give up. Occasionally it won't come off and you can get him for a very low score.

On the batting side the Kiwis showed how to frustrate the Aussie bowlers. For McGrath let a lot of balls go. He rarely bowls balls that will hit the stumps. His line is just outside off stump and let the batsman nibble. Get him to bring his line onto the stumps. He is not very quick and you put him away. The batsman must dictate the terms. Gillespie is a quality bowler but bowls full early looking for swing. Take a good stride and drive when you can. Warne is the ace in the pack and each batsman must come up with his own method to play him. One they've decided what to do they must stick to their plan. When he comes around the wicket kick the ball away. He no longer turns the ball as much as he used to so shouldn't get around your legs. It is a negative tactic from Warne and he soon changes if you kick him away enough.

The above tactics are not easy. It requires ability and self-belief. These are things that the other sides lack at the moment. India got some back by competing well here last summer. England may be getting some by winning games. It's amazing what a winning culture can do to your self-belief. Most sides just do not have the talent to pull it off whether it be through ability or just working out what they should do if they could.

 

[masterblaster]

Just adding to all the other great strategies that have been posted,

Think extremely positively and back yourself all the way.

 

[Richard]

The trouble with "thinking positive" is too many batsmen interpret that as trying to score at 4-an-over at all costs.
I thoroughly agree that you should always approach any game in a postive manner, but you've got to think about it first - "being positive" doesn't mean anything about scoring-rate.
Michael Slater always went-on lots about "positive leaving" and "positive blocking" and I thought it was such a valid point.
Positive is good but you've got to know what you mean by it.

 

[Mr. P]

Let's face it. At the moment you need to have a pretty good side to beat Australia. Teams need to come out and compete, believe in themselves and back their abilities. I think Australia wins a lot of games mentally before the game even starts.

Fielding is extremely important. Take a great catch and it lifts a side. Drop an easy one and the heads drop as well. The sides with a bad mental attitude will not recover and the Aussie batters are great at making teams pay for mistakes.

On the bowling side you need good plans and bowlers that can consistently bowl to them. You also need a contingency if things don't go your way. A lot of teams drop their bundle if they don't get early wickets. Be patient. Some bowlers let their plans fall away when the Aussie manufacture ways around the plan. Hayden is particularly good at this. He will attack by coming down the wicket putting the bowler off his length. Lehmann can also do this. Ponting may be vulnerable against the short ball if the bowler is quick enough. DOn't set the second man at depp square leg. Give him the odd one around head high with pace. If he hits it square then good shot but if he's late then fine leg is into play. I look forward to the Ponting vs Harmison match up next year. The Kiwis have shown the plan against Martyn but no one has really done it since. The no. 6 slot could be anyone's in the future. Katich hasn't set the world on fire against Sri Lanka. You must get Gilchrist early. He is an all or nothing player. He prods around against good spin bowling. He will eventually back himself to play the big shot. If it comes off he's away and you may as well give up. Occasionally it won't come off and you can get him for a very low score.

On the batting side the Kiwis showed how to frustrate the Aussie bowlers. For McGrath let a lot of balls go. He rarely bowls balls that will hit the stumps. His line is just outside off stump and let the batsman nibble. Get him to bring his line onto the stumps. He is not very quick and you put him away. The batsman must dictate the terms. Gillespie is a quality bowler but bowls full early looking for swing. Take a good stride and drive when you can. Warne is the ace in the pack and each batsman must come up with his own method to play him. One they've decided what to do they must stick to their plan. When he comes around the wicket kick the ball away. He no longer turns the ball as much as he used to so shouldn't get around your legs. It is a negative tactic from Warne and he soon changes if you kick him away enough.

The above tactics are not easy. It requires ability and self-belief. These are things that the other sides lack at the moment. India got some back by competing well here last summer. England may be getting some by winning games. It's amazing what a winning culture can do to your self-belief. Most sides just do not have the talent to pull it off whether it be through ability or just working out what they should do if they could.

These are all somewhat valid points mate but you have made the same fatal mistake everyone here has seemingly made. THIS IS INTERNATIONAL CRICKET. EVERYTHING HAS BEEN TRIED BEFORE. And the Aussies have beaten them.

I may be stating the obvious but it is just that everyone seems to be ignoring.

 

[anzac]

These are all somewhat valid points mate but you have made the same fatal mistake everyone here has seemingly made. THIS IS INTERNATIONAL CRICKET. EVERYTHING HAS BEEN TRIED BEFORE. And the Aussies have beaten them.

I may be stating the obvious but it is just that everyone seems to be ignoring.

True - but I also feel that teams of the modern ODI era have too mch of an ODI mentallity in their Test cricket, and they lack the PATIENCE, PERSISTANCE & APPLICATION required to enable their game plans etc in the longer game.........hence the references to 'mental toughness'...........

 

[nookie_lk]

Well if you can speak another language your opposition don't speak it sets you up to sledge the opposition and they won't know what you said.

whats the use of sledging with a language the others dont understand...???

 

[Mr. P]

True - but I also feel that teams of the modern ODI era have too mch of an ODI mentallity in their Test cricket, and they lack the PATIENCE, PERSISTANCE & APPLICATION required to enable their game plans etc in the longer game.........hence the references to 'mental toughness'...........

You may be right. Not all teams though. Once again though I'm inclined to say their coaching staff would have tried something to fix this area...