What should Australia do now?

[Furball]

Personally, I think South Africa's future in the number 1 spot depends largely on how much longer Kallis goes on for, and how successfully they replace him.

Take Kallis out of the side for Prince or Duminy, and while the batting looks just as strong, the bowling attack suddenly looks a lot more vulnerable. I'm not sure Morkel and Harris at this moment in time are good enough to be carried by Ntini and Steyn.

 

[Woodster]

Personally, I think South Africa's future in the number 1 spot depends largely on how much longer Kallis goes on for, and how successfully they replace him.

Take Kallis out of the side for Prince or Duminy, and while the batting looks just as strong, the bowling attack suddenly looks a lot more vulnerable. I'm not sure Morkel and Harris at this moment in time are good enough to be carried by Ntini and Steyn.

Whenever it is that Kallis goes, presumably not for quite some time yet, it will be a massive hole to fill, however, I do not believe South Africa's plans for world domination is overly reliant on Kallis' bowling. I appreciate he gives SA the balance to play five bowlers, and his bowling has been most impressive in recent times, but by the time he does retire Steyn and co will have plenty of experience to ensure Kallis' retirement has a minimal effect. It may be he gives up his bowling before he fully retires, that will also give us an indication of the way SA will look to re-balance the side.

 

[Chimpdaddy]

Personally, I think South Africa's future in the number 1 spot depends largely on how much longer Kallis goes on for, and how successfully they replace him.

Take Kallis out of the side for Prince or Duminy, and while the batting looks just as strong, the bowling attack suddenly looks a lot more vulnerable. I'm not sure Morkel and Harris at this moment in time are good enough to be carried by Ntini and Steyn.

Their batting will still be pretty strong, that they can probably afford to play 4 specialist pacemen. If anything, they probably just need a better spinner in order to have a really well balanced side. Harris is good, not great though. Maybe he'll blossom with time aswell.

-Chimpdaddy-

 

[GotSpin]

Post reported due to the incorrect use of "your".


-Voltman-

Give him hell Quimby

 

[Michaelf7777777]

When everyone comes back from injuries, the main problem that I can see is a lack of a quality spinner. I think that Symonds, Clarke and Katich could be just as effective as Hauritz/Krejza bowling wise so unless its a dustbowl I think Australia should play 4 quicks. Regarding Hayden he has proved his ability before and should be given the chance to cement his spot in the rematch in South Africa, if not his spot should be given to Jacques or maybe this Phillip Hughes that everyone keeps talking about although I've never seen him so I have no idea how good he really is.

Test XI for Ashes 2009

1. Hayden/ Jacques/ Hughes (Hayden 1st choice if he gets form back)
2. Katich
3. Ponting
4. Hussey
5. Clarke
6. Symonds/ White (Spin bowling all rounder is what is needed for team balance so Watson is not taken into consideration)
7. Haddin
8. Lee
9. Johnson
10. Bracken/ Nofkee/ Watson (Bracken a horses for courses selection in England where the conditions should suit his swing. If the conditions aren't good for swing then either Nofkee or Watson should come in and be promoted to 8 and 7 respectibly
11. Clark

Note: On turning tracks I would bring in McGain for Bracken/ Nofkee/ Watson

 

[Rooboy]

G'day.

New to the forum and keen to evoke some response with this.

YES. Bowling is the problem and this is the solution:

People talk about greats retiring of late but for some reason one bowlers name has been forgotten in every thread i have come across and Aust badly need another Jason Gillespie, would of had 400+ test wickets barring injury and would bowl all day and be effective, a guaranteed wicket taker.

What the selectors should do is emulate the new bowling line up on what was successful before:

McGrath = Clark (same style bowler, effective and misely)
Lee = cannot be sustained in the attack without controlled influence at the other end, needs Clark and needs to drop his speed by 10km/h.(Lee's best swinging deliveries are often his 135/140kmh looseners)
Warne = cannot be replaced but would be putting faith in Krezja
Johnson/Siddle = Gillespie/Fleming, i would be leaning to Johnson if he can get his inducker going consistently, Siddle dosen't do enough.

Forget Bracken for 5 day, Hilfenhaus should of got call up months ago.

Aust batting is not broke, so don't fix it!

Theres my two cents.

 

[Son Of Coco]

It remains to be seen what Bollinger can do at Sydney (not the best place for pacers), that Lee couldn't do on much better surfaces.

Bollinger does play most of his cricket in Sydney though...so you'd think he'd be able to perform ok.

 

[Son Of Coco]

G'day.

New to the forum and keen to evoke some response with this.

YES. Bowling is the problem and this is the solution:

People talk about greats retiring of late but for some reason one bowlers name has been forgotten in every thread i have come across and Aust badly need another Jason Gillespie, would of had 400+ test wickets barring injury and would bowl all day and be effective, a guaranteed wicket taker.

What the selectors should do is emulate the new bowling line up on what was successful before:

McGrath = Clark (same style bowler, effective and misely)
Lee = cannot be sustained in the attack without controlled influence at the other end, needs Clark and needs to drop his speed by 10km/h.(Lee's best swinging deliveries are often his 135/140kmh looseners)
Warne = cannot be replaced but would be putting faith in Krezja
Johnson/Siddle = Gillespie/Fleming, i would be leaning to Johnson if he can get his inducker going consistently, Siddle dosen't do enough.

Forget Bracken for 5 day, Hilfenhaus should of got call up months ago.

Aust batting is not broke, so don't fix it!

Theres my two cents.

Johnson has a long way to go yet before he's at the standard Gillespie reached.

 

[pup11]

Johnson has a long way to go yet before he's at the standard Gillespie reached.

Yeah and its bit of a shame how under-rated Gillespie is, for me he was quite easily one of the best fast bowlers Australia has produced, maybe because he was playing in the same team as McGrath and Warne, kind of overshadowed his achievements, but he was a damn good bowler in his own right, and Johnson has a long, long way to go before he can even be compared to Gillespie.

 

[Michaelf7777777]

G'day.

New to the forum and keen to evoke some response with this.

YES. Bowling is the problem and this is the solution:

People talk about greats retiring of late but for some reason one bowlers name has been forgotten in every thread i have come across and Aust badly need another Jason Gillespie, would of had 400+ test wickets barring injury and would bowl all day and be effective, a guaranteed wicket taker.

What the selectors should do is emulate the new bowling line up on what was successful before:

McGrath = Clark (same style bowler, effective and misely)
Lee = cannot be sustained in the attack without controlled influence at the other end, needs Clark and needs to drop his speed by 10km/h.(Lee's best swinging deliveries are often his 135/140kmh looseners)
Warne = cannot be replaced but would be putting faith in Krezja
Johnson/Siddle = Gillespie/Fleming, i would be leaning to Johnson if he can get his inducker going consistently, Siddle dosen't do enough.

Forget Bracken for 5 day, Hilfenhaus should of got call up months ago.

Aust batting is not broke, so don't fix it!

Theres my two cents.

The main reason I picked Bracken is that English conditions are highly swing friendly and I thought Bracken was the best swing bowler in Australia although the domestic comps aren't shown over here in NZ so I could be completly wrong on that count. I also don't think any of the spinners Australia have recently used are up to test standards and that Symonds, Clarke and to a lesser extent Katich would be just as effective with the added advantage of being good enough to bat in the top 6 (debatable in the case of Symonds), so 4 quicks considering the 3 part time spinners who are nearly as good as Hauritz and Krejza would make the bowling attack more suitable apart from maybe in the subcontinent and at the SCG.

 

[susudear]

Stuart Clark overrated

McGrath = Clark (same style bowler, effective and misely)

Not even close. His performances are only going down with each season.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Yeah and its bit of a shame how under-rated Gillespie is, for me he was quite easily one of the best fast bowlers Australia has produced, maybe because he was playing in the same team as McGrath and Warne, kind of overshadowed his achievements, but he was a damn good bowler in his own right, and Johnson has a long, long way to go before he can even be compared to Gillespie.

Nathan Bracken said he was the scariest bowler he'd faced. He's not a batsman, but tailenders are usually a good judge of 'frightening' haha.

He was a very good bowler, and I have no idea why some people would under-rate him at all. If it was back when he was playing well he'd be the best bowler in this team by a fair margin. Clark would be the only one to challenge him.

 

[Richard]

I think this is a bit of an overreaction. South Africa has an amazing team at the moment, IMO not far off being the strongest team that country has ever had

This isn't even the strongest SA team since readmission IMO, I think there's several that were better and would probably beat this team. And the side of '69/70, well, it'd wipe the floor, same way it'd wipe the floor with all bar 4 or 5 other teams that've ever been assembled in history.

SA are very probably the best side going around currently but that's due to the weakness of the rest, not due to them having one of the best sides they've ever had.

 

[TheEpic]

Post reported due to the incorrect use of "your".


-Voltman-

For god sake, it really is the harbinger of doom for a message board when users with more than 1000 posts get so full of their own importance that they think they can dictate internet etiquette to new members. Give him a break, he's new to the forum and is actually literate, which is a start. If you keep being so prissy about the least notable aspect of his post then he'll rightly leave and not come back, which would be a shame as he seems to have half a brain cell unlike many others who have registered recently.

We're all here to discuss cricket. So let's stick to what we're good at.

 

[Chimpdaddy]

This isn't even the strongest SA team since readmission IMO, I think there's several that were better and would probably beat this team. And the side of '69/70, well, it'd wipe the floor, same way it'd wipe the floor with all bar 4 or 5 other teams that've ever been assembled in history.

SA are very probably the best side going around currently but that's due to the weakness of the rest, not due to them having one of the best sides they've ever had.

Yep, you're right. Its unfortunate, but the standard of cricket has dropped. SA has gotten better, but the quality of Australian cricket as dropped quite a bit, and now it is much more even (probably more in SA advantage). IMO, if you put the Australian Ashes 06 side against the current South African side, hands down Australia would have won both matches.

-Chimpdaddy-

 

[Son Of Coco]

This isn't even the strongest SA team since readmission IMO, I think there's several that were better and would probably beat this team. And the side of '69/70, well, it'd wipe the floor, same way it'd wipe the floor with all bar 4 or 5 other teams that've ever been assembled in history.

SA are very probably the best side going around currently but that's due to the weakness of the rest, not due to them having one of the best sides they've ever had.

I agree with this (what a stunning return huh Richard? haha). South Africa haven't all of a sudden become amazing...they've passed Aus as they're on the way back to the field. I don't say this to discredit their achievements in any way either. They have a team with some very good players in it. But they don't have any amazing spinning talent and they showed they're vulnerable in both first innings to an attack in Australia that was pretty ordinary on the whole. Morkel has a lot to prove yet too. Duminy looks like a talent, but obviously saying this so early in his career is dangerous. They're a very solid team.

 

[Harry Harrison]

What is it with all these new members signing their names at the end of their posts?

It'd be like me ending every spoken conversation I had by saying "Matt".

We can read, you know.

you always criticise others. Sometimes for nothing. Now go ahead. I am waiting for your criticism.

 

[susudear]

Disagree

I agree with this (what a stunning return huh Richard? haha). South Africa haven't all of a sudden become amazing...they've passed Aus as they're on the way back to the field. I don't say this to discredit their achievements in any way either. They have a team with some very good players in it. But they don't have any amazing spinning talent and they showed they're vulnerable in both first innings to an attack in Australia that was pretty ordinary on the whole. Morkel has a lot to prove yet too. Duminy looks like a talent, but obviously saying this so early in his career is dangerous. They're a very solid team.

To reduce the present SA team to being not the best in the world is debatable.

Note that this team has not lost a series since Sri Lanka in 2006.

That's an Australian-esque run and should be appreciated. The obvious changes in this period is that the top order, esp McKenzie and Amla showed they can be good players of spin bowling, an area where traditionally they struggled.

Add to that mix a deadly Steyn and a reliable Ntini and they have a world class core.

Morkel is still an unfinished article, however valuable experience in Australia, India, England etc is only going to help him.

If they could somehow unearth a good wrist spinner, the mix would make them virtually the Australia of the early 2000s. What about Imran Tahir?

 

[biased indian]

past couple of weeks should have broken all records for new members joining.....but all seems to be related in some mannerisms

 

[susudear]

CW is a universe

past couple of weeks should have broken all records for new members joining.....but all seems to be related

And Conservation of Energy applies.