With the impending retention of The Ashes in such devastating fashion in Melbourne we must address the issue of whether it will be good for Australian cricket. Will the selectors finally cede to a real rebuilding phase and make the changes that need to be made?
Will Ponting step down in the interests of his batting form? And if so will the selectors just give it to Clarke who is in worse form?
Will they swing the axe and make wholesale changes for Sydney or will they try to square the series?
The Australian public seem to be the more realistic of all. You only have to talk to the masses for a few minutes to realise they are more accepting of the harsh truth that we simply just don't have the cattle at the moment at any level to challenge the big boys.
The time for small changes in order to win a test here and there or pinch a series are over. We must plan for the medium to long term future and blood the players that can get us to where we need to be.
I am talking about the two main things on the horizon. The return bout against England away and the Test World Cup. Forget what is in between, especially the one day WC which should not involve our test squad at all.
Too many test batsmen are getting too many easy runs on one day decks and are fashioning their game at that level. When the time comes to actually tough out a session or longer the mindset is just not there.
Watson has done well this year but gets out too often when his team still needs him playing one day or T20 shots. Hughes does not have the technique or patience to handle the moving ball. Ponting is past his best and should probably be playing in his last series, as captain at the very least.
Clarke is not right and is guilty of loose shots either too early or to the wrong balls and has failed to deliver when his country has needed him too many times this series. I don't care what anyone says a T0 captain should not be the test captain. They are not even the same sport.
Hussey has been great this series and is no doubt having a purple patch, but for how long? Big scores give way to bad memories even when sustained under performing is involved. Surely everyone remembers he was one innings away from being dropped, probably forever.
Smith is not an allrounder at test level anyway and if the selectors wanted one that could bat they should have chosen White. If even to groom him for the top job if he makes runs.
Haddin I think is not the best gloveman in the country and has kept well this series but I can't help think he stays in the side for his batting more than anything. They are obviously hiding that fact by batting him below Smith but we all know he should be higher.
The bowlers are a whole different thing with pitches and such to take into account. I won't go there just yet.
So the real question is not if this is good for Australian cricket but "Will the selectors take that opportunity?"
1/100 quickly become 4 for not mamny more.
ReplyDeleteHow many times has that happened?
This bloke wrote a good summation of the argument to get rid of Ponting:
ReplyDeletePosted by kabbalistic on (December 28 2010, 12:07 PM GMT)
He has been the best test batsman at no.3, he is still one of the worlds best fielders. He still looks full of energy.....TRUE INDEED. But I feel we are fogetting the real Ricky Ponting who has not only embarrassed Autralia but also the game of cricket, on a number of occasions. I heard people have renamed him as Mr. Shame, which I believe is best suits him. If Cricket Australia cares a fig for the tattered reputation of our national team in our national sport, it will not for a moment longer tolerate the sort of arrogant and abrasive conduct seen from the captain and his players...Australia itself has been embarrassed. He has not shown the slightest interest in the well-being of the game, not the slightest sign of diplomatic skills, not a single mark of respect for his accomplished and widely admired opponents.
Me - I reckon he's right to an extent. Good bat though....
On the radio, there was a few moments where it was believed that Ponting was reacting to the umpire getting a referal based on Haddins request, if that was the case than Ponting had every right to fire up at the umpires in my opinion and request that that referal not be marked against his team. As it transpired...
ReplyDeleteI think you are spot on Nos about the public perception of what is required, and while foreign press bang on about us eating our own and lauding them without question the moment they win, Australians reactions are no different to anywhere else...short of burning effigies!
If CA were fair dinkum about turning things around (long term- not for Sydney), the selectors should offer to the public to fall on their swords... but they won't, because they can write a script with a million extenuating circumstances and factors outside of their control. When in reality we have been done by a bettr prepared, structured, commited, led team that has had the gears in place for a few years now and only needed to ensure said gears were well lubed prior to play commencing.
For 2 years now i have used the term, "stop-gap" when relating to the suppossed "rebuilding" phase of the first XI, i take my bow now fully verified.
oh, and regarding Pontings place in the side:
ReplyDeletehe must step off at the end of the series.
He shouldn't be dropped or stripped of his captaincy now- remembering that the WACA win was't a dead rubber but at a crucial time in the series- but given his batting form is so poor, he has no place in the side after Sydney.
He has been a wonderfull #3, and is the 2nd best fielder i have seen in my life time, but when his series average is something like 15 -bolsted by that 2nd innings first test 51 not out- he is clearly done
Ponting's place in the side is a tricky one due to his age. I gave Hussey 2 tests to make runs - and he did - but I argued that it was short-sighted to give a 35 year old time to find form when you would only get max a couple more years from him. I feel the same about Ponting. Why drop him to 5 for maybe 2 years of maybe runs? We've lost the Ashes so consistency for the sake of the urn is over now. Time to rebuild.
ReplyDeleteMy problem with how Ponting has conducted himself is that he is ungracious in both victory and defeat. I consider him unsportsmanlike and don't care how much, if at all, other countries behave the same. You can only control your own behaviour. Taylor led a great team with humility while playing hard but fair.
Well, Ponting has had to stand there and cop it (2nd time this test) and he knows (and said) it is in no small part to his lack of contribution.
ReplyDeleteObviously the SCG will see him play, but i'm now building a new effigy if he doesn't hang up his baggy gren after that test!
He and the 'Ditch burning together- I'd like to see that!
Ponting AND Clarke should have stood there and copped it. Had those two actually stood up as captain and vice when batting this series could have been different.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the same result but closer. And when it's close...