***Official*** 3rd Test at the WACA

[Starfighter]

They do have an excuse for losing 0-5 - that they're just not good enough as cricketers. Doesn't excuse the being rudderless, out of control idiots though.

 

[Tannhauser]

Is it wrong if I read this in a scottish accent?

Not at all. Groundskeeper Willie will do.

 

[NZTailender]

 

[S.Kennedy]

Wood has first been injured and has had to remodel his action, now wears something on his foot, only to be injured again. I fail to see how he wouldn't struggle.

 

[S.Kennedy]

England need at the very least a performance this week or, to put it bluntly, they are going to start losing fans.

I am all for mixing business with pleasure, an ethos expressed no more successfully than on the 1986/87 tour. But the difference then was that Gatting, Gower, Botham, Broad etc. were men, capable of sinking a few jars without losing sight of the reason they were there. What on earth would Eric Clapton and Elton John find to talk to some of the current crop about?

There seems to be a generation of player - those who came into the game after the likes of Cook and Anderson - who are to all intents and purposes still boys, and who appear to believe they are on some sort of off-season jolly. Perhaps it’s just me but I can also see a movement from men to boys in the Aussie camp, when I think of the likes of McGrath, Waugh and Gilchrist who simply commanded respect, including (or even particularly) from their opponents. Or perhaps I’m just getting old. But at least the Aussies seem to know how to behave off the pitch.

I have no wish to get all Mary Whitehouse about it all, but the fact is these players are playing for the fans who’ve saved for years to travel to Australia and the fans back home who have ruined their sleeping arrangements to follow the tour, only to endure two months of sledging from the token office convict.

They stopped their best player from boarding the plane, they introduced a midnight curfew, and still certain players don’t seem to understand why they are in Australia. I personally was delighted by Bayliss’ response the other day to the journalist who asked “What can you do now?” If “Perhaps think about who makes the team” is not a black and white answer for some of these players, then there really is no getting through to them.

There are some real solid pros in this England team. But I do wonder whether it isn’t time for English cricket to introduce an All Blacks-style ‘no dick heads’ rule. It didn’t seem to hurt them.

I can deal with 0-5 against the great team of Warne and McGrath. I could just about do the same when Mitchell Johnson started bowling rockets in 2013. There are times in sport where you just have to lift your hands up and say well played. But there is no, absolutely no, excuse for England getting beat 5-0 by this Australia side.

Over to you lads.

It was a different era in Gower/Both's day also. In their day the press used to get bladderated alongside them, and there was no mobile phone cameras, twitter, social media etc etc with which to capture errant behaviour.

 

[GotSpin]

That Fb page is so good
They missed the ball with not having Langers face there instead of smithers though

 

[Daemon]

That Fb page is so good
They missed the ball with not having Langers face there instead of smithers though

It's run by NZT lol

 

[Woodster]

England need at the very least a performance this week or, to put it bluntly, they are going to start losing fans.

I am all for mixing business with pleasure, an ethos expressed no more successfully than on the 1986/87 tour. But the difference then was that Gatting, Gower, Botham, Broad etc. were men, capable of sinking a few jars without losing sight of the reason they were there. What on earth would Eric Clapton and Elton John find to talk to some of the current crop about?

There seems to be a generation of player - those who came into the game after the likes of Cook and Anderson - who are to all intents and purposes still boys, and who appear to believe they are on some sort of off-season jolly. Perhaps it’s just me but I can also see a movement from men to boys in the Aussie camp, when I think of the likes of McGrath, Waugh and Gilchrist who simply commanded respect, including (or even particularly) from their opponents. Or perhaps I’m just getting old. But at least the Aussies seem to know how to behave off the pitch.

I have no wish to get all Mary Whitehouse about it all, but the fact is these players are playing for the fans who’ve saved for years to travel to Australia and the fans back home who have ruined their sleeping arrangements to follow the tour, only to endure two months of sledging from the token office convict.

They stopped their best player from boarding the plane, they introduced a midnight curfew, and still certain players don’t seem to understand why they are in Australia. I personally was delighted by Bayliss’ response the other day to the journalist who asked “What can you do now?” If “Perhaps think about who makes the team” is not a black and white answer for some of these players, then there really is no getting through to them.

There are some real solid pros in this England team. But I do wonder whether it isn’t time for English cricket to introduce an All Blacks-style ‘no dick heads’ rule. It didn’t seem to hurt them.

I can deal with 0-5 against the great team of Warne and McGrath. I could just about do the same when Mitchell Johnson started bowling rockets in 2013. There are times in sport where you just have to lift your hands up and say well played. But there is no, absolutely no, excuse for England getting beat 5-0 by this Australia side.

Over to you lads.

The behaviour of this current crop is stupid, even though none of the more recent headline making stories are particularly bad at all in my opinion, they are just stupid with everything that has happened and they simply shouldn't be getting themselves into these situations as they are just building more and more pressure on themselves as a group.

Are they any worse than previous eras ? Probably not really, but they are under much more scrutiny and with social media around and everything, they are far less likely to get away with any indiscretion and should tailor their behaviour accordingly. As you say, the supporters will have saved a lot of money and made sacrifices of their own in order to afford a trip to Oz, the least you'd expect of the players is show a similar level of discipline off the pitch. I don't believe they should be locked away in their rooms at all and I don't expect them not to have a drink and behave like lads, etc, but they just need to use their heads a little more (and not in the Bairstow way) given the current situation.

I also agree there is no excuse to lose 5-0 to this Australia side, that's not meant as an insult to this Aussie side who have a potent bowling attack and some very decent batsmen and have played the much more consistent cricket so far, but they are not a side we should be getting whitewashed against despite our shortcomings as a side.

 

[Tannhauser]

It was a different era in Gower/Both's day also. In their day the press used to get bladderated alongside them, and there was no mobile phone cameras, twitter, social media etc etc with which to capture errant behaviour.

True that, but no matter how bladdered they got at night, they got up in the morning and performed for their country. If this England team were 2-0 up I’d be all for letting them let their hair down with a few beers.

I think that generation understood they were representing their country when they played. This new millennial generation seem to only think about themselves, which is a great shame.

 

[Gnske]

This new millennial generation seem to only think about themselves, which is a great shame.

Well,

That's not unique.

 

[Starfighter]

This new millennial generation seem to only think about themselves

I wonder who taught them that trait?

 

[fredfertang]

I wonder who taught them that trait?

Thatcher's legacy

 

[Tannhauser]

So Thatcher’s to blame for this tour all along, I KNEW it!

 

[Burgey]

Winning patches over a lot of this sort of crap. It’s a bad look when you’re getting beaten. If they were out celebrating being 2-0 up no one would have said a thing.

 

[Woodster]

Winning patches over a lot of this sort of crap. It’s a bad look when you’re getting beaten. If they were out celebrating being 2-0 up no one would have said a thing.

Absolutely, they'd be talking about the camaraderie within the camp! But with that in mind, and the bad press we're getting at the moment, it's not too much to ask to keep the nights out kind of low key. Save the laddish antics till they get back to the hotel.

 

[Spark]

They do have an excuse for losing 0-5 - that they're just not good enough as cricketers. Doesn't excuse the being rudderless, out of control idiots though.

yeah all this crap about pride etc, representing the country is crap. how about worrying about a gameplan against lyon intead?

 

[S.Kennedy]

Out of interest what will happen to the WACA when this modern monstrosity begins operating? You're not going to demolish it are you?

 

[morgieb]

Out of interest what will happen to the WACA when this modern monstrosity begins operating? You're not going to demolish it are you?

Redevelopment will drag the capacity down to 10-15k. WACA will still exist for Shield matches and lower drawing Tests.

 

[S.Kennedy]

Redevelopment will drag the capacity down to 10-15k. WACA will still exist for Shield matches and lower drawing Tests.

Not the worst outcome then.

 

[Gob]

Reminds me that it was here four years ago that Steve Smith really established him self in the Aust team with a brilliant hundred

Been good since