Australian Future

[grant28]

Not too long ago, everyone was talking about the decline of Australian cricket, including myself. I thought that for the next few years they would drop down the rankings and India and South Africa would fight it out for the no1 spot.

But, the Australians have come fighting back and have won the series in South Africa, and you wouldn't bet against them winning it 3-0.

The batting order looks good, Hughes looks a great talent, Haydens successor? Katich has finally nailed down a place and Ponting, Hussey and Clarke are still a formiddable middle order. Number 6 spot is debatable, but North has done well so far. Haddin, although not Gilchrist, is certainly performing well.

Then the bowling line up. This looked terrible few months ago. But, Johnson is a world class bowler, Siddle and Hilfenhaus look good prospects, and MacDonald doesnt look too bad either, and they still have Lee and Clark too come back. Only place they are going to really struggle is in the spin department.

They definitly won't be as good as some of the recent teams of the past, but maybe this transitional period wont be as bad as we all thought.

 

[Son Of Coco]

I think they'll be in a group of 3 at the top who will challenge each other for the next few years. As we saw in the last two tests, they don't have the firepower in the bowling department to knock teams over in 3/4 days now, but they worked together well as a unit to secure victory in 5.

Barring one of the teams unearthing a talent the like of Warne, Murali, or McGrath from somewhere I think this will be how it is for the next few years.

 

[Debris]

The only place that Australia is really much worse than the dominant sides is in the spin department. Everything else has held up pretty well.

I suspect that Australia might be playing on a lot of slow, turning wickets in overseas test matches during the next few years.

 

[Rant0r]

australia have managed to maintain strong batting throughout this transitional phase, which has helped them, runs on the board always help the bowlers confidence.

now they have a few bowlers coming through it all looks good, not say as good, but good enough for a rematch with india

 

[ozone]

Australia will always have a very competitive team in the future, as the infastructure they have in place to produce good young cricketers is second to none in the world. Although other countries will challenge them, none will do so over a long period of time until they set up a development system to rival Australias.

 

[Chubb]

I've always felt that if you want a vision of the future of cricket, imagine an Australian boot, stamping on a cricketer's face. Forever.

It is not that bad. Australia have dominated cricket for the majority of its history. In fact, with India increasingly becoming the centre of the cricket world, Australia face a challenge they may not be able to match (in the long term, you understand)

 

[Flem274*]

I've always felt that if you want a vision of the future of cricket, imagine an Australian boot, stamping on a cricketer's face. Forever.

It is not that bad. Australia have dominated cricket for the majority of its history. In fact, with India increasingly becoming the centre of the cricket world, Australia face a challenge they may not be able to match (in the long term, you understand)

Hi George!

 

[oldmancraigy]

It is not that bad. Australia have dominated cricket for the majority of its history. In fact, with India increasingly becoming the centre of the cricket world, Australia face a challenge they may not be able to match (in the long term, you understand)

You might be right - but I feel that the focus of Indian Cricket is on the shorter forms of the game, and that the Australian focus is on the longer form.

In the end, the longer form is superior, and good performance in the longer form translates to the shorter forms to some degree.

So perhaps when India get their setup right, they might start to challenge, but it might be longer term than you're suggesting!

 

[Pratters]

Australia have a very strong domestic structure in place which means that they were never really going to go down the rankings like say West Indies did. Australia, India, South Africa and England will be competing for the top place over the next decade or so according to me.

 

[SJS]

There is absolutely no doubt that Australia have declined. Where they will remain on the leader board is not dependent on wether they are as good or worse than earlier Aussie teams but on how other teams stand up besides this new Aussie side. So far Australia are just about holding on. They may continue to do so but that does not change the fact that Australia have declined.

 

[bunny]

The current Australian batting sucks. Apart from Ponting there's no "pure" cricketer in there. When Clark and Lee are back, the bowling will receive a tremendous boost. Currently the bowling lineup is good but not great. If Ponting can transform these group of cricketers into a fighting bunch, then Australia might hold on to the top spot, otherwise I am not convinced of the talent.

 

[Natman20]

The Australians have pretty much rejoined the top bunch rather than being completely dominant. It means more exciting cricket for all to watch. It is good to now see tight series and a not so invincible team. Australia is definately not the dominant force they used to be but they still have the potential too. For the good of entertaining cricket I hope that they do not (esp being from NZ)

 

[ziebell]

The current Australian batting sucks. Apart from Ponting there's no "pure" cricketer in there. When Clark and Lee are back, the bowling will receive a tremendous boost. Currently the bowling lineup is good but not great. If Ponting can transform these group of cricketers into a fighting bunch, then Australia might hold on to the top spot, otherwise I am not convinced of the talent.

*Facepalm*

How old are you, 12?




"Pure Cricketer" what the hell does that mean?

I reckon a 20 year old opening batsmen scoring twin centuries in his debut series, against the best fast bowling attack is the world, is fairly "pure", or indicitive of talent.

Just because of the last test, Phil Hughes is now close to the best young cricketer in the world.

This is what our batting line-up will look like in the near future, when Watson returns.

Hughes
Katich
Ponting
Hussey
Clarke
North
Watson
Haddin
Johnson

Our number nine, is now considered an all-rounder

That is the deepest batting lineup in world cricket, bar none.

Scared much?


We've just obliterated the second best test side 2-0 in their own country, with a relatively inexperienced bowling line-up.

Mitchell Johnson is getting better and better every test,



I know you Indians were hoping for a period of sustained success after the turnover of our greats, but it just isn't going to happen, the Australian domestic scene is far too strong to let that happen.






----> It was completely obvious that you were full of ****, when you mentioned Brett Lee "improving" our bowling lineup, he averages over 40 in England, and is close to the worst bowler to take over 300 test wickets.

I suppose you must be a fan of his bollywood singing.

 

[Trumpers_Ghost]

This is what our batting line-up will look like in the near future, when Watson returns.

Hughes
Katich
Ponting
Hussey
Clarke
North
Watson
Haddin
Johnson

Actually I'd expect that if Watson were to come back in he would take North's #6 spot, but that hardly changes your argument. An ever improving Johnson at eight (with handy tail to follow) makes Aus very very deep in batting and with 5 good bowling options.


Aus is not on the decline. Or atleast it can't be said to be on the decline yet (this would change if in 12 months time the team was unsettled and results poor) At the moment we are Transitional. Decline would be if we were unable to establish a settled side or if a new settled side starts losing most of the time. We must wait on this, however the evidence of a selection search has thrown up some cricketers that appear to be able to uphold Aus high standards for the foreseable future (Johnson, Siddle, Hughes). These high standards however may not produce the winning percentage of recent past until a decent young spinner emerges, as this is required to supply the winning edge in some circumstances.

 

[Jono]

*Facepalm*

How old are you, 12?




"Pure Cricketer" what the hell does that mean?

I reckon a 20 year old opening batsmen scoring twin centuries in his debut series, against the best fast bowling attack is the world, is fairly "pure", or indicitive of talent.

Just because of the last test, Phil Hughes is now close to the best young cricketer in the world.

This is what our batting line-up will look like in the near future, when Watson returns.

Hughes
Katich
Ponting
Hussey
Clarke
North
Watson
Haddin
Johnson

Our number nine, is now considered an all-rounder

That is the deepest batting lineup in world cricket, bar none.

Scared much?


We've just obliterated the second best test side 2-0 in their own country, with a relatively inexperienced bowling line-up.

Mitchell Johnson is getting better and better every test,



I know you Indians were hoping for a period of sustained success after the turnover of our greats, but it just isn't going to happen, the Australian domestic scene is far too strong to let that happen.






----> It was completely obvious that you were full of ****, when you mentioned Brett Lee "improving" our bowling lineup, he averages over 40 in England, and is close to the worst bowler to take over 300 test wickets.

I suppose you must be a fan of his bollywood singing.

Woah, aggressive first post.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Woah, aggressive first post.

Sounds like something you'd read from the BF cricket section.

 

[Precambrian]

No doubt Australia will NEVER be able to catch upto the heydays of early 2000s.

But I'd love to have a strong Aus around as that would mean the quality of cricket is only going up.

 

[Debris]

No doubt Australia will NEVER be able to catch upto the heydays of early 2000s.

But I'd love to have a strong Aus around as that would mean the quality of cricket is only going up.

Never is a long time.

 

[Nate]

Haha, Ziebell fire uppp.

 

[SJS]

Never is a long time.

Terrific turn of phrase