Is Australia back to the dark days of the mid 80s?

[Spark]

I still believe that our best XI (Katich Watson Khawaja Ponting Clarke Hussey Haddin Hauritz Johnson/Harris/Siddle/Bollinger) in some kind of form will at least challenge if not beat anyone anywhere in the world. There is just too much talent, experience, and class for that not to happen.

However we haven't done that for so long now that it looks to me that we're playing more like a collection of eleven individual cricketers rather than a team. First of all we have to rebuild a unified team spirit, like England, India and South Africa have.

 

[honestbharani]

I don't really understand this concept of "talent and class" for players who are just about coming in.. Back in the day, the Aussie FC cricket used to be of a very high standard. I get a funny feeling now that the standards have dropped to pretty unimaginable lows now, coz most guys who seem to look the part during the FC there seem to be rather out of place in tests..

 

[Ruckus]

While I would agree the standard has lowered somewhat, I don't think the second point is necessarily true. Bollinger, Harris, Siddle, Johnson have all performed on par or better than their FC records. The batting transition might be a bit more of a concern though.

 

[Blaze 18]

Chopping and changing isn't really going to help. I agree with everyone who says that the current Australian side is not a bad one. Yes, they were thoroughly outplayed in the Ashes by a team that played much better cricket - it can happen sometimes. Aside from that, however, they haven't been that bad. Even the great Australian sides of the past have struggled in India, so bringing up the zero-two loss to India in India is not really fair.

 

[Bun]

They also did well against SA and England (2009 Ashes).

I disagree; the talent is there but the mental aspect is totally missing. There seems to be no cohesion and we look sloppy in the field as well. Test cricket is a weird sport; it's a really long game but one that can be decided if you do not perform in several key moments.

The last series was one of the worst we've ever had...but I don't think it represents how good even these bunch of players can be.

They may all look good on paper, but they've been consistently failing to replicate than on the field. As time goes on the SA triumph is looking more and more flukey. The Ashes 09 were lost, got decimated in Ashes 11, whitewashed in India, drew with an underperforming Pakistan in England, add to that ODI series losses against England, India and Sri Lanka. hmm.

 

[robelinda]

Been a woeful time since the NZ tour. But the nucleus of the team is fine, just need to stop putting faith in very inconsistent players. Have we seen the best of Clarke? 7 years in the test team, we've seen the bad a lot, but the best of Clarke could have passed us, he doesnt seem to have the skill to have a really killer 3 or 4 years ahead, his technique struggles are just as bad now as they were in 2005. Maybe a flawed investment, might need to slightly lower expectations of him.

 

[abmk]

the biggest question in my mind is why was staurt clark dumped ?

 

[Spark]

Been a woeful time since the NZ tour. But the nucleus of the team is fine, just need to stop putting faith in very inconsistent players. Have we seen the best of Clarke? 7 years in the test team, we've seen the bad a lot, but the best of Clarke could have passed us, he doesnt seem to have the skill to have a really killer 3 or 4 years ahead, his technique struggles are just as bad now as they were in 2005. Maybe a flawed investment, might need to slightly lower expectations of him.

I don't think we'll ever see him become the next Ricky Ponting. He's just not quite consistent enough to do it, although he did have a stellar three years before the last.

We will have to make do, unless he has an amazing run starting about now (which could happen, given how quickly he seems to go on and off) with him averaging around about 48-50 when he retires. That's not exactly terrible, but it's not Ricky Ponting either.

I hope he proves me wrong though. He was starting to show real signs of a return in Sydney, and it took a top-quality spell to remove him. I wouldn't write him off - he's still a reasonably young player.

 

[smash84]

They also did well against SA and England (2009 Ashes).

I disagree; the talent is there but the mental aspect is totally missing. There seems to be no cohesion and we look sloppy in the field as well. Test cricket is a weird sport; it's a really long game but one that can be decided if you do not perform in several key moments.

The last series was one of the worst we've ever had...but I don't think it represents how good even these bunch of players can be.

Agreed. It is more about mental toughness than anything else. The mental toughness of the players such as McGrath, Warne, Waughs, Border, Taylor, Langer, is now gone from the ranks and all of them were real tough blokes

 

[Spark]

More important than that is that compared to your Johnson/Hilfenhaus/Beer/Doherty/Hughes/Smith etc. McGrath/Warne/Waugh/Langer etc are much much much better players...

 

[smash84]

More important than that is that compared to your Johnson/Hilfenhaus/Beer/Doherty/Hughes/Smith etc. McGrath/Warne/Waugh/Langer etc are much much much better players...

......that is true