The State of Australian Cricket

[inbox24]

With the recent retirement of Brett Lee, Michael Hussey is the only player left from our 'great' era (not sure whether to count Michael Clarke in that club). Was a good time for Lee to abandon ship, the team was going to hell.

I always use the analogy of millionaires. In the setup of international cricket over the past 5 years, the top 4-6 teams have been 'millionaires' in terms of player talent, domestic system and amount of money and resources poured into them. Unlike the other teams which have invested their millions wisely into safe and stable returns and hence produced a decent return in most situations, the Australian cricket team have spent their fortune here and there in get-rich-quick and other scams which have all but wiped out our bank balance. That is to say, whilst the other teams have been picking the right players most of the time and managing them well, our selectors have destroyed all the good talent we had (and with it any chance of creating a Post McGrath/Warne/Hayden/Langer/Gilchrist era world beating team), ruining the careers of many including Dussey, Katich, Bollinger, Bracken, Clark, Ferguson, Jaques, Noffke, Ronchi, Harris, et al. In addition they have idolised and worship players with phantom potential: Johnson, Cowan, North, Smith, Hastings, Manou, Krezja, Bailey, Forrest, Beer, McDonald, Laughlin (I'm sure I've missed some other damn horrible players - there were that many) not based on their proven performance, but on the selectors on grandiose fantasies that'd they become the next once in a century players we used to have. Of course just like the pyramid schemes and the Nigerian email hoax schemes we see on the internet, they all failed predictably and now the state of our cricket is akin to that of a poor, blind, and homeless beggar with nobody to blame but himself.

Oh how the mighty have fallen!

[Jager]

Didn't we just wipe the floor with a side with one of the greatest middle orders in history?

[Spark]

I think the more pertinent question to ask is "is the current spate of posting the biggest overreaction to a fairly meaningless ODI series loss to a top-quality side in their conditions ever?"

[Spikey]

a odi series we didn't really even try to win, to boot

[Top_Cat]

[inbox24]

I guess you guys didn't read my post properly. Ignoring the current ODI series, this post would still stand. This has been the problem for whole LAST 5 YEARS, not just a one off series against England.

One other problem is also focusing on the positives and totally turning a blind eye to problems. Yes you need to look at what did right and try to replicate that and understand the factors for success, buth the only way for a side to improve is to keep fixing mistakes until there are none to fix. You don't become a good side by gloating and dining off of past victories. Seems to be a problem of some posters in these parts as well.

[Spark]

You mean apart from the whole "this is the first series we've lost in over a year" thing.

the team is going to hell - I mean, seriously.

[flibbertyjibber]

Have to wait and see. Did England overreact to their thrashing in UAE by Pakistan?

Australia are probably a better side now than the one that got gubbed by England 18 months ago, not going to become a great team overnight and yes it may get worse again before it gets better but there aren't many sides not having blips now and then at present. Look at Pakistan in Sri Lanka...

[morgieb]

Originally Posted by Spark

You mean apart from the whole "this is the first series we've lost in over a year" thing.

the team is going to hell - I mean, seriously.

Join Date: Feb 2010.

That sums it up. Inny was historically a massive whinger.

[fredfertang]

Originally Posted by Spark

I think the more pertinent question to ask is "is the current spate of posting the biggest overreaction to a fairly meaningless ODI series loss to a top-quality side in their conditions ever?"

Wrong - It wasn't meaningless at all - was of huge practical and psychological significance

Mind you had the scoreline been reversed you would, of course, have been quite correct

[pup11]

Even before this series the cracks were always there in the armour but thus far the selectors had just managed to cover them. More than losing the series its the final scoreline and the fact that we just kept getting worse as a team as the series progressed which is a concern.

This concern originates from the fact that after all this while we are still heavily dependent on players that were unearthed by Hohns and his selection panel and that begs the question as to what exactly have the present and previous selection panel been doing all this while, when they couldn't find and establish a single decent player during their tenure.

[benchmark00]

Needed to show more intent imo.



And in answer to the thread title - New South Wales.

[Spikey]

NSW cricket is stronger under a labor government

[Spikey]

Originally Posted by pup11

This concern originates from the fact that after all this while we are still heavily dependent on players that were unearthed by Hohns and his selection panel and that begs the question as to what exactly have the present and previous selection panel been doing all this while, when they couldn't find and establish a single decent player during their tenure.

yeah let's all thanks Hohns for discovering all our current test bowlers

[pup11]

Originally Posted by Spikey

yeah let's all thanks Hohns for discovering all our current test bowlers

What test bowlers? We hardly have a settled bowling attack and we just tend to pick bowlers from whoever is available, the thing is the core of the side is still Ponting, Mussey, Clarke and Watson, as long as these guys are performing we look pretty good but when they don't we just sink without a trace.