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Australian Cricket’s Governance/Development/Expectations/Future

Maximas

Cricketer Of The Year
He's looked ****ing terrible at test cricket.

Khawaja and Flynn are clones. We could bicker about whose more "talented" all day (we won't) but they are very similar players and they suck in similar ways. They even share a deep and abiding love of getting to 40 and getting out.

Until either one gets a front foot drive they won't do anything unless they develop ridiculous patience (which Flynn has) and know where their off stump is against inswingers (which neither know).

Granted, the last time I saw Khawaja was in 2011.
What do you think now Flem? His technique looked poor against Swann but he found a way (smash him - literally), he also played the quicks pretty well I thought, even if Broad was feeding him a fair bit. The first innings was disgraceful, but I think the second dig was pretty impressive, maybe he has toughened up a bit.
 

Flem274*

123/5
I saw jack all of Australia batting in the second test. Had usually either gone to bed or been doing other stuff. If he plays in the next test I'll try and catch him.:)

I don't think he is entirely incapable. As I said, his technique (the last I saw it) is comparable to Daniel Flynn which limits his stroke play and both also share a bad habit of throwing away 40s. I'm not confident either have the mental fortitude to get the most out of their limited options and to be honest, front foot offside is a pretty important scoring area. I can't remember the last world class batsman who had no front foot offside game. All the bowler needs to do is keep it pitched up outside off and they can't deal with it because they're not set up to play those shots very well. I guess we'll see over the coming series if Khawaja has added to his scoring options.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
It's kind of weird though, cause you'd think the other side of the coin would be the pitches should have fine-tuned their techniques to cope in difficult batting conditions, yet most of them suck at facing the moving ball too.


Well, there has to be a balance.. If the pitches are too bowler friendly, then batsmen start aiming for the match turning 30s to 60s instead of trying to rough it out for prolonged periods.. It is almost as if, in those conditions, batsmen suddenly feel satisfied having gotten to a 30 or a 40 or a 50 and then start looking at any other runs they can get as a bonus, because they knwo that the chances are that the opposition batsmen won't even get these runs.. It is always a difficult situation and something that cannot be addressed in terms of preparing one kind of wicket that gives a chance to everyone. That simply does not exist. What one has to do, is to try and balance out the types of wickets over a season, so you know that if a Bailey, for instance, is good enough to score the match turning 40 or 60 on a green top, you can also see if he has it in him to be dogged and pile on the runs on a flatbed..
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
It's kind of weird though, cause you'd think the other side of the coin would be the pitches should have fine-tuned their techniques to cope in difficult batting conditions, yet most of them suck at facing the moving ball too.
If you're batting on a greentop where the ball is seaming around then you're as well just trying to blast your way to a score, having a watertight defensive technique will only get you so far. Blasting a few boundaries might even get the bowler to shorten his length the the 'just too short to get the edge' length.

If you just keep looking to block good length balls eventually you'll get one that you nick to the cordon or miss entirely. So ridiculously bowling friendly pitches don't necessarily encourage a sound defensive technique. Particularly as in a low scoring game getting 60 or 70 might be a match winning innings.

edit: not to mention that batting for hours at a time and racking up big scores is arguably more about mental strength than technical excellence. If you're playing on greentops then you don't really get a chance to develop the mental side of the game and adjust to the demands of facing up to a bowler when you've already been out there for 4 hours.
 
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Backlash

School Boy/Girl Captain
Cookies must be enabled. | The Australian

Media really starting to turn the heat up on Cricket Australia and we're only 2 games into the money marathon.

It's pretty amazing that Cricket Australia thinks it can get away with two pumping's by England in 6 months and somehow get away with it and I think it's safe to say the losses won't just end this summer, many years to come yet. Just how long does Cricket Australia thinks it can get away with providing an inferior product to its customers? Given the state of Australian first-class cricket and the whole system, Cricket Australia better hope its customers are far more loyal (outside the Ashes) than Cricket Australia where to serving Cricket in this country.

Watching Cricket Australia crash and burn will be the only enjoyment I'll get out of the death of Australian Cricket this summer.

But let me guess, it's all just a cycle right, fellas?
 

Maximas

Cricketer Of The Year
Well, I must say, it probably is a cycle, even 2 ashes losses in a row won't be enough to put people off the game forever IMO, sorry, but I really don't think this is the end, it's another step towards it maybe, but I think the loyalty runs a little deeper.
 

Backlash

School Boy/Girl Captain
Well, I must say, it probably is a cycle, even 2 ashes losses in a row won't be enough to put people off the game forever IMO, sorry, but I really don't think this is the end, it's another step towards it maybe, but I think the loyalty runs a little deeper.
This summer is going to be one giant step toward it that's for sure.

What about 10-0 then, Max? The TV ratings dropped big time between the 1st and 2nd Tests, hopefully they continue to free fall.

Does the loyalty run as deep as you think though? When it comes to Cricket I don't think so, we'll soon find out though this summer.
 

Maximas

Cricketer Of The Year
This summer is going to be one giant step toward it that's for sure.

What about 10-0 then, Max? The TV ratings dropped big time between the 1st and 2nd Tests, hopefully they continue to free fall.

Does the loyalty run as deep as you think though? When it comes to Cricket I don't think so, we'll soon find out though this summer.
10 nil would be so bad, but by about 7 nil I think people would just try to ride it out and hope for a renewal. Remember most tickets have already been bought, my 4th day at Adelaide isn't looking so good now, but I'll still go, watching Australia lose is better than not watching at all IMO. Neither of us speak for all Aussie cricket fans, so like you say, we'll just have to wait and see, 10 nil hasn't happened yet though (not that I'm saying it won't).
 

Backlash

School Boy/Girl Captain
We wont lose 5 zip at home but we could go into Brisbane on a 9 zip losing streak.
How uplifting. Great build up that will be for this summer of cricket, worst losing streak in 136 years and first ever 5 series whitewash, but come along anyway to see if we don't get whitewashed again! Come on, mate!!! Yes, 0-4 or 0-3 is much better. I'm sure 0-7 in 6 months won't do any damage to the Test Cricket and the Ashes brand in Australia going forward.

Losing as many Ashes series and in the shortest possible time... very interesting strategy from Australia Cricket to get the next generation interested in Test Cricket. Lets see how it works out for them.


10 nil would be so bad, but by about 7 nil I think people would just try to ride it out and hope for a renewal. Remember most tickets have already been bought, my 4th day at Adelaide isn't looking so good now, but I'll still go, watching Australia lose is better than not watching at all IMO. Neither of us speak for all Aussie cricket fans, so like you say, we'll just have to wait and see, 10 nil hasn't happened yet though (not that I'm saying it won't).
I almost feel sorry for those poor souls who just went along with the hype and just bought tickets without thinking, but then I remember that by buying tickets they are therefore supporting the way Cricket Australia do things and then all my sympathy goes away.

They may have fooled a lot of people to get tickets but TV ratings are a different story.

Good for you Max if getting hammered is better than not watching at all but I don't really feel up to supporting a team where the people who run it main interests is not doing what's best for that team or trying their best to win games, but is their bottom line instead.
 

morgieb

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Remember 1984-1988/89? We were absolutely dire during that phase.

Then for the next 17 years we were dominant.
 

Maximas

Cricketer Of The Year
I almost feel sorry for those poor souls who just went along with the hype and just bought tickets without thinking, but then I remember that by buying tickets they are therefore supporting the way Cricket Australia do things and then all my sympathy goes away.

They may have fooled a lot of people to get tickets but TV ratings are a different story.

Good for you Max if getting hammered is better than not watching at all but I don't really feel up to supporting a team where the people who run it main interests is not doing what's best for that team or trying their best to win games, but is their bottom line instead.
See that's where I draw the line between Backlash's and everyday fans, most people simply want to see a test match and aren't too concerned about CA IMO, while I agree that CA is mismanaging the test team, even with their belated attempts to reform the SS, I just want to see the Aussie team play. BTW, I bought my tickets during the TB match, might have thought twice after Lords :p
 

Backlash

School Boy/Girl Captain
Remember 1984-1988/89? We were absolutely dire during that phase.

Then for the next 17 years we were dominant.
Things are more dire right now, not just on the field but off it as well. Spear us the 80's BS, Cricket was in a far better position to recover back in those days than it is now. Do yourself a favour and don't kid yourself otherwise.

Something tells me that history won't be repeating itself in anyway this time around.

See that's where I draw the line between Backlash's and everyday fans, most people simply want to see a test match and aren't too concerned about CA IMO, while I agree that CA is mismanaging the test team, even with their belated attempts to reform the SS, I just want to see the Aussie team play. BTW, I bought my tickets during the TB match, might have thought twice after Lords :p
And that's why Cricket is finished in this country, because too many people are unwilling to do something about it. The football codes are going to destroy Cricket in the 21st century.
 

uvelocity

International Coach
not watching a sport we love in some kind of ghandiesque non violent protest aint gonna happen lashy
 

Backlash

School Boy/Girl Captain
Ponting attacks CA's lack of foresight

Ricky Ponting, the former Australia captain, has spoken of his shock at being told by the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland that "no one ever spends money when they are going well", a statement emblematic of the complacency Ponting believes has contributed to the nation's slide from the top of the game.

Sutherland's words were uttered during a conversation at the 2011 SCG Ashes Test, which Australia lost by an innings to complete a 3-1 series defeat at home that hastened the Argus review and the departures of former coach Tim Nielsen, the chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch, the chief of cricket operations Michael Brown and Ponting himself as captain.

Don Argus' report into the Australian team's performance brought a host of new appointments and a changed management structure, but Ponting has maintained that many of these supposed innovations had been advocated for as much as a decade by himself and Nielsen's predecessor, John Buchanan. Ponting told ESPNcricinfo he was stunned at Sutherland's lack of foresight, and believed Buchanan had risked his job more than once while advocating change when the team were enjoying their years of plenty.

"When he said that it was like 'What? What are you talking about'," Ponting said while discussing his autobiography At the close of play. "I said then 'Tiger Woods has just won the US Open, he'll be on the driving range tomorrow morning trying to make his swing better for next year and putting all his time and effort to make it better because he knows he's not the same player and he'll need to do things differently to win again next year'."

"But there was no foresight at all into where we were going. Buck was always ridiculed for asking for things. He saw where the game was going to go, and all the stuff that came out with the Argus review was the stuff Buck was talking about 10 years ago, and he was shut down and almost pushed out of his job because of where he thought the game was going to go."

When asked whether or not Sutherland had been held accountable for the slip in the national team's fortunes, and those of the the supporting competitions beneath, Ponting said that while the CA balance sheet was strong, other areas had been either neglected or cut back in favour of stratagems like the Twenty20 Big Bash League. He advocated greater CA control over the goals of the states and the preparation of domestic pitches.

"Business-wise and the last couple years in particular you'd say CA has done a really good job with making the BBL the success they have and other things they've done," Ponting said. "But it's been at the detriment of something else. State cricket's funding and coaches that work with them. One thing I think they should do is CA should employ all the state coaches. Take it out of the state's hands altogether.

"CA should employ them, then they can have some sort of input into the wickets they produce and the teams they pick. Because what we've got now is Queensland winning their first five games at home every year on green wickets. Tassie, to keep up, do the same thing. SA did the same thing last year where they had seaming wickets and Chadd Sayers took 50 wickets on Adelaide Oval. Where's all the spinners?

"They've got to have some sort of control over it, otherwise as professionals coaches have to look after themselves. They have to keep themselves in a job, so it's all about winning which you can understand and it should be. But conditions around the country have got to get back to what they used to be, and each ground have the characteristics they had when I started, which was how you learned a more rounded game."

Another area Ponting believes CA became complacent was in assuming the next generation of young players would spring up to take the place of the previous generation, leading to the early dumping of Simon Katich. Ponting has written that this decision flabbergasted him, but it was not the only call that did so.

"My view on selection is you only ever make a change if it's going to make the team better," he said. "A lot of the changes we made didn't make the team better, and I don't care what anybody says. The coach (Tim Nielsen) going when he did didn't make the team better. I think a lot of the stuff that happened with the Argus review was premeditated stuff that was already in the pipeline and they put this panel together to justify it.

"My meeting around the Argus review lasted less than an hour. I was dressed in a suit, prepared, notes, I thought I was going to be there all day, thrash everything out for six hours, get my opinions and views on everything. But they asked me a few questions, asked me who was accountable, and I was out. I said to James 'I need to have a chat to you outside', we did and it was just like they didn't really want to hear it."

Australia Cricket News: Ponting attacks CA's lack of foresight | ESPN Cricinfo
Yeah folks, keep telling yourselves its all just cyclical. :laugh:
 

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