• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

Australia v England - Coaching

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Yeah, the Haddin bye stat is ridiculous when you consider what some of the balls that went for four byes were actually like. I called it in the matched thread at the time, as you said, that people would bring it up later and take it out of context.
It's not a perfect measure, no. & nor is dismissals effected by a keeper, but Prior is comfortably ahead of Haddin in that too. &, whilst some of the bye calls have been a bit harsh on Haddin, he's often in no sort of position to even get to the ball when it's fired down leg because his balance is wrong.

It could be Haddin has again not done himself justice, but after two series of being outkept by his opposite number the evidence starts to weigh against him. Fine batsman; mediocre keeper. IMHO, obvz.
 

Ausage

Cricketer Of The Year
Prior strikes me as pretty damn good with the gloves though. Haddin wouldn't have to be terrible to be inferior.
 

Uppercut

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Mmm difficult to argue regarding Prior but I suspect most of us still don't quite feel that way after some of his horrendous keeping early on in his career (really not that long ago).
 

Woodster

International Captain
Tbf to Prior has supposedly put in a lot of work with former Notts keeper Bruce French, and the results have been clear to see. He is much improved from the guy that drove Ryan Sidebottom round the twist with a number of drops off his bowling, think it was in Sri Lanka.

He has made very few errors so far in this series, and long may it continue.
 

howardj

International Coach
Regardless of that article, the coach has to be the team's conscience; telling them stuff that they don't necessarily want to hear. To that end, I'm convinced that the team would benefit from having someone like an Allan Border in charge. A bloke who commands respect just from what he's achieved in the game (does Nielsen command respect from what he accomplished?), is not afraid to have uncomfortable conversations with players, tell them things they don't want to hear, knows what it's like to rebuild, and is not afraid to ban WAGs on tour. On this last point, I am convinced that this young side which has not played much cricket together or spent much time in each other's company, would benefit by not having the WAGs around so much. Having them around while doing your job is a privelege to be earned, not a right.
 

Top_Cat

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Think it's instructive that not one of the former players mooted in the press has expressed an interest in the job. Rumours of dysfunction spread quickly in any industry.

Reckon the team might respond to a coach similar to Jeff Hammond. Coached SA from '93, delivered a Shield final within a season and a win the next season. Had the clout to keep the older players who had the fire and clear the dead wood, got the most out of talented-but-underperforming players and had a good eye for who in the next crop were likely to do well and gave them a good run. Was no ****ing around with Hammond, he was brutally clear about what it took to win and who was most likely to do it. Plus, as a former quick, had a strong work-ethic, real hard-yards man. Pretty sure he had a hand in getting Siddons here but he was definitely the reason Lehmann and Nobes came back from Vic. Blokes like Jason Gillespie, Shane George, Greg Blewett, Darren Webber, Vinny Nielsen and Pete McIntyre became hard-nosed competitors under him, several played Test cricket soon after. Have to be clear on a couple of points, though; Hammond was given the reins completely by SACA which I dunno if CA would do any more. Plus, he, the captain (Siddons) and the other senior players agreed an awful lot on cricketing matters which is both fortunate and important.

Remember hearing a story where he took all of the squad quickies to the AO nets and said something along the lines of "Alright, listen up. It's well known around the country that SA is full of nothing but poofy trundlers. I care how many A-grade wickets you've got, lengthen your run-ups and try to bowl quick or **** off now and don't come back."

Not everyone responds well to hard task-masters, SA lost a lot of good players and I know his son, Ash, used to go on a lot about what a hard man his dad was but, well, the results speak for themselves. Makes me wonder whether Bomber is available and/or interested. Went to South Africa for years but I know he's back in South Australia.
 
Last edited:

Spark

Global Moderator
That article may be irrelevant, as if Clarke doesn't start scoring runs he won't be our captain at all.
'Tis a fair point, but it seeems to paint Clarke as more of the "my way or the highway" kind of captain, which is probably not what many of us suspected.
 

andyc

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
He's a smart bloke, has a commerce degree from Sydney Uni IIRC, so I would suspect that it's just him writing. Certainly a good columnist though, love his stuff.
 

Neil Pickup

Cricket Web Moderator
It's not a perfect measure, no. & nor is dismissals effected by a keeper, but Prior is comfortably ahead of Haddin in that too. &, whilst some of the bye calls have been a bit harsh on Haddin, he's often in no sort of position to even get to the ball when it's fired down leg because his balance is wrong.

It could be Haddin has again not done himself justice, but after two series of being outkept by his opposite number the evidence starts to weigh against him. Fine batsman; mediocre keeper. IMHO, obvz.
Having watched Haddin and Prior at reasonably close quarters over the last week or so, I think the biggest differential between the two of them has been footwork. Prior is lighter on his feet, quicker to move across and quite possibly anticipating more effectively: this means tha he is in the right place more often and more quickly, meaning the takes are easier and the dives have to come out less. His rhythm seems spot on at the moment, and it's great that we've put the w/k position worry to bed for the first time post-Stewart.
 

four_or_six

Cricketer Of The Year
Having watched Haddin and Prior at reasonably close quarters over the last week or so, I think the biggest differential between the two of them has been footwork. Prior is lighter on his feet, quicker to move across and quite possibly anticipating more effectively: this means tha he is in the right place more often and more quickly, meaning the takes are easier and the dives have to come out less. His rhythm seems spot on at the moment, and it's great that we've put the w/k position worry to bed for the first time post-Stewart.
There was some mention recently on Sky about instances where to make similar stops Haddin had dived whereas Prior hadn't had to.
 

flibbertyjibber

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Prior has just improved so much from the leaden footed hard gloved oaf he was a few years ago. He made Geraint Jones look capable when he came into the side so you have to give him credit for the improvements he has made.

Another feather in the cap of a certain Mr Moores who deserves some of the stick he got but in giving Prior a chance, recalling Swann from the wilderness and promoting Anderson to attack leader he made three bold calls which longterm have proved spot on and improved the side massively.
 

benchmark00

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Never read anything by him before. Is it him, or is it ghosted? A well-written and interesting piece
He's a smart bloke, has a commerce degree from Sydney Uni IIRC, so I would suspect that it's just him writing. Certainly a good columnist though, love his stuff.
Would definitely be ghosted. Having a close journo friend, I know that pretty much all celebrity columns are ghost written, particularly with Fairfax.
 
Last edited:

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Prior has just improved so much from the leaden footed hard gloved oaf he was a few years ago. He made Geraint Jones look capable when he came into the side so you have to give him credit for the improvements he has made.

Another feather in the cap of a certain Mr Moores who deserves some of the stick he got but in giving Prior a chance, recalling Swann from the wilderness and promoting Anderson to attack leader he made three bold calls which longterm have proved spot on and improved the side massively.
As a selector I think he was decent. Get the impression he fell down on the actual coaching and man-management side of things.
 

zaremba

Cricketer Of The Year
Prior has just improved so much from the leaden footed hard gloved oaf he was a few years ago. He made Geraint Jones look capable when he came into the side so you have to give him credit for the improvements he has made.

Another feather in the cap of a certain Mr Moores who deserves some of the stick he got but in giving Prior a chance, recalling Swann from the wilderness and promoting Anderson to attack leader he made three bold calls which longterm have proved spot on and improved the side massively.
Yeah AWTA entirely. From my perspective as a Sussex fan, I have a huge regard for what he achieved with us, turning a perennially god-awful team into the best side in the country. Lancs did well to snap him up when he received the boot from England. It may take him a while but I'd tip him to get them the Championship at some stage in the relatively near future.
 

Top