Australia's Mental State

[stephen]

"Get ready for a broken ****ing arm."

"You just wait until Brisbane."

Superficially these two comments are similar but they reveal the root cause of the issues faced by this Australia team.

In the first instance you have a captain who is present, switched on and focused on the game in front of him. He achieved a lot with a much poorer side than this one.

In the second instance you have a captain who has mentally given up on the current game (Sydney) who is pinning his hopes on the next game. What's worse, the attitude was "we just have to show up in Brisbane and we'll win". It's the same thinking that said "it's ok to lose in 2018 because we don't have our two best batsmen", when in reality the side was consistently batting for less than a day on roads.

The attitude of the Australian leadership is why Australia now failed to dismiss a side on day 5 on a regular basis, despite having arguably the best bowler of Yorkers, three quicks who can bowl 140+, an off spinner who has nearly 400 wickets and a number of decent part time options.

I'm not sure if it's Langer or Paine, but the performance of this Australian side is way below par given the talent available. They continuously let the game slide, showing no urgency on days 1-4 in a must win match. They are satisfied with 370 on a batsman's paradise against a third string attack. The team is acting less than the sum of its parts.

Players like Wade and Head are getting starts but never converting, falling to lazy shots, the likes of which saw Martyn banished for years.

There is a lack of strategic test match thinking. Starc in particular is often mismanaged. He should only bowl around the wicket if he's bumping a batsman to get them out. For long periods in Brisbane he bowled around the wicket, but not bowling bouncers - bowling length. But doing so was pointless because it takes out the possibility for lbw, reduces the chances of bowled and caught behind and is generally unthreatening. In Sydney he tried bowling leg side bouncers for an entire spell and wasted every ball that spell. The problem is not the bowler's talent, it's his management.

The problem with the Australian side is its leadership, which is slow, unresponsive and is content with mediocrity. It must change or we will continue losing.

 

[Burgey]

But players like Wade and Head are getting starts and not going on because they aren't very good - Head because he's relatively inexperienced, Wade because that's his mediocre level. Ideally you would want blokes playing who are averaging 50 odd in the Shield, and now there are two young blokes doing that who've had a game, though they're both n00bs.

The vast majority of the issues with the Aussie side atm are with the batting. That's what stopped them from putting the series away, and doing it comfortably. Credit to the Indian bowlers as well in that regard, but when you see the way Wade got out three or four times having made 30-40, it's ****ing criminal. Even Marnus after he got a ton in Brisbane.

TOTAB made it clear how he would have treated both of them upon return to the sheds, and he was right - they both should be beaten repeatedly until they wise up. Sounds Neanderthal? Well it's the reason the side went from last in the world in the 80s to number one in the 90s. Discipline and resolve must be physically inculcated into the ranks until your default position is you would rather keel over and actually die than pop one up in the air for a flashy 40 odd. Anything less is un-Australian and weak. This current side is a disgrace to its people.

 

[vcs]

Starc was garbage, Lyon was unpenetrative and some of their batsmen are very ordinary. We know that. The rest is pointless psychoanalysis fluff after losing to a great cohesive team effort for the ages. Plug some of these holes and they'll be fine in South Africa.

 

[Arachnodouche]

Isn't this the exact same batting unit that was chalking up 400+ scores for fun against NZ and Pak an year ago? Not saying changes aren't needed but sometimes you simply run into a side that keeps sniping at your heels. Aus didn't have a dearth of promising partnerships this series; just that they weren't allowed to become too big through a mix of good bowling and captaincy. Don't just look at the poor shots that ppl like Wade played to get out. More often than not they were a result of concerted pressure over long passages of play. Cause and effect.

 

[Senile Sentry]

But players like Wade and Head are getting starts and not going on because they aren't very good - Head because he's relatively inexperienced, Wade because that's his mediocre level. Ideally you would want blokes playing who are averaging 50 odd in the Shield, and now there are two young blokes doing that who've had a game, though they're both n00bs.

The vast majority of the issues with the Aussie side atm are with the batting. That's what stopped them from putting the series away, and doing it comfortably. Credit to the Indian bowlers as well in that regard, but when you see the way Wade got out three or four times having made 30-40, it's ****ing criminal. Even Marnus after he got a ton in Brisbane.

TOTAB made it clear how he would have treated both of them upon return to the sheds, and he was right - they both should be beaten repeatedly until they wise up. Sounds Neanderthal? Well it's the reason the side went from last in the world in the 80s to number one in the 90s. Discipline and resolve must be physically inculcated into the ranks until your default position is you would rather keel over and actually die than pop one up in the air for a flashy 40 odd. Anything less is un-Australian and weak. This current side is a disgrace to its people.

This sort of 80s behaviour is what is going to be Australia's undoing in the years to come. It may have worked in that age, when it was fashionable to give children a whack if they were out of line. But no longer in line with modern sensibilities.

The need of the hour is to develop a suitably rewarding system which treats players as men or women and not like army drones. You cannot discipline them like as if it is an army barrack ffs, not when it comes to International level teams.

I understand some hard stance coaching may be needed but maybe at the lower levels. But when a player is selected for national team, they have to be more or less ready and treat them as such. It doesn't mean mollycoddling and kiss and hugs but treat them with respect. Address the mental aspects and be a helping hand. That's what national side coaching staff can do. They cannot be expected to somehow turn a bunch of boys to men overnight while playing test cricket.

India has done exactly this, Ravi Shastri treats the players as grown ups.

 

[Burgey]

ok

 

[the big bambino]

Starc was garbage, Lyon was unpenetrative and some of their batsmen are very ordinary. We know that. The rest is pointless psychoanalysis fluff after losing to a great cohesive team effort for the ages. Plug some of these holes and they'll be fine in South Africa.

So half our bowlers and most our batsman aren’t performing. Apart from that we should be fine.

 

[honestbharani]

I think if you bring back Khawaja and let the bowlers (Cummins esp.) call the shots with respect to bowling strategies, there is obvious improvement that will happen already, even with most of the current players. And if they are clear Paine is not the future, then just make Cummins captain, rest him from JAM LO games and get Carey or whoever in there. Is there no other middle order option after Head? Ben McDermott or Kurt Patterson can be tried?

 

[Gnske]

i want to die just like australian cricket did

 

[Shri]

Discipline and resolve must be physically inculcated into the ranks until your default position is you would rather keel over and actually die than pop one up in the air for a flashy 40 odd. Anything less is un-Australian and weak. This current side is a disgrace to its people.

Steve Smith as captain actually brought some of this to the team when he and the squad went to a preparation camp in the uae before touring india and actually won a test in pune, where he made one of the best test 100s that i have ever seen by a foreign bat in a turning pitch

 

[the big bambino]

Up until this point our batting was never so tragic as to consider Ben McDermott an option.

 

[Shri]

Steve Smith as captain actually brought some of this to the team when he and the squad went to a preparation camp in the uae before touring india and actually won a test in pune, where he made one of the best test 100s that i have ever seen by a foreign bat in a turning pitch

And in a pre tour interview, he made a point about scoring runs regardless of the conditions anf putting value on your wicket

 

[harsh.ag]

For all the rubbish talk on intent and Pujara, the Aussie bats really should have scored a lot more of an injured Saini and a fairly ineffectual Natarajan, esp in the third innings at Brisbane.

Before that, India always bowled well and it's not obvious the Aussies could have batted in a more free flowing manner without taking risks, but that was definitely one such time. Probably difficult to flip the mental switch quickly, but that should be part of the skillset ofc

 

[Senile Sentry]

For all the rubbish talk on intent and Pujara, the Aussie bats really should have scored a lot more of an injured Saini and a fairly ineffectual Natarajan, esp in the third innings at Brisbane.

Before that, India always bowled well and it's not obvious the Aussies could have batted in a more free flowing manner without taking risks, but that was definitely one such time. Probably difficult to flip the mental switch quickly, but that should be part of the skillset ofc

They did score well against Nattu and Saini in the 2nd innings. And Sundar was too carted around.

Shardul and then Siraj were just too good to make up for that. What I love is every too order wicket India took were owing to superb deliveries.

 

[duffer]

i want to die just like australian cricket did

Maybe we should all follow Australian Rugby now?

 

[honestbharani]

Steve Smith as captain actually brought some of this to the team when he and the squad went to a preparation camp in the uae before touring india and actually won a test in pune,

Credit to be shared with Lehmann IMO.

 

[cnerd123]

Australia's Mental State: Hurt, fragile and confused

 

[Burgey]

Kurt Patterson can be tried?

There's a bloke who should have been in the Ashes side. Crazy that he was discarded. Then copped a pretty long term injury last summer.

 

[Kirkut]

But players like Wade and Head are getting starts and not going on because they aren't very good - Head because he's relatively inexperienced, Wade because that's his mediocre level. Ideally you would want blokes playing who are averaging 50 odd in the Shield, and now there are two young blokes doing that who've had a game, though they're both n00bs.

The vast majority of the issues with the Aussie side atm are with the batting. That's what stopped them from putting the series away, and doing it comfortably. Credit to the Indian bowlers as well in that regard, but when you see the way Wade got out three or four times having made 30-40, it's ****ing criminal. Even Marnus after he got a ton in Brisbane.

TOTAB made it clear how he would have treated both of them upon return to the sheds, and he was right - they both should be beaten repeatedly until they wise up. Sounds Neanderthal? Well it's the reason the side went from last in the world in the 80s to number one in the 90s. Discipline and resolve must be physically inculcated into the ranks until your default position is you would rather keel over and actually die than pop one up in the air for a flashy 40 odd. Anything less is un-Australian and weak. This current side is a disgrace to its people.

Agreed with all except the bolded part. Cummins is an excellent example, he is the role model for Aussie cricketers to get back at their best.

 

[Kirkut]

Labuschagne's shot after scoring his 100 had shades of Amir no balls in 2010. Unthinkable to play that.

Anyways, I expect great things to come from him in future, certainly top notch player.