Australian post-Ashes postmortem

Apologies for being so early with this thread but I am not around much at the moment i so just wanted to make these points.

Clarke needs to go. He is the most powerful captain in history yielding too much influence. No other Australian captain has had anywhere near the level of control Clarke has. It is his way or the highway and that is not conducive to success.

Next point Lehmann is not the messiah. He is just a HFRS.

These players have been embarrassed by swing and seam in this series and spin in past series. It is almost fair to say they only flourish on flat tracks or home conditions.

Strange and inconsistent selections need to be highlighted and shamed.

There was no genuine succession planning. By chance Smith is playing out of his skin and had a Bradmanesque year and is now the anointed one. I am hesitant he is the right man for the job but there is no other contender.

Ponting today said eight of this touring squad will never play test cricket again. He only named the obvious choices in Rogers, Harris, Haddin and Watson. Refused to name the others.

S.Marsh,Voges,Fahwad,Siddle the other Four not mentioned by Ponting imo.

harsh on Fawad. hasn't even played Test cricket

Nath wrote:harsh on Fawad.  hasn't even played Test cricket

True, but has done nothing on tour to suggest he should be either.

Paul Keating wrote:Apologies for being so early with this thread but I am not around much at the moment i so just wanted to make these points.

Clarke needs to go. He is the most powerful captain in history yielding too much influence. No other Australian captain has had anywhere near the level of control Clarke has. It is his way or the highway and that is not conducive to success.

Next point Lehmann is not the messiah. He is just a HFRS.

These players have been embarrassed by swing and seam in this series and spin in past series. It is almost fair to say they only flourish on flat tracks or home conditions.

Strange and inconsistent selections need to be highlighted and shamed.

There was no genuine succession planning. By chance Smith is playing out of his skin and had a Bradmanesque year and is now the anointed one. I am hesitant he is the right man for the job but there is no other contender.

Ponting today said eight of this touring squad will never play test cricket again. He only named the obvious choices in Rogers, Harris, Haddin and Watson. Refused to name the others.

- Apposite posting.

The saddest thing is the horrible performance against swing. We have known for some time about how brittle we are but cannot find a way of combating it. Once England worked out that their frailties against Johnson were not as pronounced as our weakness against swing and prepared pitches accordingly, the series was all but lost.

Blackadder wrote:

Nath wrote:harsh on Fawad.  hasn't even played Test cricket

True, but has done nothing on tour to suggest he should be either.

true. have to invest in youth (which I guess would be Agar/Zampa)

The one good thing about is cricket writers trying to outdo each other with classic lines.

"Adding an extra batsman to this line-up was like adding an extra stone to the sack you're trying to drown the kitten in"

Nath wrote:

Blackadder wrote:

Nath wrote:harsh on Fawad.  hasn't even played Test cricket

True, but has done nothing on tour to suggest he should be either.

true.  have to invest in youth (which I guess would be Agar/Zampa)

I would suggest that spin has not been Australia's problem area on this tour.

Bradman wrote:The one good thing about is cricket writers trying to outdo each other with classic lines.

"Adding an extra batsman to this line-up was like adding an extra stone to the sack you're trying to drown the kitten in"

But first ball? Like compatriot James Faulkner, Clarke should be banned from driving in England.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/the-ashes/the-ashes-2015-rampant-england-deliver-australias-blackest-day-20150806-gitjmi.html#ixzz3iCONkyTP
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Typo in the English papers pre-series ... it's actually Duds Army we sent over.

Must have been had accent had them confused.

Blackadder wrote:S.Marsh,Voges,Fahwad,Siddle the other Four not mentioned by Ponting imo.

Clarke should be the first one out the door.

lardbucket wrote:

Blackadder wrote:S.Marsh,Voges,Fahwad,Siddle the other Four not mentioned by Ponting imo.

Clarke should be the first one out the door.

I think you can add Hazlewood as well. Starc's Michelle might just save him. Mitch Marsh will be another on the outer. Its a pity Fork blotted his copybook. He could have added some much needed mongrel to this team.

lardbucket wrote:

Blackadder wrote:S.Marsh,Voges,Fahwad,Siddle the other Four not mentioned by Ponting imo.

Clarke should be the first one out the door.

The elephant is getting bigger.

Big Dog wrote:

lardbucket wrote:

Blackadder wrote:S.Marsh,Voges,Fahwad,Siddle the other Four not mentioned by Ponting imo.

Clarke should be the first one out the door.

I think you can add Hazlewood as well. Starc's Michelle might just save him. Mitch Marsh will be another on the outer. Its a pity Fork blotted his copybook. He could have added some much needed mongrel to this team.

Shaun Marsh is gone, a wasted talent. His Test average will barely top his Dad's, though he was a far more capable player.

I think both Hazlewood and Starc still have plenty to offer. Mitch Marsh is not Test ready ... he should be batting at 6 and learning. I agree that Faulkner should be back; hopefully he has learned from his recent personal crisis as well as Ricky learned from his youthful Sydney meltdown.

lardbucket wrote:

Big Dog wrote:

lardbucket wrote:

Blackadder wrote:S.Marsh,Voges,Fahwad,Siddle the other Four not mentioned by Ponting imo.

Clarke should be the first one out the door.

I think you can add Hazlewood as well. Starc's Michelle might just save him. Mitch Marsh will be another on the outer. Its a pity Fork blotted his copybook. He could have added some much needed mongrel to this team.

Shaun Marsh is gone, a wasted talent. His Test average will barely top his Dad's, though he was a far more capable player.

I think both Hazlewood and Starc still have plenty to offer. Mitch Marsh is not Test ready ... he should be batting at 6 and learning. I agree that Faulkner should be back; hopefully he has learned from his recent personal crisis as well as Ricky learned from his youthful Sydney meltdown.

I was astounded he was dropped. It was like England in the 90s. You have a young kid who is finding his way, and certainly hadn't disgraced himself so far in this series, yet he was dumped for his proven failure older brother. What does that do for a young player's confidence? Once you decide to pick a young player in the test side, you need to stick with him for at least four tests, find out about him, and make him feel secure enough to play at his best, otherwise his confidence will take a battering. The next time he is picked, he will put undue pressure on himself thinking that one poor performance means he's out of the side again. England have belatedly learnt this and for the last 15 years or so have by and large (with a few notable exceptions) stuck with players they feel have what it takes.

And Shaun Marsh? What a joke. He makes the same mistakes over and over and over again. Apparently incapable of learning, and you can assume not prepared to do the hard work. But like Shane Watson, you have disturbingly influential voices like Shane Warne and James Bradshaw constantly praising the "talent" and "potential". Never mind the fact Marsh is 32 and Watson 34. I burst out laughing when Warne said on commentary yesterday that Shane Watson was dumped too soon and should have been given another opportunity. Really delusional comments, but comments that people listen to.

lardbucket wrote:

Blackadder wrote:S.Marsh,Voges,Fahwad,Siddle the other Four not mentioned by Ponting imo.

Clarke should be the first one out the door.

Can't see him retiring after the Ashes, after the next Aus Summer is a different matter.

He might not get the choice. It might be better for all involved if he didn't.

If he did retire now, of course the Noise would say he timed it to throw Smith into the deep end when he already wasn't swimming too well.

The first thing they need to do is stop blaming the pitches. It's a get out clause to consider the pitches. They need to recognise flabby techniques for what they are. Or else they simply won't improve. They'll return to Australia and become hometown unicorns. They'll flay the Windies. They'll be Steve Bradman, and such. Then they'll go away again. They'll look at the pitches. They'll shake their heads. They'll feel sorry for themselves. They'll lose once again.

Not too long ago we had the Perth minefield, the Adelaide road (which sometimes did spin late), the Sydney Bunsen, the Brisbane seamer's paradise and the Melbourne stuff-knows-from-year-to-year. To stay in the team you had to be able to play on all five. It stood you in good stead for when you went on tour.

They're no better than India in that regard. Over-pampered pansies. They need someone like Allan Border to kick the shit out of them.

Eexactly like India then, except that India loses at home as well.

Blackadder wrote:

lardbucket wrote:

Blackadder wrote:S.Marsh,Voges,Fahwad,Siddle the other Four not mentioned by Ponting imo.

Clarke should be the first one out the door.

Can't see him retiring after the Ashes, after the next Aus Summer is a different matter.

Done. Dusted. Six months too late.

Who will make way for him in the channel nine commentary box? Channel nine May well have asked him to delay his retirement until they work this out......

Slater.

Warner
Rogers   Burns Bancroft Random Dubber
Smith
Toxic piece of shit  Lynn Doolan Random Dubber
Voges ...short term ...one of the above Random Dubber as favourite ...Sos also short term
Twatto  Mitch Marsh  ...Fork (would prbably bat 7 behind nifty ...Stoinis (desperation) ...Reeks...other random dubber
Haddin Nifty ...Sammy ...Sharapova ...half the Tozzie squad ...random dubber ...no shortage of keeper batsmen
Mitch J ...
Mitch S...
Hazlenuts ... plus Cummins Pattinson NCN Behrendorf random dubbers Bird Cot
Lyon ... Agar Boyce Fawad random dubbers

Should scrape up a competitive side out of that lot