More reasons to have the sh!ts with Ponting, et al.

Cricinfo article with a crap title, but a lot of sense.

{on the 7.30 report, Peter] Wilkins had dared mention Shane Warne’s Ricky-what-are-you-doing? tweet about field settings. He tossed in Geoff Lawson’s theory that being relieved of the captain’s duties might be in Ponting’s best batting interests. And this is how Ponting replied: “You know, one’s a good mate of mine and someone I played a lot of cricket with and someone I have total respect for, and the other one I don’t really care too much about what he has to say.”

With respect, Mr Ponting, the psycho-gazillions would call that denial.

It was understandable. Ponting’s hold on something dear to him – the captaincy – had been challenged. Pooh-poohing the challenger’s credentials was an instinctive response. It was also symptomatic of a wider tendency among this most recent generation of Australian cricketers. They belittle and dismiss the opinions of those who did not play with them, those not in the club.

...

With old Australian cricketers, even the most macho and boofheaded, you used to feel a sense of privilege, of humility. They exuded a quiet awe for the giant cricketers of yore whose big boots they were filling.

This makes a lot of sense.

I must add that the article's pushing of Lawson as someone worth listening to is a bit OTT.

Zat wrote:I must add that the article's pushing of Lawson as someone worth listening to is a bit OTT.

Horace has made over 12000 posts on this forum and countless more on C4 and the ABC and even he has managed to make complete sense at least once

Hmm, interesting. How far back does "old Australian cricketers" take us? Chappeli and GSC, and even AB, Tubby and SRW were notoriously stubborn.

I don't blame Drunky at all for wanting to hold on to the top job. It's all about respect, and rightly or wrongly, Drunky's views on the park were highly respected by SRW and had a lot to do with him getting the 2nd most important job in Australia.

To be fair to Drunky, he does make some dumb decisions but the cattle Hildick and co have given him since the TGM era concluded hasn't made his job any easier. And he has probably contributed to that by backing the likes of Ollie and Haurie.

Coach's Blog: Scrutiny at its peak
09 November, 2010
Tim Nielsen
Sitting on the plane returning home from Brisbane and I have plenty to think about.

The last week has been amazingly busy and I don't remember anything in my time as coach like the public and media scrutiny the team has seen this week.

Four games in different formats over a week period from the west to the east of the country means a hectic schedule.

It is certainly made all the more difficult when results aren't coming and everyone in Australia has an opinion to how to fix things up.

Most important for us as a team is to ensure that we don't panic and keep our eye firmly on the targets we have set for this summer.

We now have a couple of weeks to prepare for the Ashes series, and I think all involved are looking forward to using this time to complete their personal preparation in Sheffield Shield cricket and be 100% right come the first Test in Brisbane.

Sri Lanka got the better of results in this series and deserved their win.

We couldn't finish them off in Melbourne in game one after having them 8/107 chasing 240.

These opportunities have to be taken if we are to win every series we play in, and letting Angelo Mathews and Lasith Malinga piece together a 134 run partnership wasn't good enough.

Sydney was a different kettle of fish, but ultimately the same result.

Sri Lanka were rewarded by the Duckworth Lewis method for only losing four wickets in their innings and the revised target for us was 243 in 39 overs.

More rain spiced the wicket up a little, they bowled really well in the conditions and we couldn't get a top order partnership or individual big score to chase them down.

Brisbane was an excellent result for us and great to see two young, developing bowlers in McKay and Starc get some reward and lead us to a big win.

While all the media are licking their lips and enjoying the opportunity to let us know exactly where we have gone wrong, the last week has had many benefits that a lot of people have been overlooked.

I will try and list a few for your consideration here:

• Young players in Doherty, Hastings, Marsh, Smith, Starc and McKay got their first, or more opportunity to play for Australia in ODI cricket. We now have only seven games (v England) at the end of the summer prior to our World Cup beginning and giving these players more time was critical with the WC in mind.

• Haddin and Siddle came back into international cricket after not playing at this level for approximately nine months. I was very pleased with the way they improved in both their skills and conditioning through the week and they will no doubt be much better off for getting back into International cricket prior to a big summer of Test Matches.

• Ponting, Watson, Johnson and Hussey returned to the side after missing all or part of the Indian ODI series and for Mitch and Huss playing a Weet-Bix Sheffield Shield match for Western Australia early in the week meant no T20 game in Perth. Mitchell got better and better throughout the three-game series, and started to look like the MJ we know in his opening spell yesterday at the Gabba.

We know Mitchell needs a lot of bowling to be at his best, and giving him a rest though the Indian ODI series hopefully means he is good enough physical shape to get through what will be a very busy summer.

Mitch will have a week training with WA now, play grade cricket on the weekend in Perth prior to a Weet-Bix Sheffield Shield game in Melbourne leading into the first Test.

Throughout this busy period we needed to be well planned and then stick to our guns under pressure.

As mentioned players needed to be reintroduced to International cricket after long layoffs, and they all improved as the series went on.

Much of the criticism and speculation that took place was all about today, and how the performances means that we are under prepared and need change.

I would counter that with the exact opposite mindset.

We knew this ODI series was scheduled at a difficult time in our summer, and we have known that throughout the series people would be using it as a guide to the Ashes series.

These were bad results for us, and I understand the disappointment in cricket circles around Australia.

However, all is not lost, and we are comfortable in where we are at and headed.

However I encourage everyone to look a little deeper than just the scoreboard and keep in mind the big picture.

We have two huge tournaments approaching in the Vodafone Ashes Series followed by a World Cup and our planning and prioritising needed to be focused on these.

We have stuck to what we think is the right preparation for players and haven't rushed players back from injury or had mass change to the team due to a couple of losses.

As is often the case as soon as we lose a couple of games there is all sorts of talk about disharmony and infighting within the team.

This couldn't be further from the truth and a standard barb thrown by those outside the group searching for a reason why we are losing.

Ultimately, we lost because we didn't bat, bowl or field well enough, and Sri Lanka outplayed us in the first two ODI's.

While it has been tough, the leadership inside the group shown by Ricky and Michael has been calm and measured and at no stage was there any panic.

We talked about how we could improve and then went about doing it...there was no panic or in fighting I can promise you.

This team is tough enough not to allow uneducated opinion upset it.

I can guarantee that every time we turn out for Australia the team wants to win and win well.

We didn't play well enough in his series to achieve that, but with the big picture in mind we have taken couple of critical steps forward that I hope will pay dividends throughout what will be a terrific summer of cricket.

I look forward to keeping you 'in the loop' throughout the summer

Fark. This "I've gotta tell the world what I'm thinking all the time" generation just leaves me shaking my head.

Didn't bat, bowl or field well enough. Yeah that certainly makes winning a cricket match a bit harder. Christ I thought Hilditch was a total w@nker.

Nielsen is as loopy as Flanders.

skully wrote:Nielsen is as loopy as Flanders.

...except we used to occasionally win a few games when Ned was coach

Flanders had a better record. Albeit with better material. Let's face it you or I could coach a team that had TGM and tgm in it so I guess we'll never know how good or bad he was.

Indeed. But as Chappelli and others would say "Julia Gillard could've coached a side with TGM, tgm, Gilly, Dossie and the Waughs to victory."

I think Flanders was good at squeezing the last 5% out of his team ...he needed the team to be 95% to begin with

Ahh! The good 'ol days. When men were men and Julia liked a drink after work. I actually feel sorry for Ponting at times. Normally after a sh!tload of gin and Mum or the Missus lecturing me on the desirability of compassion.

embee wrote:I think Flanders was good at squeezing the last 5% out of his team ...he needed the team to be 95% to begin with

I'm not even going to give him that much credit. Bradman might have been lucky to captain a team with Bradman in it, but he also had Clarrie, Bill and Stan, and occasionally Fleetwood-Smith.

Coach's Blog: Scrutiny at its peak
09 November, 2010
Tim Nielsen

tl;dr

Why are Lawson's opinions constantly dismissed out of hand? Is it because he refuses to be like the Mark Taylors, Ian Healys, and Michael Slaters of this world who just can't bring themselves to say something negative about Australian cricket no matter what?

Lawson tells it like it is but can be a bit of an arrogant d!ck sometimes.

But i'm willing to bet that Lawson has said something that a lot of ex- Australian players are thinking.

Henry wrote:Why are Lawson's opinions constantly dismissed out of hand?

wearing his NSW bi-focals

Australia's problem is that they still talk and act like they're the best team in the world. Only they're not....

i dont think anyone in australia thinks that anymore, not even the aussie team

Lawson does say some worthwhile stuff. The problem is that it's usually buried in a heap of drivel.

I suppose that's better than the 100% certified drivel some spout forth with.

Zat wrote:Lawson does say some worthwhile stuff. The problem is that it's usually buried in a heap of drivel.

I suppose that's better than the 100% certified drivel some spout forth with.

cue Hildy

skully wrote:Indeed. But as Chappelli and others would say "Julia Gillard could've coached a side with TGM, tgm, Gilly, Dossie and the Waughs to victory."

A similar thing might be said about captaining a side with DKL, Thommo, GSC, Bacchus and Dougie.