Aussie cricket and accountability; a lot of truth here.

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/brendan-mcardle-australian-cricketers-have-to-take-responsibility-for-their-own-flaws-20150808-giuked.html?skin=text-only

Agree with our tendency to blame agendas and deflect when he fail on all surfaces which don't allow us to play the style of cricket we want to.

Agree with the idea that players require more time in county cricket, at their club and state team rather than in 'A' teams and in front of bowling machines.

Boof has admitted in another article that naming the Ashes squad and the Windies squad together was not that smart....which I wondered about, dunno if anybody raised it here at the time.

I cannot recall anyone raising it here, but I also cannot recall the same squad being named for an Ashes tour and another test tour.

Also not everyone seems to think that Clarke should be picked for the fifth test.

Replaced by who exactly - Watson? Haddin? Boof? Warney?

Fred Nerk wrote:Replaced by who exactly - Watson? Haddin? Boof? Warney?

hopefully Sutherland, so Broad and co can go to town on him like Brett Lee vs Piers Morgan.

If the series were poised at 2-2 there wouldn't even be a discussion regarding Pups selection for the Oval match.

As things are, it's a dead rubber game, and from a purely personal POV, I think Clarke should play. I know CA don't put great store on sentiment, and understand that - they've been ruthless in the past, and that ruthlessness has often been vindicated. I don't suggest that they "owe" Clarke this final game, but ......

He is the skipper with 100+ tests and 8,500+runs at just shy of 50 behind him. His career record alongside virtually all his contemporaries is no disgrace at all. He was pretty much the public face of Australian cricket following the terrible death of Philip Hughes - he paid a personal price that, I feel none of us can even begin to imagine.

Yes, the tour has been pretty disasterous, bar the spanking you gave us at Lords, and Pups form has been hugely underwhelming - but its hardly as though he's been the only failure amongst the top order is it? To drop him for the last match of a tour already decide will be nothing less than sheer pettiness. If it were to happen, how exactly would Boof justify it in the pre-match press conference? And who would benefit? Does probable successor Steve Smith gain anything at all for the sake of one match? Can he be the change that makes the top order cope with Broad, Finn, Wood and maybe Jimmy swinging/seaming the ball at will?

Regarding preparation for England tours - well an awful lot of the worlds greats cut their teeth as the club overseas professional in the Northern leagues in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Just 7 off the cuff ..... Allan Border, DK Lillee, SR Waugh, Clive Lloyd, Kapil Dev and Allan Donald. If league, then county cricket was good enough for those great players - then it's good enough for todays up-and-comers.

If they seriously wish to become great test players, then of course they should come and get experience, and forego the instant money from the T20 circus. That can always be a payday in the twilight of their careers.

Of course he deserves the match. Regardless of his service to the Australian side, it's a dead rubber. Not only is it a dead rubber, but his likely replacement is probably touring India ATM. Hardly the best build up to an Ashes Test.

Replace him with Mitch Marsh ...who was left out to "protect" Clarke ...

Clarke has lost the reflexes to play Tests ...thats why he should be left out

He'll get a game though and the CA spin department is already telling what a great bloke he is ...when you need to be told what a great bloke he was , chances are he probably wasn't

embee wrote:Replace him with Mitch Marsh ...who was left out to "protect" Clarke ...

Clarke has lost the reflexes to play Tests ...thats why he should be left out

He'll get a game though and the CA spin department is already telling what a great bloke he is ...when you need to be told what a great bloke he was , chances are he probably wasn't

 

Heh. You lot just don't like him. Don't think I've seen one nice comment yet.

short term memory overload on him

his last year , most of Phil Hughes aside , has been mostly garbage

he has had some outstanding moments ...but some equally appalling ones

Nath wrote:

Fred Nerk wrote:Replaced by who exactly - Watson? Haddin? Boof? Warney?

hopefully Sutherland, so Broad and co can go to town on him like Brett Lee vs Piers Morgan.

People forget that Sutherland used to be a first class cricketer, albeit a fast bowler. I think he'd handle Brett Lee a tad better than Piers did. 

Not that that stunt wasn't absolutely appalling. Especially since we now know what a cricket ball bowled at speed can do to a batsman with after Phil Hughes's death. Can you imagine if amateur cricketer Morgan had been seriously injured or even killed by international fast bowler Lee on live TV? I'm surprised there wasn't a lawyer somewhere strongly advising against it. Lee could have been facing manslaughter charges, seeing as he was deliberately bowling short at Morgan's body, even as Morgan was backing away.