some reactions from Aus after the Ashes loss....

Dean Jones- "Ask Shane warne to come back as skipper for 2 years until someone else is ready. I tell you, it's an option." (Yes, seriously)

The Sydney Morning Herald- "Is the Australian team too white? Too anglo?"

Tom Moody- "To not play a spinner at The Oval was inexcusable"

Peter Roebuck- "England deserved to win the ashes"

Andrew Hilditch- "There's no point looking at anyone and saying they were at fault"

DJ's comment was in a short interview he had with Aggers on TMS during the lunch break yesterday.

Like I said on the other thread, he delivered it with conviction and gave the impression that he had Warne's blessing to say it ...
"He'd do it in a heartbeat" was his summary.

It's not going to happen. Never. Besides everything else, Warne hasn't played test cricket for over 2 years and is just not fit enough to come back now and bowl 50-60 overs a test match. He was huffing and puffing in the IPL after 4 overs FFS.

Henry wrote:Peter Roebuck- "England deserved to win the ashes"

He had to go and lie down for a bit after uttering those words....

Pity the schoolboy who was underneath him.

Bringing back Warne or anyone else at this stage won't solve anything. It will mean telling the whole team that they are useless qunts who can't even watch out for their own selves without having to bring in a retired great headmaster to cane them. Won't help the team confidence at all. Lets face it - Aus atm are sh!t and the current players lack severely in the mental toughness department.

Gone are the days when someone like Border could bully a dehydrated and vomiting Dean Jones to continue with commitment for the team's sake and not retire hurt in the middle of an innings.....

The mental toughness and attitude can't be developed by any captain in a team if the players are not good enough!

Batman wrote:
The mental toughness and attitude can't be developed by any captain in a team if the players are not good enough!

But which of the current Aussies aren't good enough? I bet Border would have retained the Ashes with them.

When you've got 5 or 6 world-beaters in the team it's an easy job to captain, as you can usually rely on one of them getting you out of trouble. Australia became used to having those players in there, what they have now is mostly good players and some very good ones but most of them are not stepping up when it really matters, where a Warne/McGrath/Gilchrist/Hayden would have bailed them out in the past.

It's an entirely different mindset required to win with a decent but unspectacular side. Small margins come into play and it's about winning the key sessions rather than dominating. That's been the difference between good and bad England sides in recent years, even if there's generally not been that much to choose between the quality of the players on paper.

beamer wrote:When you've got 5 or 6 world-beaters in the team it's an easy job to captain, as you can usually rely on one of them getting you out of trouble. Australia became used to having those players in there, what they have now is mostly good players and some very good ones but most of them are not stepping up when it really matters, where a Warne/McGrath/Gilchrist/Hayden would have bailed them out in the past.

It's an entirely different mindset required to win with a decent but unspectacular side. Small margins come into play and it's about winning the key sessions rather than dominating. That's been the difference between good and bad England sides in recent years, even if there's generally not been that much to choose between the quality of the players on paper.

Its not even the batting that really let them down too much here to be honest. What we actually saw was Flintoff and Broad doing to Aus what McGrath and Warne used to do to us. Rip the heart out of our batting order once ever 2 tests.

This time they just don't have that type of ability in their bowling line-up!

A lot of cricket people in Aus seem to be living in some fairy world after the loss. John Buchanan was talking about 'strategies' to ensure that Ponting could lead the side to England again in 2013. Ian Healy said that Ponting should be captain for as long as he wants.

From an outsider's point of view, I really don't know what people in Aus see in Ponting's captaincy at all. I personally feel that the younger players in the team are perhaps a tad intimidated by him and his expectations. His body language sucks as well- How often do the cameras zoom in on him to show him with his arms folded, frowning away after a bad delivery from one of his bowlers. He still seems to believe that guys like Johnson, Hilfenhaus and Siddle should be able to perform somewhere close to the level of Mcgrath, Gillespie, and Warne in their pomp.

Henry wrote:From an outsider's point of view, I really don't know what people in Aus see in Ponting's captaincy at all.

In case you've missed it Mudgey, most Aussie forumers don't think much of Ponting's captaincy, and the vast majority of circket fans I talk to in Aus don't think much of it either.

But it doesn't matter what you think. It seems like all of the people in important places think that Ponting is a great captain. Of all of the former Aus players, only Thommo has come straight out and said that Ponting is a shit captain.

There's too many former players with their noses in the Cric Aus trough.

I was amazed when Merv Hughes said something during the Ashes coverage about the first Test being drawn after Ponting bowled the spinners to get the over rates up late in the match, and no media anywhere picked up on it.

It's not the first time it's happened, and it's not the first time it's cost our national team a potential victory.

The guy is as selfish as, and regularly puts himself above the rest of the team. I'm hopig that when he arrives in Sydney (either tonight or tomorrow night) that some genuine Aussie cricket fans, who pay their hard-earned to watch the games, or who sit up late into the night to watch OS tours, give him a really hard time. It might be the only way some of the slack pricks in the CricAus ivory tower notice.

Although there's a fair possibility that crowd numbers this summer will be way done on forecasts. That might say something as well.

It may take a loss to either the Windies or Pakistan to wake them up.

God this reminds me so much of England.

Henry wrote:But it doesn't matter what you think. It seems like all of the people in important places think that Ponting is a great captain. Of all of the former Aus players, only Thommo has come straight out and said that Ponting is a shit captain.

AB, Mark Waugh, Michael Slater, Terry Jenner have all pretty much suggested the same thing.

I think giving up the captaincy would also help Ponting's batting which has been in moderate decline for a couple of years. He would certainly be batting with less pressure and less distractions.

Henry wrote:But it doesn't matter what you think. It seems like all of the people in important places think that Ponting is a great captain. Of all of the former Aus players, only Thommo has come straight out and said that Ponting is a shit captain.

So we are all agreed then. The Aus NSP are a bunch of qunts that need a decent slap in the head.

Henry wrote:But it doesn't matter what you think. It seems like all of the people in important places think that Ponting is a great captain. Of all of the former Aus players, only Thommo has come straight out and said that Ponting is a shit captain.

It'a only really Ian Chappell who says the opposite and he only does it so he can bag Steve Waugh because he is a bitter old turd

it is only a faction of the nsw lobby that is after punter

Ponting's flight arrives in Sydney 7.05 tomorrow night.

Tell the Banditos

I have my bag of steaming deposit ready to throw at him.

Although to be fair, my ire is more aimed at that clueless arrogant qunt Hilditch

LOL

Damn straight, Trev.

Is Ponting not a JAMODI circus squad member?

Merlin wrote:Is Ponting not a JAMODI circus squad member?

He asked for a few days off. All the thinking has caused a mental strain.