Australia In Trouble

chinaman · #1 January 4, 2004, 01:23 AM

Australia: 261/4 (60.0 ov)

Australia still trail by 444 runs with 6 wickets remaining in the 1st innings of the final test against India at Sydney. Seems like they have to bat the better part if not all of the remaining two days.

Does this heralds farewell for more than just Steve Waugh?

Beamer · #2 January 5, 2004, 12:43 AM

Not entirely but I do expect a dropoff eventually. All great things do come to an end at some point. Sports is no different. Australia was blessed to have a generation of stalwart players like Waugh, McGrath and Warne at the same time. Their time is over. I doubt how one can replace all three at the same time. They will have good replacements but I doubt whether they will ever reach the magnitude of those three mentioned. Hayden and Ponting are still here. Its their bowling that is more worrisome and everyone knows that bowlers win matches for you in tests.

Hasib · #3 January 5, 2004, 03:50 AM

Anything could happen now

James90 · #4 January 5, 2004, 07:37 AM

Marto will really need to get some runs in the second innings...i know he'll be picked for Sri Lanka but with Clarke in such form he might just be getting a little worried

James90 · #5 January 5, 2004, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Australia was blessed to have a generation of stalwart players like Waugh, McGrath and Warne at the same time. Their time is over. Its their bowling that is more worrisome and everyone knows that bowlers win matches for you in tests.

Sure that's the case at the moment with the middle order, but in the times of dominence it was the top order who was failing. Blewett,Elliot,Hayden,Slater,Langer weren't doing so great and were finding themselves in and out of the side while the main performers were in the middle order with Waugh,Waugh,Ponting. At that time Martyn and Lehmann were at their peak scoring thousands of runs in the Sheffield Shield/Mercantile Mutual yet couldn't find their way into the side. Now as they are not doing so well they can still manage to keep their place in the side. This shows weakness in the middle order as now the top order (Hayden, Langer, Ponting) are blazing. One can only hope that that Martyn and Lehmann find form again and get back to how they were playing a few years ago along with Katich who can hopefull build on his maiden ton now.

Hayden,Langer,Ponting,Martyn,Lehmann,Katich,Gilchr ist

Yes it's true that at the moment the bowling is the main weakness but it's not like McGrath and Warne have retired, they will be back and better than ever. Years ago in about 98 it was still Warne, Gillespie, McGrath with a revolving 3rd seamer in Fleming/Kasprowicz. Soon it will become the same Warne, Gillespie, McGrath with a revolving 3rd seamer in Bichel/Lee. IMO the pace and consistency of Bichel and Lee are better than the swing of Kasprowicz and Fleming. Sure there's problems with it at the moment but when it sorts itself out i'm sure that all that is required is some middle order strength and we will be back better than ever

Pace Setter · #6 January 8, 2004, 06:26 AM

Martyn has been and still is a world class batsmen on fast, bouncy pitches. He has though, always been in my view, an average-at-best batsmen on slow wickets; and we all know what they have in Sri Lanka. Lehmann had an awesome series in the recent Carribean tour, and I've got no doubt that "left-handed Bradman" will be effective if picked for Sri Lanka.

Having a look at the current Aus A side and the dozen odd exciting young bowlers that just missed out on Aus A selection, the future of Australian cricket looks as bright if not brighter than in 1995 when we had Ponting, Hayden, Bevan, etc in the Aus A team.

With the talent in both batting and bowling departments flying around the Australian domestic scene, without taking anything away from the current, great Australian team, I think with the right players being selected and developed, there is the possibility that the next few years will see an even greater Australian team under Ponting.

James90 · #7 January 8, 2004, 09:11 AM

I don't think Australia will go anywhere under Ponting...it's not that he'll be a bad captain but he's got almost nothing to work with. Like Langer,Hayden,Martyn,Lehmann,Gilchrist,MacGill,McG rath,Warne,Williams,Bichel will all retire at like the same time. There would still be some fine players around like Katich, Clarke, White and Bracken but that's about it...you end up with openers like Mail and Kruger, keeper of maybe Luke Ronchi

I mean it won't be a BAD side but not the dominance that it is at the moment

On the other side of the coin i think Pakistan's looking very good to become a real powerhouse of world cricket and with all the young Bangladeshi's they might just become competitive in the years to come

Theshurke · #8 January 8, 2004, 10:17 AM

Hey there I'm new to this board i'm an Aussie and I happened to be looking for some cricket boards and google turned up this site interesting indeed!

I must say that I'm impressed with you knowledge of the Aussie team! I agree with some of what was said bout the Australian team being in trouble...

The depth of the Australian cricket is certainly very deep and I believe that the next big thing will be Michael Clarke. I saw him play in Tasmania against the Indian's who were pretty much at full strength!

I think that our bowling stocks are pretty strong still, Warney has needed a break like this to get fit and he'll play for at least another 3 years!

The biggest concern for the selectors with the Sri Lankan tour coming up will be the fitness of Gillespe (he breaks down all the time!)

Anthhow just thought that I would have my two dollars worth...

I think that it's great you guys are so interested in the game - and I believe the Bangla Cricket has a real bright future!

May see ya round the board...

P.S: Does anyone know any other links to cricket boards? If so could they post them thankx.

[Edited on 8-1-2004 by Theshurke]

James90 · #9 January 8, 2004, 10:54 AM

I'd say more but I've been reading Punter's diary for about an hour now so i'm not really up for anything at 2am in the morning

Pace Setter · #10 January 8, 2004, 08:27 PM

"Like Langer,Hayden,Martyn,Lehmann,Gilchrist,MacGill,McG rath,Warne,Williams,Bichel will all retire at like the same time."

I think when these guys retire, you'll start to see Clarke, North (promising left-hander made a run a ball century against ZIM.), possibly Haddin come into the team. There are also a couple of 20ish year old batsmen which might come good to fill the rest of the batting spots.

There will only be one Shane Warne, but the critics have been pretty obssessive about the talents of White, Doherty, Zammit and Hauritz. Hopefully one of these guys step up. The young fast bowling stocks look very good in a couple of years when Mcgrath retires. Noffke, Harwood, Johnson, Tait plus about 5-10 others in domestic cricket, in my view, belong in the "very promising youngster" category.

Pakistan looks promising, especially with bowlers that can swing the ball a mile. However, I would like to see them perform consistently against other opposition before calling them a good side. SA are looking dangerous as always with a very strong batting lineup. Bangladesh look like they are ready to win a couple of tests. Hopefully they'll do well against Zim in their upcoming tour and fully justify their test status.