TOPIC:

When you look at the names of the selectors, you could be forgiven for thinking Who TF are they???  What did they ever do on the test cricket field to give us confidence in them?  They may well have been average players, but the most important thing is….they’re EASTERN STATERS, and that’s the most important factor.

Had a check of Warner's recent test record. His last 25 innings for Australia have totalled 644 runs at an average of 26.83. If you dropped out the one innings of 200 that he scored at the MCG the average drops back to 18.5. His recent record on the sub continent is very poor. Meanwhile Travis Head is dropped from the team after averaging over 50 in the last 12 months. It does seem like there are some inconsistencies over this so called "horses for courses" policy. There is no doubt that at his best Warner was a very effective opener for Australia, but now he seems like he has lost the ability to take the game on and in many of his recent innings he has been ultra defensive and stuck to the crease. I think he is past his use by date and Head should open the innings with Khawaja in the next test

mikeh wrote:

Thanks to the incompetence of the Australian Team, Foxtel had to show replacement programming where day 4 of the test would have been shown. Ironically one of the programs showed the 2004 series in India which was the only time Australia have won a series in India in the last 50 years. What struck me most was the batting of Damien Martyn who scored back to back centuries. I had forgotten what a pleasing batsman he was to watch. He was just so confident in the way he played Kumble who is one of the greatest spinners India have produced. He used his feet wonderfully well to get to the pitch of the ball and hit straight, then when Kumble bowled short, he rocked back and cut or pulled with ease, He was proactive and put pressure on Kumble which forced even a bowler as great as him into error.

Fast forward to 2023 and our leaden foot batsmen stuck in the crease, sitting ducks for Jadeja and Ashwin. No plans to put them under pressure and force them to think. Only Smith seemed to have the skills to try and knock them off their lengths

I have also been watching that 2004 Indian Series.
I thought using your feet to the spinners was what we as Australians were taught growing up and had it ingrained in our memory by the likes of Ian Chappell in the Ch9 commentary. 
The likes of Chappell x 2, Hughes, Border, Jones, Boon, Waugh x 2 and later Martyn, Clarke, Ponting etc would regularly dance down the wicket to meet the ball and force the bowlers in to changing their length but the current mob just sit in their crease and let the likes of Jadeja & Ashwin dictate to them and quickly become their cannon fodder!
This current lot should be forced to sit down and watch highlights of those batsmen above and how they played the Indian spinners but sadly this lot will probably be all together sitting around in a circle, holding hands, singing kumbaya my lord!!!

I was impressed how many got out LBW to straight balls in the second innings.

for a spinner to get you LBW it needs to pitch in line and go on and hit the stumps - so definitely not the minefield expected.

Shit side got what it deserved and i reckon in the coming months with a tour or India and then the Ashes and Baz Ball lead poms i can see Australia going belly up, struggling to win a game and serious questions being asked of Pat, Ronald and their leadership. Definitely a bigger challenge than playing the west indies or South Africa on Australian wickets. They will face heat like never before I reckon

good posts could not have put things, better. In recent times, as mike wrote, Warner's average is down near Dyson's- whom of course, never played against weak bowling attacks.

It appears to me that the Indian team, media and public have got into the heads of the Australian group. They were looking for massive turn on that pitch that didnt eventuate. Rarely have I seen a more timid performance by a Aussie line up and many of them were done over by straight balls that trapped them in front of the stumps.
Leads me to wonder why the preparation for most of the Australian batsmen for this tour was 3 weeks of playing in the BBL. Why this rather than red ball practice in India?? Oh yes theres the television ratings......
The selectors also seem to be making decisions on the run with no real logic to them. Made no sense to send Kueneman over there when they already have Agar as a left arm spinner. Unless they have no confidence in Agar, in which case what the hell is he doing over there?

Mikey i felt that too, If I was Agar id be asking to play the next test and if they say no id be asking to go home to play red ball cricket. He has hardly played this year (or last) because he has been with the squad and then they throw him in the deep end, watch him fail and throw him under the bus.

Really they are doing the same with Morris, he is developing nicely so they have had him play a couple of T20 games all summer rather than playing.

Yes you can learn a bit being with test players, but you can learn more about your game playing.

Watch the heat on everyone by the end of the ashes, they could lose their next 9 tests, and then everyone will turn on Pat and Ronnie very fast - The public doesnt put up with shit efforts like that for long

It looks like where going to get smacked in India.And then in the Ashes.I can see the coach and captains heads rolling.
Australian cricket needs a more traditional structure.Mr Cummins believes the team runs itself.lol. 

Not the first  or last team to be smashed in India.....yes it was a terrible performance, but geez it's was the first test.....look at India, got rolled for 36 in Adelaide and went on to win the series 2-1....gee get the feeling all the JL fans and want Aust to lose, just to say we told you so.....going to be a big ask, but I am hoping Aust can regroup and be more competitive....

Freezin, though not a huge fan of Cummins as a person, I admire his skills as a bowler.
And though I am bagging the Aussies out, and being a Langer fan, I would never want Australia to lose. But with such an insipid effort, you would have to be angry.
But with hopefully, Starc and Green back, there may be more venom in the pace attack. Though I am sure that like the Nagpur wicket, there will be very little bounce for the Aussie to mount a barrage of short balls.
It bemused me to listen to the commentators, both Aussie and Indian, calling for the Aussie quicks, Cummins and Boland, to bounce the Indians.
Watching the game, I saw two half pitchers from Cummins that got just over waist high. Sharma promptly disposed of them to the boundary.
The only ball I saw that got over head high was bowled by Jadega in the Aussie second innings.
It also appears that the selectors gave Zampa the wrong message about touring as well. Then they send Kunermann to India.
Hard to work out what is going on.