Whats wrong with the Australian Cricket Team?

[patty]

Just thought I would "throw" this one in to get some opinions on why you think the Aussie Cricket team is underperforming besides the most notable points of the retirements of Mcgrath and Warne!!!

I say the selectors have got themselves to blame they continually pick players way past their prime and in most cases are well and truly past their used by dates these players stay in the team that long the end result is they keep out a generation of the younger players coming through and more importantly gaining any experience!!!

[watson]

Or maybe the South Africans have gotten more gooder??

[Lignin]

I blame Kerry Packer. They're Over paid, over indulged,over stuffed, underperforming.
I don't really care any more.
Bring back amateurism!!!

[rod1949]

Isn't it good... they got beaten... knocks em off their high horse. I don't watch it but the next game should be interesting.

[Steve Fryar]

Why,given a dead rubber,they didn't replace Hayden with Hughes is beyond me.

[AlexS]

Why,given a dead rubber,they didn't replace Hayden with Hughes is beyond me.

Merv or Kim?

[44Ronin]

What is the point of watching a sport if you always expect one team to win?

[ss_11000]

whats wrong with the australian cricket team?

they havent been scoring more runs then the opposition

[artme]

Been a long time coming but it was bound to happen. Anyway who cares. I'm an avid cricket fan and I think that this is good for the game.

[Geoff Dean]

Whats Wrong?

First, I don't think too much is wrong, nothing that a couple of good bowlers wouldn't fix, and a few more runs from our top order wouldn't hurt.

At the moment it's our bowlers keeping us in the matches, not with the ball, but with the bat. If they start taking wickets, and our batters start making runs, all will be well again.

I believe that the problem is that the team is a victim of it's own success. Back in the deep dark past, before Border was captain and Australia were almost the whipping boys, someone came up with the idea of a cricket academy.

Such was its success, fast forward to now and look at how many ex Australian players have ended up as coaches/teachers of overseas teams. All of our "secrets" have been sent around the world and the standard of cricket, particularly tests, has increased 10 fold.

How many games now end in draws, compared to 20 years ago.

Also, remember the West Indies when Richards, Lloyd, Holding, Ambrose etc were playing. They were almost unbeatable, but eventually it happened, and their fall has been long and hard.

I don't believe our fall will be as long and hard, but other teams winning, while not good for Australia, is good for the game.

We were always going to struggle for a while after McGrath, Warne, Gilchrist, Langer and Martin retired, thats half the team gone at once.

Three of them were probably once in a hundred year players, the other 2 once in a generation players, and we were lucky to have them all at once. The thing that will probably save us, is the huge amount of talent coming thru, it may be a few years before the team is settled again, and we will lose a few more games and series before then, but we will end up back on top.

My 2.2 cents worth anyway.

[fubar]

cant bowl cant bat

[Sebastiaan56]

Melbourne test was a farce, an all rounder who couldnt bowl (Symonds), a fast bowler maimed (Lee), 12th man injured carrying drinks (Watson), and field settings to guarantee runs for the SA's. Best comment I heard was from Shane Warne on the telly went something like "Give some agro, a bit of mouth and some stares..."

Good luck to SA may they be better behaved champions than the Aussies,

[Rossluck]

Been a long time coming but it was bound to happen. Anyway who cares. I'm an avid cricket fan and I think that this is good for the game.

Me too. It's life: boom, recession, drought, flood, the best cricket team in the world for sixteen years, and now its South Africa's turn. Good luck to South Africa, and congratulations to the Aussie team for the fantastic sixteen years.

[corbs]

Cant remember if it was the Captain or the Coach of SA, but in a press interview I heard one of them say that Australia played great cricket in the first innings of the second test. I love hearing that sort of respect from opposition players/staff. Maybe Australia should respect their opposition a bit more? This is across the board in sports though now, tennis is a pretty good example of it too. Its not very often a simple statement that the better player won on the day but rather excuses for their own shortcomings in a match.

I think Australia losing a few matches is good for the game and Australia, pity the media feel compelled to jump on them like they do though.

[AlexS]

Yep, the Jaapies have set a pretty good example of sportsmanship from what I've seen. Hope some of it rubs off on the Aussies.