by The Lethal 1 » Tue Oct 28, 2008 8:12 pm
There were a few reasons why we got hammered in Mohali...
1) Hayden is not pulling his weight, an average of 55 and the leading Australian run-scorer in India, he needs to move his feet more to the swinging ball.
2) An over-reliance on Ponting and Hussey to make centuries, whatever happened to Clarke living up to his "so-called" reputation as the best player of spin in Australia.
3) Expecting guys like White and Watson to be world beaters when they haven't had hardly any experience at Test level. Give Watson some time, and you can't replace Shane Warne, the greatest legal spinner ever.
4) The quicks are bowling all over the shop, Lee is not bowling accurately enough and not enough variation from the entire fast bowling group. The fact that Johnson is the leading wicket-taker on 8 is saying something. Need to share the wicket-taking responsibilities throughout each innings. Lee, Clark, Johnson and Watson should aim to take at least 2 wickets every innings and let White and Clarke plus some run-outs to do the rest. Tighter bowling and a bit of reverse swing taught from England's bowling coach of the 2005 Ashes would help also.
5) Always better umpiring would help also...Rudi Koertzen needs ******* glasses. The traditionalists of the game say let the human eye umpire but when they continually **** up a test match, I say goodbye and bring in the technology, at least you know there won't be any mistakes. Ganguly was on 30-something when White had him stumped, if he gets out then Dhoni is the new batsmen with pressure on him to make runs and get the score to near 300. That was a crucial mistake by Koertzen and im glad he and Asad "Mr Trigger Finger" Rauf are no longer officiating in the series, although Billy Bowden is a bit of a loose cannon, but at least he thinks about the appeal before he just sticks his finger up.
Here's my team for the future over the next couple of years...im expecting heat so bring it!
Hayden, Marsh, Ponting, Hussey, Clarke, Watson, Haddin, White, Lee, Johnson, Tait (because im from SA) Phil Hughes from NSW to replace Hayden after next years Ashes series when Hayden retires, at 19 that kid is a gun.
Had my two cents worth, cheers