Aussie selectors are the main problem

[tigersupporter]

remember when the selectors said Ian Harvey was the best closer in the latter overs of a one dayer......how bad was that......maybe the selectors should take a good look at them selves......... Haurits couldnt even get a game with his state side....... and no wonder spinners are not being given a chance. Since Warne retired i have not seen one spin friendly deck in Australia....... cullen and bailey anyone?

[Rotter]

I don't care, the australian test team is finally getting its just deserts.
Whereas in the past the selectors could make horrible selections and get away with it due to the brilliance of a view, with less quality in the line up there are major holes starting to appear, right from game day tactics through to supporting the next generation. We have been hearing about the depth that australian cricket has due to a strong sheffield shield competition, well now is the time to see of the selectors believe this really is the case.
Cricket is a game played above the shoulders and unless someone steps up soon, the likes of south africa and india will take the mantle that the australians have held for so long, and has helped them win many games before a ball is bowled.
and who knows, maybe the windies may even reach some former glories (i can only hope)

You should have started your post with "I don't think" and left it there.

[topsywaldron]

By the way ... I've read your posts .. you have no right to point the finger at people lacking in class.

Where's your standard line in patrician hauteur gone AH? Resorting to name calling is so beneath you.

[rod_rooster]

The selectors are part of the problem. But to say they are the "main" problem nicely absolves the poor batting and bowling by most of our players (once selected) so far this summer. Someone said they are 95% of the problem Come on, the lads have to do better on the field than they have been, regardless of what the selectors are doing.

On Ned's comments (most of which relate to our bowling attack which is in a complete state of flux since McGrath and Warne retired followed by several injuries and retirements):

- I agree Roy was rushed back way too quick. I'd have given Krejza longer. Casson and White were emergency back-ups due to injury and probably will end up with test caps they didn't deserve. I agree on the all-rounder obsession.

- However, Casson's issues since the WI are his own (he's not 10 years old). I think Bollinger, Siddle and Hilf are all so close it wouldn't have mattered what order they were tried in. Geeves in a ODI, who cares? Haydos has done enough over a long period of time to warrant extended selection, there's no rush on Hughes (as I have said elsewhere). Hussey is only barely doing better than him so far this season. Having said that, I am sure the selectors have given him the tap on the shoulder.

Well summed up hondo.

[stan]

Geez guys lets get a little bit more anit australia, christ if you didnt know any better you what have thought OUR national cricket team killed someone. Lets hope the media jump on now and give another good lashing as well, since we dont like to back OUR national team. Instead bitch at it like a bunch of well.........old farts from adelaide.

[cripple]

I do apologise if you think of me as unaustralian for not following ONE of our numeorus national teams or representatives, but you show me someone who supports every single australian in world sport and i might feel a bit ashamed, but it is a bit rich people having a go at me when they hate the likes of hewitt, the poo, mark webber and so on.
I have grown up in an era where the australian cricket team has been the bully boys of world cricket, my favourite player was consistently overlooked for the test team (has quite an impact on a 10-15 year old) and you hear stories of how champion teams of the past really played the game tough but fair such as the invincibles and Lloyds West Indians.
Have often thought about jumping back on the bandwagon many times each year but to me changing your views to fall in with everyone else is the most unaustralian thing i could do. I know everyone isn't going to agree with me and i have copped it for many years, but i have my beliefs and cant wait to see the windies be successful again.

[rod_rooster]

you hear stories of how champion teams of the past really played the game tough but fair such as the invincibles and Lloyds West Indians.

Must make it true then

Seriously if you think the great West Indies sides didn't "bully" opposition teams and mentally and physically intimidate their opponents then you are kiding yourself. Is it in the spirit of the game to bombard opposition batsmen with relentless short pitched bowling? Sure it was within the rules but was it within the spirit of the game? Laws have been changed to stop such tactics being used as it was deemed not within the spirit of the game. Laws were also changed to prevent sides from bowling only 75 overs in a day as happened quite often when the West Indies were at their peak.

What laws have been changed because of the Australians? Sure they sledge a bit but so what. As if Marshall, Holding, Ambrose, Walsh, Roberts, Garner, Lloyd, Richards, Croft etc. etc. didn't get stuck into opposition plays with sledging. The modern media just hi-lights what goes on moreso now. What happened on the field stayed on the field in the past but unfortunately not any more.

Out of interest who was your favourite player who was consistently overlooked?

[Dogwatcher]

you hear stories of how champion teams of the past really played the game tough but fair such as the invincibles and Lloyds West Indians.

Must make it true then

Seriously if you think the great West Indies sides didn't "bully" opposition teams and mentally and physically intimidate their opponents then you are kiding yourself. Is it in the spirit of the game to bombard opposition batsmen with relentless short pitched bowling? Sure it was within the rules but was it within the spirit of the game? Laws have been changed to stop such tactics being used as it was deemed not within the spirit of the game. Laws were also changed to prevent sides from bowling only 75 overs in a day as happened quite often when the West Indies were at their peak.

What laws have been changed because of the Australians? Sure they sledge a bit but so what. As if Marshall, Holding, Ambrose, Walsh, Roberts, Garner, Lloyd, Richards, Croft etc. etc. didn't get stuck into opposition plays with sledging. The modern media just hi-lights what goes on moreso now. What happened on the field stayed on the field in the past but unfortunately not any more.

Out of interest who was your favourite player who was consistently overlooked?

I'm glad someone else said it! I can't believe people look back on the West Indies era with such fondness, like it was a barometer of sportsmanship and fairness.
They were a ferocious fighting unit, who used shock tactics to stun their opponents into a palpable submission. That's why they were so good and so unstoppable.
Lloyd's and Richards' WI teams were as ferociously competitive as Australia's current era.
I'm also pretty certain the words cracker and whitey made a more than occasional appearance on the field during that time too.
And....it makes me laugh every time I hear Mike Holding have a crack at players for not abiding by the umpire's decision - he was a man who kicked out a stump in New Zealand because a decision didn't go his way.

Let's not look back with rose coloured glasses.

[LaughingKookaburra]

How about people open their eyes and realise that world cricket standards accross India,England and South Africa have improved considerably over the past 5 years. I think its highly unfair with some of the comments made considering most people are comparing them to Steve Waughs side which comprimised of Langer,Hayden,Ponting,M.Waugh,S.Waugh,D.Martyn/D.Lehmann,Gilchrist,Warne,Lee/Kasper/Miller,Gillespie,McGrath. FFS theres only 1 team in the history of the game that would go with that side that being the Windies in their prime. Give you a hot tip aswell, You name me an all time legendary team in cricket that was not aggressive and did not push the rules of cricket..... England and Australia in the Body-Line era.... Do you think the Windies attack gave the batsman a friendly time at the crease and also gave them comforting words?? Give me a break, to be the best it's not just about ability, it's about mentally intimidating people aswell to making them doubt their ability against you. Too many do-gooders around imho,harden up.....

[Dogwatcher]

Warwick Armstrong and WG Grace were jolly good sports.
Always played to the rules those two.
Legends of the game too.

[LaughingKookaburra]

Oh lets not forget the Windies played fair and could take it aswell. The 1995 tour where Australia beat them at home for the first time in over 20 years when Ambrose walked down the pitch and eye balled Steve Waugh and then spat the Dummy when someone actually stood up to him "What the f*** you looking at?" was his reply and Ambrose had to be pulled away by Richie Richardson. For the whole tour they were trying to take his head off and he stood up to them and we evidently won the series. Also how much television coverage was around when the invincibles played, absolutly bugger all so how do you know what did and did not go on. Stop being so naieve.....

[Dogwatcher]

BTW - I'm not saying we should be happy about this incidents. Players should be sanctioned if they go too far. However, let's not point the finger at the Aussies as the worst of all time and the rest of the teams ever to have played the game as saints.

[am Bays]

I remember when Crowds rioted over poor decisions in Australia and umpires had to be replaced mid-match by prospective Prime Ministers...

NSW vs Engalnd XI 1871.

if anyone thinks poor behaviour is the exclusive domain of recenet Australian teams you are very much mistaken or mis-informed. Not that it condones that sort of behaviour.

I can't recall a member of an Australian team in teh last 30 years running through an umpire but I can recall a West Indian doing it. Mind you one Australian fast bowler with expertise in the area did offer an local umpire in Saint Kitts a free appraisal on his eyeware....

[Dogwatcher]

Fantastic recollections Tassie.
You weren't there for that riot were you mate?

[am Bays]

Fantastic recollections Tassie.
You weren't there for that riot were you mate?

Mate I started it...

It has to be said if people think gamesmanship, sledging or anything smilar is a recent phenomenum in cricket they need to do a bit of research...

Warwick Armstrong bowling two overs in a row, Bill O'reilly bowling with "waves of hostility"....

[Dogwatcher]

WG replacing the bail "they're not here to see you lad".
The Big Ship sitting in the outfield with a newspaper and lighting a fire to keep warm.
Sunil Gavaskar, a prominent Aussie baiter, attempting to take his batting partner off the field when he got a bad decision.
Ranatunga's gamesmanship against the Aussies.

The list goes on. Look hard enough and you will find examples - that the game was never the same as they tried to tell us it was.

[spell_check]

Off the field as well, there are plenty of reports of misbehaving on the 1893 tour. There was a fight on a train I think, and the walls were splattered with blood. The saying was that the tee-totallers were doing twice the work out on the field covering the drunken players who turned up to play in such a state.

Also, would there ever be a fight at a selectors meeting these days? Peter McAlister trying to super impose himself on the team ended up with himself and Clem Hill in a 20 minute punch up in 1911 (I think).

[LaughingKookaburra]

I reckon he have the idea now. Whilst not being angels of the game the Australians critisism is sometimes unfair. Tall poppy syndrome,shoot people down when they stand tall. Don't like the personal stuff though.
Must say one of the more unusual forms of sledging ive heard but is hillarious was in the mid 90's in an Ashes match in England where Michael Bevan was due to bat. A journo who stayed in the room next to Michael Bevan could hear a 'very loud' female in Bevans room who seemed to be enjoying herself one night after stumps and he then recorded it and gave the tape English keeper. He pressed play when Bevan came to the crease and fair to say he did'nt last long.......
Didnt bat long either

[LaughingKookaburra]

My apologies,the match was in Australia on the 94/5 tour.

[RoosterMarty]

You could have edited that post and there would have been no need to apologise.