There are, a lot to do with Clarke (see M Hussey).
The real problem here though is the Cricket Australia management and the selectors. Pat howard, the “high performance” coach who came from rugby is a disaster, the players have no time for him. John Inverarity, the 94 year old chairman of selectors has also been a disaster, as evidenced by the, ahem, interesting selection policies.
The squad is now an undisciplined rabble, with no leadership and focus. The only positive is that Lehmann will have respect and has done a lot in a very short coaching career to date. He is probably the best appointment, but does he have time? 16 days to go, probably not. If they lose the first series badly, will he get the boot after that? Probably.
When Justin Langer walked as batting coach a few months ago, you could see there were serious issues. Getting him back would be good. I’d like to see Denis Lillee involved as well, he’s been doing some terrific coaching over here for a while now.
Australia have a good attack that will take wickets, but its the top order where the problem is. Haddin will probably start as wk. He will also be vice captain, but also has his issues with Clarke, so it will be interesting to see how that dynamic works. Watson is on a massive sulk at the moment. So the senior players, the ones you’d expect to lead, are not exactly officer material at the moment (as manuel would put it). And theres a lot of players there that need to be led.
Oh, and Clarke’s back is fucked. He may not play all tests and whether he can cope in any remains to be seen.
If Lehmann is chosen as the new coach, it will mean that his racist comments about Sri Lanka in 2002 (?) will have to be looked at again, so it may not be the seamless transition they need and will probably generate even more controversy.
Vaughan and the Cat were on BBC radio 5 live last week talking about the divided camp. How it looked obvious how Clarke wasn’t really connected with the team on the balcony on the day of the last champs trophy match.
Clarke has stepped down as a selector too. That might not be a bad move in terms of removing some friction but they can’t seem to make up their minds whether they want a strong leader or player power or what.
England have named a 14-man squad for the warm up game with Essex and have unsurprisingly left Compton out. Root will open for them and Pietersen is also in the squad. Graham Onions and Boyd Rankin are also included.
Looks almost certain that Compton will be dropped now. Left out of the squad for the warm up game they are playing against Essex, Root will open with Cook and Bairstow will bat at six. Interestingly, Boyd Rankin has been named in the 14, which would seem to indicate he’s not far from the team.
They probably haven’t decided if they want to play all the first choice fast bowlers. Coupled with being named in the squad for the ODIs against NZ, it certainly indicates that he’s in their thoughts though.
Sky Sports 2 has been renamed to Sky Sports Ashes for the summer.
England’s game with Essex started today. None of the top seven scored fifty, KP with 49. Bresnan and Swann saved their blushes somewhat, and they closed on 328/7.
Satisfactory looking workout for the Aussies against Somerset. Watson, Haddin, Hughes and Khawaja all made runs and Starc and Pattinson were in the wickets. They had a devestating spell with the second new ball in the first innings, taking the last eight wickets for next to nothing. Watson will open in the Ashes, that has been confirmed by Lehmann.
Watsons going to open the batting, possibly with Chris Rogers. Hughes being sent up the order, Cowan could be dropped. Things looking slightly more positive. The first test is Trent Bridge? Key is winning that one, as it won’t spin as much as the others.
So it is, so it was and so it ever will be. There’s nothing quite like the first session of a big series.
Confirmed now that Rogers will open alongside Watson. Lehmann hinted that they’ll consider five bowlers in the first Test too. Starc, Siddle, Pattinson and Lyon rested for the next tour game so it looks like they’ll all play anyway. You’d imagine they will go for the extra batsman, especially as Watson should be good for a few overs per innings. So I’m guessing:
Watson
Rogers
Hughes
Clarke
Khawaja
Wade
Haddin
Siddle
Starc
Lyon
Pattinson
Not sure they’d play Wade as a specialist batsman, though he did bat at six in India. Alternatives would be Faulkner if they want another bowler; Smith, Cowan or possibly Warner down the order for another batsman, though I doubt Warner will play the first Test anyway. Hughes or Khawaja couldn’t be sure of their place there either.
[quote=“braz83, post: 795060, member: 390”]So it is, so it was and so it ever will be. There’s nothing quite like the first session of a big series.
Confirmed now that Rogers will open alongside Watson. Lehmann hinted that they’ll consider five bowlers in the first Test too. Starc, Siddle, Pattinson and Lyon rested for the next tour game so it looks like they’ll all play anyway. You’d imagine they will go for the extra batsman, especially as Watson should be good for a few overs per innings. So I’m guessing:
Watson
Rogers
Hughes
Clarke
Khawaja
Wade
Haddin
Siddle
Starc
Lyon
Pattinson
Not sure they’d play Wade as a specialist batsman, though he did bat at six in India. Alternatives would be Faulkner if they want another bowler; Smith, Cowan or possibly Warner down the order for another batsman, though I doubt Warner will play the first Test anyway. Hughes or Khawaja couldn’t be sure of their place there either.[/quote]
Wouldn’t be so sure about Wade or Khawaja. I’d like to see Jackson Bird starting, I think he could take a serious amount of wickets in this series. Clarke’s back seems to be getting better, he’s been fielding unfettered in the last tour match. One more to go before the big show. I am increasingly not as depressed about it, not exactly giddy with hope, but certainly things look a lot more positive.
It’s fucking outrageous for fellas to be slagging off Rugby, The Lions tour, Brittish sport, Colonialism or taking the queens pound and they wax lyrical about this crock of shit rivalry played basically by two sets of people who are virtually the same except one group live in the sun while te others can handle the rain. They are all elitist pompous fucks though at the end if the day.
Notwithstanding the fact this is an unbelievably shit sport.
[quote=“caoimhaoin, post: 795164, member: 273”]It’s fucking outrageous for fellas to be slagging off Rugby, The Lions tour, Brittish sport, Colonialism or taking the queens pound and they wax lyrical about this crock of shit rivalry played basically by two sets of people who are virtually the same except one group live in the sun while te others can handle the rain. They are all elitist pompous fucks though at the end if the day.
Notwithstanding the fact this is an unbelievably shit sport.[/quote]
Kev, don’t be so ignorant. Cricket is a workingmans game and a glorious one at that. My problem with rugby is that its become incredibly tedious in recent years. Cricket is an excellent game to watch, intelligent, tactical, great skill and technique. Something like bowling, which you wouls assume is a fairly straightforward exercise, can be incredibly difficult. You should go along to some local games in WA, I’m sure you’d find it to be a great sport with a wholly egalitarian ethos around it.
