Quote:
Originally Posted by adsman
I think we're in for a hard time, unless things in the dressing-room have changed drastically in the last 5 months. My take on the Australian team:
Michael Clarke: His batting aside, not so great. He's only still doing this so history won't mark him as the captain who finished an Ashes failure. If Australia win this series he will retire immediately, mark my words. His back can't handle it any more. His big negative is his poor form as a captain after 6pm. He can't pull this team together in the dressing-room against what the selectors and cricket committee pull behind the scenes. And who the hell releases an Ashes diary of the previous series that occurred not four months ago with all his tactics and inner-most thoughts 2 weeks before the next series? Michael Clarke does. Brain-dead move.
Shane Watson: Clarke's biggest problem. They hate each other with a passion. He is poison in the dressing-room, and no matter his on-field talents, (which are now restircted to his batting and he only managed one decent score in the last series), they can't rise above his disrupting influence.
David Warner: Your grade A moron. A typical mouth breather. Will follow Watson to the end of the earth. Enough said. On a purple patch of form but this was based on a round-robin event with short boundaries and no real pressure. Will not be surprised if he implodes in the vast spaces of the MCG.
Chris Rogers: Will he or won't he? So much pressure now on players to immediately perform. Can't call this one.
Steve Smith: Seems to be above the dressing-room and selector shennanigans. I rate him as a player. The English don't. He's not facing me.
George Bailey: He's come off a phenomanal run of form in a pressure-cooker atmosphere but once again with very small boundaries. I don't know. I think this is his only shot, I'm pretty sure he thinks this too, that's a lot of pressure. Would like him to do a Mike Hussey but not sure if he can.
Brad Haddin: Rock solid. Thank god the selectors brought him back in.
Mitchell Johnson: If he can bowl with some control this time he'll make an impact in what will be his last ever test series for Australia.
Peter Siddle: Freakin Fabulous. He's above politics and into hard work. The best player in the team for me.
Ryan Harris: Another hard worker, deserves to be there, but ... just doesn't have that magic touch.
Nathan Lyon: He's the best that we can do at the moment and that's not saying very much. He will be severly handicapped by the rubbish wickets that Cricket Australia have implemented to their eternal shame.
James Faulkner: If he gets selected for the first test, and he doesn't perform, he's gone. And he knows it. And that's huge pressure. But pretty sure he'll be carrying the drinks.
I agree with most of this although I don't know how you can say Siddle is a better bowler than Harris. Siddle is a good honest toiler at best who will always give 100% but he is not a player who the opposition worry about. If it weren't for a dreadful run of injuries Harris would have been considered Australia's no 1 bowler for the couple of years. The issue has never been about his performance when he plays, it's about his ability to get on the park. When he plays he's a world class test bowler.
Bailey has a first class average of 38. I have no issue with his selection in the test team but it really says a lot about the depth and quality of Australian batting at the moment.
Mitchell Johnson is another stupid selection. If he bowls well he will improve the team slightly, if he bowls poorly he will lose the series for us on his own. It's a 50/50 proposition as to which way it goes.
& don't get me started as to why they thought it was a good idea to bring Haddin back.
I have no issue with Clarke's captaincy, he's prepared to take a risks and often makes the right moves. It seems his captaincy is being unfairly judged as a consequence of the appalling lack of talent in the team he had to lead. In terms of strategic moves (as opposed to leadership) I rate him ahead of Waugh and Ponting who were both overrated largely as a result of captaining one of the most talented teams of all time. I really disliked Clarke before he took on the captaincy but I don't think you can ask for much more than what he has delivered in terms of both his performance and his captaincy since taking over the job.