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Australia, they’re f****** finished

By Will last year, at the start of June Add your comment below

Those words came from a colleague today. Not just today, in fact, but through West Indies’ series against Australia. “The Ashes are coming home.”

I am significantly less convinced - though he has good form in picking these things - but heartened, from an English perspective, at the cracks which are widening. With Stuart MacGill’s shove (err, retirement? - ed), Michael Clarke has suddenly been elevated to their principle spinner. Beau Casson, who at certain angles looks well into his 80s, is MacGill’s unofficial replacement - so says Stuart himself - but with 107 wickets @ over 40 apiece, he’s hardly set the domestic scene alight.

Australia have just looked sloppy and off their game this series. Granted, Brett Lee eventually woke up today and blitzed West Indies, but not before a fairly mediocre opening burst, while Mitchell Johnson is accurate but lacks variation, at his own admission. Matthew Hayden, meanwhile, is clearly over the hill…or he would be if his knees would carry him. Their fielding is led by Ponting and Symonds, but the rest are fallible and were outfielded by West Indies in the first Test.

So, Aussies - where are you heading? Are you concerned about the number of star-quality players to have jumped ship in the past 12 months? What of Casson, Johnson and other rising up-and-comers? Defend your Baggy Green!

Related posts:

  1. Is Vaughan’s career finished?
  2. Australia vs Sri Lanka
  3. Are Australia really “twice as good” as last year?
  4. The Ashes urn in Australia (video)
  5. Australia trounce Sri Lanka

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31 Responses to “Australia, they’re f****** finished”

  • Kris wrote:
    June 2nd, 2008 at 10.49 pm

    I think that Australia are weaker than before, but to be honest, where are the ’star’ England players that will turn around the 5-0 result? Ian Bell? Paul Collingwood? Monty? Jimmy Anderson?

    The way that I would look at it is ‘who from the England XI would get in the Aussie XI?’

    Cook
    Hayden
    Ponting
    Hussey
    Clarke
    Symonds
    Haddin
    Lee
    Sidebottom
    Clark
    Panaesar (which probably highlights the dearth of spinners more than Monty’s class.)

    Perhaps you could make a case for replacing Symonds with Pieterson, but it would want to be a good one.

  • Marcus wrote:
    June 2nd, 2008 at 11.57 pm

    About Casson, his overall figures may not make good overall reading, however the figures from last season are pretty good- 9 matches, 29 wickets at 35. Also, last season was really the first time he was given an extended run by the NSW selectors, and he was inconsistently played by the WA selectors before that, so he hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to work into a good rythym. Finally, before Cullen came along Casson was regarded as the most promising young spinner in Australia- and he’s improved since then while Cullen’s gone backwards.

    Besides which, young spinners need to be given a vote of confidence, and all this rubbish about Warne coming back is probably detrimental.

  • CurryCricketer wrote:
    June 3rd, 2008 at 12.37 am

    Take these kids (Cullen, Casson et al.) on a tour of India. Then see how many wickets they can pick up.

    I might live in Australia, but I can’t wait for them to start struggling really bad.
    Your Test bowlers should be the best in the country, no? I doubt the selectors would have the balls to do this, but if the best bowlers we have in our country are all fast bowlers, then why not pick them. Let Clarke and Symonds be the spinners.

  • Cricket: Indian quandry. | The Coach's Box wrote:
    June 3rd, 2008 at 2.00 am

    [...] just my team. Being an Indian supporter, I hope that whatever team is picked, they get smashed by Anil and the boys!! If I didn’t have Uni exams at that time, I’d probably be over [...]

  • Gonzo Cricket wrote:
    June 3rd, 2008 at 2.51 am

    Casson is better than his figures suggest I reckon. I actually got to watch him a fair bit, and he’s got that mystery attribute spinners need to succeed at the international level.

    Things are not that dire.

    Cullen on the other hand doesn’t have it, and I’ve yet to see anything out of him that suggests he’ll ever be an international performer.

    I think Johnson has had his go. If he can’t work out how the hell to bring it back into the right handers bloody soon, he needs to go back to domestic cricket and work it out. You simply can’t cut it at international level by angling it past the right hander all the time. It’s boring, and as he’s shown in this series, if he’s a bit off the mark, he has nothing to fall back on.

    Noffke is a good bet though, as is Doug Bollinger. Both of them are great bowlers, and I can see both of them stepping up to the international level well.

    The one I’ve been a bit surprised about is Hilfenhaus.

    He really lost his golden touch, but if he recovers it, he would fill a much needed gap in the Australian bowling attack, that of the zippy bowler who can swing it both ways on demand.

    Australia has strong bowling stocks. I don’t see that being a problem, particularly with Lee and Clark both looking awesome.

    I still don’t rate Panesar.

    I mean, England have to pick him, as they don’t have much of an option, but I just don’t think he’s ever going to be a smart bowler. He may have the natural ability, but he’s just not smart enough to be a great international spinner. I’d love it if he’d prove me wrong though.

    Australia will be fine. We may not be as dominant as we were, and we’ll lose the odd match here and there, and even the odd series, but I can’t see any other country knocking them off the #1 Test spot for a while.

    Here’s to hoping the next Ashes is closer than the last series though…

  • SpryCorpse wrote:
    June 3rd, 2008 at 4.03 am

    CurryCricketer makes a good point. Pick a spinner if they are going to be able to take wickets.
    If Australia don’t come up with a spinner, other countries will doubtless be serving up pitches that crumble and turn sideways from after lunch on the first day.
    Until a spinner is found the Aussie attack will be the more boring fast- and medium-pace variety.

    For Australia to fall a long way from the top other countries will need to unearth the raw talent to compensate for and overcome the rigour of the Australian system.

  • Steve wrote:
    June 3rd, 2008 at 1.05 pm

    Just keep telling yourselves that Australia is washed up. Build up your little egos, England, like last time, to the point where you think you’ve won before you’ve even got out of the coach. It won’t matter whether Australia haven’t got a spinner or not, because you will be too busy living in your delusions to actually go out and play to win.

    And India - I notice that the stars of the IPL were , wait for it……. the Aussies!. Best coach/player, best player of the series, best batsman. Where were the “new world champions”? Playing slap and tickle and buffing up their egos.

    India are the new England. Except that they never got up there in the first place.

  • CurryCricketer wrote:
    June 3rd, 2008 at 1.22 pm

    Steve, harsh, harsh … but fair.
    But still I know from experience that all Indian fans are a bit dilusional when it comes to where the team stands in the grand scheme of things. If we weren’t, we’d have stopped following them ages back.

  • Philip Oliver wrote:
    June 3rd, 2008 at 4.34 pm

    Steve, surely England’s problem has been an inferiority complex against Australia, not complacency. That was Australia’s downfall in 2005, although they didn’t make the same mistake last time around. No one will be taking the other team lightly next year.

    The Aussies continue to be successful because established players (Ponting, Hayden, Hussey and Lee) make up for the absence of the retired stars. There are admittedly bigger gaps in the bowling attack, with Lee and Clark under pressure to perform.

    It’s strange that it is England who suddenly have a better idea of who their first choice bowling unit will be for 2009.

  • Gonzo Cricket wrote:
    June 3rd, 2008 at 5.36 pm

    England have a better idea who their first choice bowling unit will be because their choices are more limited :)

    There are far more Australian bowlers lurking in domestic cricket who could do a credible job at an international level than there are English county equivalents.

  • Michael wrote:
    June 4th, 2008 at 6.46 am

    Just as we were washed up after our 3-0 drubbing to New Zealand in the mini ODI series prior to the World Cup.

    Giggle. The tabloids, which is what this all is, will read Australia is washed up. Australia responds. I clap.

    Please; do it more.

  • Philip Oliver wrote:
    June 4th, 2008 at 7.57 am

    Fair point Gonzo, although Chris Tremlett, Graham Onions, Charlie Shreck and Simon Jones would be more than credible. They would actually strengthen the current team.

    Doug Bollinger, cenrally contracted and mentioned here as an alternative left armer to Mitchell Johnson, had a terrible time with Worcestershire last year - the jury is out as to whether he can transfer his impressive NSW form to English conditions.

    Australia had McGrath, Warne and Lee in 2005 and had to carry one bowler, now they only have Clark and Lee established. Nothing to do with the team being washed up, but surely the bowling attack is weaker now?

  • Hammy wrote:
    June 4th, 2008 at 2.29 pm

    It’s called a suckerpunch. Look out for it, England.

  • AS Gill wrote:
    June 5th, 2008 at 8.44 am

    Steve:It’s allright for you to gloat over australia’s great success in the IPL.But wait , did the current australian cricket team players do well there??
    Oh nooo…
    Thats right, shane warne finished at the top with his team , another aussie adam gilchrist finished at the bottom with his team.Watson,marsh, weren’t in your team.Ponting failed,hussey had 1 good performance failed every othertime etc etc.Not to mention all the coaches are aussie anywayz so the odds are easy there aren’t they??Every indian player has done well in their roles.Note that the top batsman were mostly openers in 20-20.You get 10 balls to bat, how many runs are you going to make??India had 2 openers from the current team who played most matches, sehwag and gambhir.Smashed ever1 around.
    Considering batting,bowling,fielding,keeping and captaincy these are the best players of the IPL:

    Watson,jayasuriya,Yusuf pathan,warne,sehwag,yuvraj,marsh,tanvir,Irfan pathan,gambhir,Dhoni,Chawla,Morkel,Rohit Sharma,Pollock,maharoof,Ganguly,bravo,gilchrist,sangakkara in that order.
    Best batsmen list:
    Jayasuriya,Marsh,Yusuf pathan,sehwag,gambhir,R Sharma,Gilchrist,Watson,sangakkara,Smith,Dhoni,Yuvraj,Raina,Dravid,Ganguly,Dhawan,Venugopal Rao,D Hussey,Uthappa , again in that order.
    Best bowlers list:
    Tanvir,Sreesanth,warne,I Pathan,Chawla,McGrath,Gony,Watson,RP Singh,Pollock,Maharoof,YoMahesh,Nehra,Z Khan,Steyn,Morkel,Gul,Ojha,Trivedi,M Patel.

    Now you do the counting and tell me if indians haven’t done well.every member of the current indian t-20 , or ODI side has done as well as he could under the conditions.

  • AS Gill wrote:
    June 5th, 2008 at 8.53 am

    Secondly , I’m offended at comparison of england with india or the reverse.When was the last time england beat india??I think it was 12-13 years ago.

    If any1 disagrees with hayden being the no1 batsman in world cricket in any form of the game, I refuse to take them seriously.
    Guyz who’ve watched the Aus-windies series tell me the umpires are helping australia out again.Hardly a surprise.

    England wins 1 test series against australia.Prior and after to that series they get thrashed 5-0,4-1 again and again.
    Graeme Smith is a player I have immense respect for.Listening to him the a week ago he said they had a tour of england coming up.Against Dale steyn,Morne morkel,Makhaya ntini, in english bowling conditions, the english batsman face an impossible task.Maybe the media there should be focussing on that series.
    2-1 india is my prediction for the ind-aus series in the winter.As for the ashes,3-0 or 4-0 to aus.They don’t need a spinner to win in england.Stuart Clark and Lee will bowl them out.

  • Marcus wrote:
    June 5th, 2008 at 10.43 am

    Just saw CricInfo’s XI of the IPL:

    Marsh, Jayasuriya, Gambhir, Sangakara, Watson, Y. Pathan, R. Sharma, Maharoof, Tanvir, Warne, McGrath.

    Nice to see that it’s not just the big hitters doing well- Marsh, Gambhir and Sharma all look like real quality, and are living proof that batsmen can suceed in f-c and T20 without changing their techniques. Plus, I get the impression that all the bowlers suceeded by bowling full and straight, or on a good line and length, as bowlers are meant to.

  • Dicko wrote:
    June 5th, 2008 at 2.13 pm

    Reckon it’ll be closer than the last one but that’s only because England by definition can’t do any worse!

    The Aussie batting line up to a man is light years ahead of the English one. England’s two best batsmen in Collingwood and Pietersen wouldn’t get a look in in the middle order of the Aussie side.

    The fast bowlers Aus has got are miles ahead of the English in both pace and bounce. You’ve got THE quick in the world at the moment in B Lee (went through the Windies on a flat deck) and the clone of McGrath in Clark. Following you’ve got an embarrassment of riches in Johnson, Bollinger, Hillfenaus, Noftke (who can bat), Watson (he’s gone through the IPL without injury) and don’t forget the slightly nippy swing bowler S Tait!

    The ONLY worry is with the spinner - which could well bite us in India - but Casson may well come through with the goods. Regardless - in England we could win the Ashes with a 4 frontline quick bowling lineup and the two part-time spinners of Clarke and Symonds as swing is more important than spin in the UK.

    While I agree that England at home is always a difficult proposition - as long as we don’t have any McGrath vs cricket ball incidents we should be fine.

    My pick - 3-1 to Aus with one match drawn (rain).

  • James wrote:
    June 7th, 2008 at 7.14 am

    Don’t know about finished, but definitely weaker. I think the period of serious dominance is ending, but we’re still primus inter pares.

  • andrew schulz wrote:
    June 7th, 2008 at 10.26 am

    Primus inter pares? I think Australia is still a large gap better then that, and until another side can produce win/loss stats half as good over an extended period, will remain so. A couple comments in the original piece are quite baffling, and suggest you haven’t been watching much. Hayden over the hill? Hundreds in his last 3 Tests against the strongest opposition, and leading run-scorer at both world cup and 20/20 world whatever. And Johnson accurate but lacking variation? What do readers think of that?

  • AadityaVeer Singh Gill wrote:
    June 9th, 2008 at 4.28 pm

    Home conditions are important here.England will have to come up with conditions that would not suit australia ie.slow non-seaming tracks.
    To the aussies:
    You didn’t win in india last time around because of your spinners/spinner(Warne).Pathan(who couldn’t bat then) ,zahher khan and the tailenders were smacking him for 6’s.It was tight straight bowling on the stumps with lots of legside fielders(inside and outside the 30 yard circle) that bottled up india and resulted in your win at bangalore.
    Nagpur was won because of the australian pitch that was served up there.It’s common for curators in india to make aussie wickets to get recognition.Sadly when their state is playing against another iin the domestic tournaments , they make dustbowls.
    You had a very lucky break in chennai where the last days play was washed out.
    Mumbai, india won because it was an indian wicket.Australia was comprehensively thrashed there.
    Unfortunately though for india they will have to contend with no home advantage this winter when they play against australia.Simplay because —any pitch that turns will invite the wrath of the ICC.
    A test match between india and south africa in kanpur got over in the 4rth day.Like the test at perth which india won.Or like the match at durban in the 90’s when india made 66 and 100 in their 2 innings.Even though 1st innings scores were 300+ it was categorised a bad pitch.
    Smith,boucher,even ponting had stated that there was nothn wrong.They also said they’d do the same to gain out of the home conditions.ICC had sent a warning letter to the BCCI.Hence australians should breath easy as they’ll not get any turning tracks to play on in india.Also It’ll be winter in india and the pitches won’t break up.they get a match at my hometown mohali,which is 1 of the fastest pitches in the world and very unsurprisingly the curator daljit singh has earned enough brownie points to become the chief curator.You’ll have no excuses when you lose this time.Or maybe bucknor could spray himself white and officiate in disguise??It’s funny how umpires don’t like giving symonds out isn’t it??Their love for him continues.

    To the English:
    England can have swinging conditions for there swing bowlers,get reverse swing(of course they could never tamper with the ball) but when it comes to india,its a different story.
    So clearly, if england want to win against SA,( forget the ashes for the moment)they need to negate morkel,steyn and ntini.Later clark,lee and johnson.If bounce is low, and the pitches are slow than england have a chance.

  • krusty wrote:
    June 10th, 2008 at 12.41 am

    Gill - I’ve never seen so many contradictions in one post. You say Oz will have no excuses but then hedge your bets by making a whole heap of excuses for the Indians. Then you follow with the usual spray against poor old Bucknor, why bring him up? And with racial connotations. Maybe you should keep your posts short, you seem to lose your way during your extended rants.

  • Ashwin wrote:
    June 11th, 2008 at 6.06 am

    Krusty, I’ve simply go to back Gill on the point of Bucknor. He has been a disaster to the Indian cricket team, period. I do not exaggerate when I say he cost us the 2003-04 series in Australia (drawn 1-1) because he was pathetic in the 4th and last test where India could easily have gone up 2-1. He seems to follow India around like a miserable headache.

    Back to the main topic at hand though - Australia are far from finished. Their biggest test prior to the Ashes will be their tour to India - if they win that (I hope they don’t), then England is going to get walloped in the Ashes. If they draw, they’ll probably drop a test in the Ashes, but still win. But if they lose in India - I think England has a shot.

    My predictions:

    Oz tour of India: 2-1 to India
    Ashes: Oz 3, England 1

  • krusty wrote:
    June 12th, 2008 at 2.26 am

    I’d say you’re spot on with the Ashes prediction, and though I hate to say it, probably right with the India series as well. I think Australia’s current inability to decisively finish a match is hurting them at the moment.

  • James wrote:
    June 12th, 2008 at 10.12 am

    I think krusty is right. Running through twenty wickets is becoming more of an issue.

    andrew schultz, your suggested measure (matching Australia’s record over an extended period) is a bit past-heavy for me. I don’t think anyone else is going to leap in front of Australia, but I can’t see us racking up big series wins with our current bowling attack. Damn shame Hilfenhaus didn’t come on this last domestic season.

  • AadityaVeer Singh Gill wrote:
    June 17th, 2008 at 6.48 am

    Krusty:
    The vast areas of your ignorance are yet to be mapped.
    What excuses are you talking about??I stated there would be no excuses left for the australian team to give and they can expect the pitches to not turn much.I also see you agree with a 2-1 win for india.I stated that in my post too.
    Give me a specific point in my post that you didn’t agree with and then post your views on it , if you have the ability of course.Considering your inability to comprehend simple stuff like pitches,turn etc ..,I don’t give you much of a chance.
    There was nothn racist either.
    You don’t have anything worthwhile in your post, I wouldn’t have read it if you hadn’t mentioned my name there.
    Since your IQ is equivalent to a 3 year old dog & you have trouble with long posts,let me make it simple for you.
    You’re a modest little person with much to be modest about.You have all the characteristics of a dog ,except loyalty.Clearly, you spend way too much time in darkened rooms in front of your seven-year-old computer turning a whiter shade of pale. Go outside once in a while and breathe, before your brain starts to rot from all that festering stagnation and cognitive dysfunction.
    You would be out of your depth in a parking lot puddle.You are a bore, and a very dull one at that.

    In conclusion, as your clue meter is reading zero, lets see if this registers: Get lost, creep!

  • krusty wrote:
    June 17th, 2008 at 10.02 am

    Wow. Touched a nerve there methinks. I’m amazed you can know so much about me from a few sentences. I don’t have trouble with long posts, just psychotic rantings like yours. Damn you people are touchy.

  • Will wrote:
    June 17th, 2008 at 8.33 pm

    Come on, children. At least pretend to be civil.

  • krusty wrote:
    June 18th, 2008 at 1.52 am

    Some are Will.

  • AadityaVeer Singh Gill wrote:
    June 18th, 2008 at 5.49 am

    krusty:
    If you can’t read coherently ,not my problem boy.
    The trouble with you is that you lack the power of conversation but not the power of speech.
    Have you ever held a bat in your life boy.Continue to ride on your special needs tricycle and enjoy your existence.

  • Marcus wrote:
    June 18th, 2008 at 8.17 am

    You really are as malignant as a wasp, aren’t you? Every differing opinion offends you- if anyone doesn’t like the IPL, they’re “racially insecure,” if any Indian disagrees with you they’re not really Indian at all, and if anyone voices opposition to something you say, it’s carte-blanch to launch personal attacks- as you just did to Krusty! If anyone critcises the Indian team or the Indian board it’s not just an insult to you, it’s an insult to the entire Indian people. If you’re going to be so easily offended and turn so nasty every time you enter a discussion, maybe you should just stop visiting the site. I bet it’d do your blood pressure the world of good.

    I’m eagerly awaiting your response.

  • Will wrote:
    June 19th, 2008 at 2.21 am

    Sorry guys, but this is boring me senseless. I love reading everyone’s comments here (all 70,000 and counting) but when it descends into a schoolyard battle for point-scoring, bordering on racism, it gets a bit tedious. This is sport - try and take a step backwards every now and then!


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