A loss in one of our major series. For the second time in 5 years. Yes England played well. But we were horrendous (Ponting's own words) Maybe it's time for the young guys to focus on the game rather than their partners and other off-field commitments (Clarke and Johnson...I hope you are listening!)
And the selectors...what were they thinking? They drop Phil Hughes initially when the problem lies in our bowling. They don't take a spinner on a wicket that's obviously turning. What is wrong?
So not only do we lose to the Pommies we also fall down to 4th in the rankings. 4th!!! Never in my whole decade and more of supporting the gold and green have I ever seen such a miserable ranking!
It's back to the drawing board and time to think about where they go from here and how we can regain our No. 1 status. One step I hope is to actually stop them from participating in the IPL and focus more on the country.
Until next time,
Cheers!!!
oh...i loved it...it gives a sadistic pleasure in seeing the aussies loose...i was jumping in brisbane with the victory at oval yesterday....as Lu vincent once said, a pack of mad dogs truly deserve this...
ReplyDeletebut coming back to cricket, dropping hauritz was a blunder specially when he has bowled so well in the series before this test match. Phil hughes, well watson did well, but he didnt bowled much and that was the exact reason he was brought it, to add variety which never came...and also brett lee injury didnt helped too much !
Hey...aussie fan..I am very sorry for you....
ReplyDeleteBeing a fan of england(considering england and aus)..yesterday was really a happy day for me.... England won..and a good farewell to Freddie....
I think clark should note his words before saying..he said "it will be a sad farewell to flintoff".. I think overconfidence has formed like a rock in the heads of aussie...I actually liked aussie a lot.... But these sort of comments without quality makes it annoying... I liked aussie more than India(in cricket) during the days of mark waugh and steve.. during those days only their quality of playing spoke.. now it seems players are more focussed in making noise with their mouth.... Empty vessels make more noise... wishing aussie a better come back.....
hey PB :)
ReplyDeletenice to see your interest here...Oz played bad cricket than England playing good cricket..i mean how can you explain losing to england..Oz are having a bad run, and it all started when dhoni and his men actually gave it back to them the Oz way :D
you are right, the guys should concentrate more on cricket than off the field activities. I miss good old competitive Oz side
I've been so out of the loop with cricket. I wish I was living in country that craved the sport! Boo to being here, lol, Singapore's passion all lies with Football & F1. Bleugh. :P
ReplyDeleteHi Psych
ReplyDeleteAustralia played badly and lost.
England won.
Come on friend, Australia cannot win every series.....
Dont blame on IPL.....remember ENGLAND PLAYERS TOO PLAYED IN THE IPL.
Cheers
Hmmm, I am not. Not because everyone likes to hate Aussies. I have been fan of Pakistan and England from the time I started following Cricket. And England deservedly won after showing a great cricket.
ReplyDeleteI've become apathetic to cricket like I've told you before but yeh I had to watch every match of the Ashes thanks to my bf and man, he is so disappointed too. I've always admired the Aussie cricket team but I agree with you, they were in really poor form this year, especially for a team that has repeatedly claimed the World Champion title. I despise the Indian cricket team because they seem to care more for money and less about the game and it seems Australia's participation in the IPL is having the same effect on Aussie cricket as well. I like seeing Australia one because they always deserve it for how well they play but lately they've just been disappointing.
ReplyDelete@ Hopeless Romantic: What are you doing in Aus again? Oh well, I guess I can understand that kind of sadistic pleasure...I get that every time India lose to any country.
ReplyDelete@ Shankar: I must confess that I did prefer the Aussie team till Gilly was there...there were a lot more gentlemen in the team. But now, they are few and far between. I still love the Aussies but the fighting spirit on field seems to have died a bit.
@ Ani: YEah...I think their lack of competitiveness is what is more disappointing. I wouldn't mind them losing if they fought their arses off.
@ Archana: You're in Singapore? I just always assumed you were in the US! Go figure! :P
@ IP: I do blame the IPL as one of the areas for Aus because I think their players are being lured more by the money and have become less competitive when it comes to their own country. Yes the English too play in the IPL but that's different. I'm focusing on what can change for Aus and I think this should be one or there will be more going the Symonds way.
@ Vee: Oh I agree England played good cricket. England played better cricket when they were good than the Aussies. And we were much worse when we had our down days.
@ Legal Alien: Yeah...this IPL is a bad influence. But can you blame them...I mean, imagine playing for about 3 weeks and getting paid a million dollars! That's a whole lot more money for less work compared to playing for your country. The young guys are going to be disillusioned playing for their country and less likely to fight harder. Sigh. Just my soap box.
"I still love the Aussies but the fighting spirit on field seems to have died a bit."
ReplyDeleteyup...I do agree with that/..because the fighting spirit is elsewhere...I mean making fun of fellow cricketers... and giving comments as i specified before...
Yours is the first blog, I have found that is talking about ashes.
ReplyDeleteAshes rocks and this series [ 1st test to the last one] was a pure cricket series. I love it when Aussies lose, may be typical Indian Mentality to go against the strong, but this time it was a team show by Strauss & Co.
Aussies are no more the best, I guess
@ Shankar: Well, they used to make comments before too (think back to McGrath and Warney). The difference was back then, their playing ability matched the words! :)
ReplyDelete@ Tarun: Welcome. Yep, the series was definitely great for cricket (as were the last two Ashes series). Aussies are no longer the best, but then, regression to the mean is always going to happen if you think about statistics. They have been number one for more than a decade, I guess they had to fall some time. I'm just hoping it's not for too long! :)
For the betterment of cricket, definitely they will come back.
ReplyDeleteThey always rock :)
what has me being in Australia to do with england winning the ashes. I don't see any logic. Just because you are in Australia and you like to see aussie win (and in turn India loose at times) doesn't mean i need to follow your way.
ReplyDeleteIt's being proven over and over again to all cricket fans, that seeing Aussies loose over a game of cricket brings a sadistic pleasure to most of them.
Amit