Early last year, in response to some doom and glooming from the pundits who predicted Straya were in for lean times, I wrote that despite the retirements of key players, Straya would continue to be relatively strong.
Well, based on the incontrovertible evidence of a solitary ODI, I take it all back: we are fvcked.
The batting, bowling, catching, fielding, running between wickets, captaincy, tactics, ability to respond to opposition tactics, selection policies, overall philosophy are all as bad as at any time since the mid 1980s, possibly worse.
Strangely enough, I give us a good chance of winning in South Africa.
Even stranger, on the back of that, I can't see us winning in England.
But as with all sporting predictions, there's a rider: injury.
Injuries, and other things, have murdered us over the last 12 months.
If we get our bowling sorted out - Clark, Siddle, Johnson, Bollinger, McGain, only one of who played yesterday, chuck in Lee as back-up, Nannes as a wild card, and maybe Krazy - we should make a pretty good fist of it in England.
It is essential we get the batting organised. Ponting and Clarke are the only two certain picks. Idiot Haddin, should be a shoe-in, but his rubbish keeping continues to undermine his ambitious batting. (On Saturday night's guest appearance, the Victorian keeper Wade looks like he can bat.) But they are only three out of six; we seem to be incapable of organising the rest. Who should get the nod out of Michael Hussey, Jaques, Hughes, Marsh, North, Symonds, etc? Unless Hussey can find runs in SA, I would be tempted to go with North, Hughes/Jaques and Marsh.
Whatever the situation with our injuries, rotations and experimentations (that we haven't won a January one day series for four years should mollify excessive criticism) we need to settle on a First XI, because until we do, we will continue to flail and fail like we did yesterday.
Go easy on Marsh - he was lucky to be picked in the OD side, a few good knocks notwithstanding. Very quick to go the axe on Hussey too.
Surely the glaring holes are opening bat and no.6. If we can abandon this silly all-rounder idea then surely it has to be Rogers or a fit Jacques at the top of the batting and North at the bottom.
Current form slump from Hussey notwithstanding, the selectors appear to have forgotten the lesson of the Haydens/Langers/Husseys and even Ponting (who I wonder if people forget was dropped early in his career).
All found sustained success after numerous setbacks and became automatic picks in the side only after they learned their game inside out.
Talk of picking Marsh, who still hasn't demonstrated he's got what it takes to be a successful first-class opening batsman (I'd think he's likelier to eventually settle in the middle order - his name is the only thing that screams opener to me) is, let's say, premature. As for Phil Hughes, spare us!
Meanwhile, in Rogers/Jacques and North you have blokes who have scored buckets of runs for several seasons. Why do we want to pick kids?
As for the bowling, I'm not quite so sure, but injuries are the big story as you point out Tony. If we had all our bowlers fit, I don't think it would be such a difficult task to pick the side - Lee, Johnson, Clark, and Krejza/McGain (I guess) depending on if you want a wrist or finger spinner.
As for the ODIs, the World Cup is all that matters. Plenty of time to experiment in the meantime.
Posted by: Boof | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 02:41 PM
I'd only pick Marsh if he had experienced players around him. Otherwise, a top six comprising Jaques, Rogers, Ponting, Clarke, Hussey (he needs runs) or North, Haddin looks something like the right mix.
McGain is the best spinner.
Experimenting with all-rounders needs to stop. Pick either five batsmen, Haddin, and five bowlers, or six batsmen, Haddin and four bowlers.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 02:50 PM
The facts are that SA are now a class test and OD outfit. They deserve a #1 tag.
Amla's wristy flicks and drives are now all class. Like a quality Indian batsman.
De Villiers has that much needed ingredient of confidence. When he hasn't go it, he's ordinary. The best fielder in world cricket too.
Kallis hasn't dominated but is the best all-rounder going around. His bowling in the test series was underrated.
Duminy has had the best debut tour in memory.
Steyn, barring injury, is going to rank with Donald one day.
Ntini while not a frontliner anymore is a more than decent backup.
Boucher is all you need from a keeper-batsman and a smart cricket who has improved his keeping.
Not to mention the others. I always rated Ashwell Prince too, so depth is not an issue. Let's hope success goes to all their heads like it did the Poms in '05 but I don't think so, as they have been excellent in their handling of victory (as opposed to the Indians).
They should roll us over there. It will be interesting to see what sort of pitches they produce. Last SA series leg was all for the bowlers, with Clark's selection (he apparently only just scraped into the squad) a masterstroke. I predict Steyn will get 20 wickets and Morkel to improve. Hope I'm wrong but can't wait for late Feb. If we struggle or lose to NZ in the ODIs, then that would be a real blow to the psyche.
Would go with Marsh as opener, North at #6. Would pick McGain as spinner and the 2/3 other backups are really tough selections. Nannes could be perfect if the pitches are like last time. Pity the prick went skiing during his 20s....
Posted by: RT | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 03:22 PM
Would you have Katto opening the batting with one of Rogers/Jacques? That's what I meant to advocate.
I like Rogers over Jacques (for purely anti-NSW reasons) and would go:
Katich
Rogers
Ponting
Hussey
Clark
North
Haddin
Johnson
Lee
Clark
Spinner
Posted by: Boof | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 03:22 PM
Sorry, my mistake.
I knew something looked wrong with my side.
Please to include the Kat as an opener and a certain pick.
Your side looks pretty good. I'd go:
Katich
Rogers (Hungry probably won't have had enough cricket.)
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey (just)
North
Haddin
Johnson
Siddle
Clark
McGain
Posted by: Tony Tea | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 03:34 PM
Rich, it's not just the pitches in SA. (I doubt they will make the same mistake again this time after being ambushed last time.) The Englanders will not be charitable.
India took the juice out of their pitches.
SA will take the juice out of their pitches, even if their bowlers suffer a little.
England will take the juice out of their pitches.
The tactic seems to be to prepare slower, deader pitches unsuited to the Aussie seamers.
Bizarrely WE take the juice out of OUR pitches. Channel Nine have a lot to answer for.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 03:45 PM
Just to labour the point about Marsh (who I actually really like as a cricketer, just not yet) here is his first class stat line, per cricinfo:
51 matches
94 innings
13 not out
2755 runs
highest score 166*
average 34.01
strike rate 46.22
100s x 4
50s x 13
That's a fairly big sample size. He's played a fair bit of first class cricket for only modest success.
Posted by: Boof | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 03:55 PM
This comments section is a bit all over the place with ODI sides (and issues) getting mixed up with Test sides. Before I throw my best XIs into the mix, a quick observation from yesterday: we need a wicket taking spinner (in the OD side). There was nearly a seamless handover from Warne to Hogg, but since then we've tried to make do with part-timers. Now I've seen David Hussey bowl tidy spells, and get the odd wicket, but that's been when the batting side is chasing (or attempting to set) a big target. These 30+runs short of a decent target that the Aussies have been setting lately hasn't put the opposing batsmen under the pressure that Hussey needs to for them play false shots. That's why I think we need a proper spinner in the side.
And so for the teams.....
ODI First XI
Marsh
Warner
Ponting
Hussey M
Clarke
Symonds (pending successful brain transplant)/D Hussey if unsuccessful
Haddin
Johnson
Lee
Bracken
Spinner - either McGain or Aaron Heal
I think with Johnson, Lee, Bracken in the lineup our tail end batting is strengthened (in comparison to the woeful Hilf and Potaito), and would be streghtened further if Heal played.
And for the Test XI, my side is the same as Boof's and Tone's. And I concur that Marsh is nowhere near a Test opener at the minute.
Posted by: Hangover Black | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 04:25 PM
To win a series you need BOWLERS not Batsmen.
Tait is injury prone and simply not fit enough for real cricket.
The Ards have figured out Johnson who simply cannot swing the ball.
Clark is good but the ARDS have a much tighter technique these days.
Chariots is honest but that is all.
We do NOT have a spinner.
The Ards have a paki ready by April.
South will swing the ball all day in SA . Lobster can only get better.
Remember it will seam in SA as Clark did that all the time last series.
What about the ARDS spinner. Greatest leftarmer since the King of Spain!!
I will wait to predict on the Ashes until I can see the form of the Pom bowlers
Posted by: The Don has risen | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 05:16 PM
Test XI
Katich
Jaques
Punter
Hughes
Clarke
Henriques or Thornely
Haddin
Siddle
Clark
Bollinger
Bracken
12th Man
Josh Hazlewood
Tour Spinner
Krazy
Posted by: pat | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 09:13 PM
The experiment with allrounders is only shit because there are plenty of real batsman going around who can already bowl as well as the "All-Rounders". D. Hussey, M. Clarke, Katich and Symonds are just as good bowlers as the likes of McDonald, White and Watson.
4 bowlers and a couple of genuine batsman who can roll their arm over to give those 4 a rest, and maybe break a partnership, is all you need.
If 4 bowlers aren't enough then you are bringing the wrong bowlers. Bringing 5 specialist bowlers is ridiculous mostly because 1 of them will only bowl about 10 overs in a test match.
Posted by: Yobbo | Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 09:32 AM
My XI
Katich
Jacques
Ponting
Hussey
Clarke
Symonds
Haddin
Johnson
Lee
Clark
Bracken
Katich and Clarke are the spinners. Katich turns the ball as much as anyone going around and no other spinner that we have tried has been able to do fuck all vs the yarpies anyway, I don't see the point of picking one unless they are expecting a sharply turning track.
Posted by: Yobbo | Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 09:37 AM
Dear blogging friend,
Cricket with balls has now moved, true story.
We are now at http://cricketwithballs.com, so if you could update our address in your blogroll that would be great.
Ofcourse if you already had us down as .com, never mind.
Cheers.
Posted by: jrod | Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 12:10 PM
Clark's out.
Siddle's doubtful.
Sh1t.
Fvck.
Jrod, will do. (By the way, there's a naughty comma in your URL.)
Posted by: Tony Tea | Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 12:27 PM
They should select either Trevor Loughlin's or McDermott's kid as a tour bolter just to give us a flashback to the dire late 70's / 80's halycon daze.
Posted by: RT | Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 12:55 PM
Speaking of which.
Graham Yallop currently on SEN (1:00 to 2:00)
Posted by: Tony Tea | Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 01:09 PM