Aussie bats delivered wake-up call
SELECTION boss Andrew Hilditch has delivered Australia's batsmen a wake-up call, saying they must make major improvements before next summer's revenge mission against England.
He conceded Australia's summer of batting collapses were a concern.
Australia has sealed a series victory against Pakistan, but the euphoria of last week's great escape in Sydney has masked flaws in an increasingly shaky batting order.
"As a bowling group, we've made progress, but as a batting group there is room to improve," Hilditch said.
"We've had batting collapses that we can't afford going into the Ashes.
Australia has been having trouble with collapses for ages. Has it really taken Andrew Hilditch two years to spot the flaws? Or was he out walking... no, that shot's too cheap:
India Perth First innings (212) West Indies Kingston Second innings (167) West Indies Barbados First innings (251) India Chandigarh Second innings (195) India Nagpur Second innings (209) New Zealand Brisbane First innings (214) New Zealand Brisbane Second innings (268) South Africa Melbourne Second innings (247) South Africa Wanderers Second innings (207) South Africa Cape Town First innings (209) England Lords First innings (215) England Edgbaston First innings (263) England The Oval First innings (160) West Indies Perth Second innings (150) Pakistan Melbourne Second innings (8/205d) Pakistan Sydney First innings (127)
The second innings against Pakistan in Sydney was none too flash, either. 0/107 to 8/257. Bailed out by Hussey and Kamran Diaz.
Posted by: Tony | Monday, January 11, 2010 at 02:12 PM
As a selecting group, Hilditch & Co have made no progress at all.
Posted by: m0nty | Monday, January 11, 2010 at 02:13 PM
Their progress has not been "profound".
Posted by: Tony | Monday, January 11, 2010 at 02:15 PM
Authentic Asleep At The Wheel.
Posted by: Tony | Monday, January 11, 2010 at 02:25 PM
Alternative Asleep At The Wheel.
Posted by: Tony | Monday, January 11, 2010 at 02:30 PM
Maybe the selection group is spending a bit more time around here..
Posted by: Bruce | Monday, January 11, 2010 at 05:02 PM
All the batsmen are old, too...
Posted by: The Old Batsman | Monday, January 11, 2010 at 08:18 PM
Why is it that sane fans have been talking about how much the team collapses since BEFORE the Ashes and yet that bunch of dummies have only just cottoned on?
Talking of age, Haddin is hardly likely to become a two dimensional player at this stage of his career, Punter doesn't want to stop pulling regardless of the damage it will cause the team and him, Hussey is getting away with murder because the other teams can't catch and North appears to have become a walking wicket and even with that appearance, his stats are better than Punter's over this summer.
Posted by: Lou | Monday, January 11, 2010 at 09:12 PM
Tony, followed up on this here. The key point being this funky graph.
We aren't collapsing as badly as New Zealand or Pakistan, nor is the batting as poor as Bangladesh or the West Indies. But some of those big totals (Cardiff for example) are hiding an inability to grind out 300 in poor conditions. But what does it mean for players like Clarke? Is he a bad batsman because he doesn't dig in when required, or should we keep him for the good times?
Posted by: Russ | Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 12:46 PM
Thanks for that, Russ. I was in the middle of linking to that post, but you saved me the trouble.
Everyone, go and read it.
Posted by: Tony | Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 01:59 PM
Russ, England is yellow and Australia is... dark green?
I can't find a legend [on either blog]. I even tried that new fangled method of hovering over the lines to try and make a text box appear.
I seem to remember a similar problem here where it was my OS that wasn't picking up the legend, rather than it not being there. So please forgive me in advance if that's the case.
Posted by: Big Ramifications | Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 02:25 PM
thanks Tony.
Sorry Biggy, Legends and me are weak. Even so, cricket colours are fairly standard: Australia is yellow, England dark blue, India Sky blue, South Africa dark green, Sri Lanka sea blue, West Indies maroon, Pakistan light green, Bangladesh turquoise, New Zealand grey.
Posted by: Russ | Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 03:06 PM
Russ... Interesting read, and thanks for the colour update, even though I assumed the colours to be roughly as per ODI uniforms (?) it is good to have that confirmed.
Posted by: TKYCraig | Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 03:26 PM
"even though I assumed the colours to be roughly as per ODI uniforms"
I feel much shame.
ps: Canary yellow indeed!
Posted by: Big Ramifications | Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 03:50 PM
Trouble is Russ, that all the team is for the good times. We need a Paul Collingwood. Never thought I would even think that, let alone write it.
Posted by: Lou | Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 09:58 AM
Lou, yes, but Australia has had players like that. I had hopes for North in that respect, but they have proven to be in vain.
Posted by: Russ | Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 10:35 PM
I had hopes for North too, especially after Edgbaston but he just appears to be in a funk at the crease now.
Posted by: Lou | Thursday, January 14, 2010 at 12:38 AM