ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL?

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)

Comments

[Tony]

The second innings against Pakistan in Sydney was none too flash, either. 0/107 to 8/257. Bailed out by Hussey and Kamran Diaz.

[m0nty]

As a selecting group, Hilditch & Co have made no progress at all.

[Tony]

Their progress has not been "profound".

[Tony]

Authentic Asleep At The Wheel.

[Tony]

Alternative Asleep At The Wheel.

[Bruce]

Maybe the selection group is spending a bit more time around here..

[The Old Batsman]

All the batsmen are old, too...

[Lou]

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.

[Russ]

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?

[Tony]

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.

[Big Ramifications]

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.

[Russ]

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.

[TKYCraig]

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.

[Big Ramifications]

"even though I assumed the colours to be roughly as per ODI uniforms"

I feel much shame.

ps: Canary yellow indeed!

[Lou]

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.

[Russ]

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.

[Lou]

I had hopes for North too, especially after Edgbaston but he just appears to be in a funk at the crease now.