MadAsHell

TD's steps to repairing Australian cricket. First of all let me say that there's certainly no quick fixes. We can shuffle a few deck chairs around here and there which may help somewhat, but we don't have any magic wand that will fix this quick. We've now lost 6 test matches in a row with 8 more to come against England and then the next 3 after that against South Africa in South Africa before a series against Pakistan in a neutral country, not sure if it will be England or UAE? So repair work both on field and off field will need to be done and here's how I'd attack each starting as of the end of this English leg of the Ashes. ON FIELD: 1. Remove Watson, Warner and Hughes from the Test team and tell them to concerntrate on helping us climb back up the ladder in the shorter formats of the game. These guys would form a reasonably impressive ODI & T20 top 3 so tell them that this is something we want them to ownership of that, at least this way they may still feel somewhat valued. 2. Bring Simon Katich out of retirement, even if it's only until the end of our 2014/15 summer, This guys a proven performer and leader and still has the desire to play. Bat him at 3 or as an openner depending on how Roges form goes for the remainder of this series. 3. Convince Clarke to hand over the captaincy to Simon Katich. He's our best player by a mile and our struggles will be taking it's toll on him. He's to valuable to have this on his mind. We'd be better with Clarke just concerntrating on his batting at either 4 or 5. Katich to become captain and bring George Bailey in as vice captain and we're set. 4. Target a group of players and stick by them. Guys like Usman Khawaja, James Faulkner, Aston Agar should be picked and played and given a proper opportunity. Identify the players with the right temperment, technique and character and give them a run. Try and stop the constant chopping and changing. An XI I'd love to see us go through the home Ashes series with and South African tour with is: Simon Katich* (New captain and proven performer. can bring back some old school agression to the team.) Usman Khawaja (Should be played and given a proper run. Made a very good 50 last night and has the right technique to be a good opener IMO.) Mark Cosgrove (Has been churning the runs out at Shield level for year now. 22 100's, averages 43 in FC cricket and still only 29. Could be another Mike Hussey.) George Bailey (Although only average 38 in FC cricket, is a proven leader and has shown in ODI that he lifts at the higher level.) Michael Clarke (Removed of captains burden and allowed to enjoy his cricket and just concerntrate on becoming the best batsman he can be.) James Faulkner (Allrounder replacement for Watson. Averages 23 with ball, needs to lift his 29 bat average but has a heap of potential and will be a player.) +Brad Haddin (Similar position to Katich. Is valuable given his leadership, will be repalced long term by Paine or Wade.) Ashton Agar (Struggled in his 2nd test but played with injury. Hope they give the kid time, but Fawad will keep the pressure on.) Peter Siddle (Heart and soul player and extremely valuable. Part of our strength in fast bowling.) James Pattinson (Heaps of upside. Will be joined by Pat Cummins soon enough.) Ryan Harris (Injury plagued fast bowler who they should continue to play until his body gives out.) The likes of Pat Cummins, Jackson Bird, Mitchell Starc, Fawad Ahmed, Tim Paine, Alex Doolan & Andrew McDonald would be the next best cabs off the rank in case of injuries or tour duties IMO. OFF FIELD: 1. Currently CA reduced the salary cap for states and made payment for the BBL seperate and players now get paid more for BBL then they do Shield. This must be rectified. The states need 100% of the cap with at least 50% to go towards Shield. 25% max to T20. We need to encourage Test cricketers, not T20 cricketers. 2. Expand the Shield to 9 teams by bringing in the ACT (Manuka Oval), NT (TIO Stadium) and Northern Queensland (Cazaly Stadium). A couple of flat decks in Darwin & Cairns will be good for the basmen to play long innings and bowlers to learn to work hard to get their wickets. Allow all states to sign 2 international players from England/West Indies so there isn't to big a drain on the talent pool, but at the same time this does expose more players to first class cricket which is a good thing. 3. Make the ground staff prepare test match pitches for the Shield matches and not result pitches. If the groundsmen deliberatly go against this, punish them with the less desirable international fixtures avaialble. 4. Block our three formats of the game so players aren't constantly going from one form to another. Have a 4 week block of Domestic One Day games from start of October to early November. 5 Shield matches from early November to mid/late December. BBL from Boxing Day to Australia Day 9I understand the need to have it on during school holidays. Remaining 4 Shield matches (9 teams) semi final and final of Shield from late January to mid March. At least this way there isn't as much chopping and changing. If we were to take this path, soon enough i reckon we could get back to somewhere near where we should be. Sadly at the moment though I reckon we'd struggle against West Indies or New Zealand....

Tea Day 4 England 1st Innings 361 I. Bell 109 R. Harris 5/72 (26) Australia 1st Innings 128 S. Watson 30 G. Swann 5/44 (21.3) England 2nd Innings 7/349dec J. Root 180 P. Siddle 3/65 (21) Australia 2nd Innings 6/136 (Target 583) U. Khawaja 54 J. Root 2/8 (4) Finally looked like we were about to have a good session when 3 wickets in the last 15 minutes before tea killed that! Game over and I'm going to bed. Fingers crossed Haddin & the tail can show some fight and we make at least 183 to get within 400. How sad when that's a goal! Look forward to discussing potential changes to the XI tomorrow.

Well done Usman Khawaja on your 2nd test 50. Knuckled down despite looking all at sea early against Swann and played sensible Test cricket. Now to make your first 100 and bat for another four and a bit sessions...

It would just be as simple as cricket Australia organising one of the states to sign him up overnight and he's eligable as far as I was aware as he's played for Australia within the last 5 years. Neither Ponting or Katicj are currently contracted to a state byt are a county team and there's been talk of them being drafted into the Aussie team. Jaques at least would still potentially have about 3 years in him.

Lunch Day 4 England 1st Innings 361 I. Bell 109 R. Harris 5/72 (26) Australia 1st Innings 128 S. Watson 30 G. Swann 5/44 (21.3) England 2nd Innings 7/349dec J. Root 180 P. Siddle 3/65 (21) Australia 2nd Innings 3/48 (Target 583) S. Watson 20 G. Swann 2/10 (7) Hughes and Watson are looking in the gun and this very well could be all over by tea. The only potential positive is that it gives the likes of Khawaja & Smith an opportunity to try and bat for long periods of time and lock a spot in the XI. Sadly though I don't know if we'll get within 400 runs. The question will then be do we keep chopping and changing the XI, or pick an XI and try and leave them together for as long as possible to try and click?

And this is someone they should consider replacing him with: http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/6060.html Still only 34 so has a few years in him. Averaged 44 in County Cricket in 2012 and scored a century in his most recent county match that only finished the other day. It's also worth remembering that he scored a century in his last test and he's scored 3 in 11 test matches, one more then Watson in his 40+.. Another Brad Hodge who was pushed aside while we instead focused on hacks like Marcus North and Shaun Marsh.....

Stumps on Day 3 England 1st Innings 361 I. Bell 109 J. Bairstow 67 R. Harris 5/72 (26) S. Smith 3/18 (6) Australia 1st Innings 128 S. Watson 30 M. Clarke 28 G. Swann 5/44 (21.3) T. Bresnan 2/28 (7) England 2nd Innings 5/333 J. Root 178* I. Bell 74 P. Siddle 3/65 (21) J. Pattinson 1/42 (20) Disaster! That is all.

Kade Simpson's stats in his first three games for Carlton 0 kicks 0 handballs 0 marks. Toump had a shocker and he knows it. He was also very, very good the week before. I think some people on here need to stop jumping at their own shadows.

Continuing on our theme of our terrible batting line up and potential changes that can be made going forward, below is a list of what I reckon would be the leading contenders from the selectors of batsmen that could be brought in if need be. Some of them have played test cricket already, but to try and compare across an even playing field I've just put up everyones first class averages. I've put in 11 batsmen and 4 all rounders and sadly the stats show how little we have in reserves. Hopefully the list comes up ok? PLAYER AGE MATCHES 50's 100's AVG WKTS AVG (BATSMEN) George Bailey 30 96 30 14 38.29 N/A N/A Jo Burns 23 32 9 5 39.52 N/A N/A Tom Cooper 26 29 10 2 33.47 8 61.00 Mark Cosgrove 29 120 49 22 43.22 40 42.07 Alex Doolan 27 45 16 5 38.66 N/A N/A Callum Ferguson 28 72 25 8 36.05 N/A N/A Nic Maddinson 21 26 6 5 38.29 2 30.00 Shaun Marsh 30 77 25 7 35.77 2 65.50 Jordan Silk 21 5 1 2 42.30 N/A N/A Adam Voges 33 133 45 16 40.61 42 34.64 Matthew Wade 25 67 22 6 39.68 N/A N/A (ALLROUNDERS) James Faulkner 23 36 8 0 29.90 131 22.63 Moises Henriques 26 45 15 1 31.80 85 27.49 Mitch Marsh 21 25 5 1 21.27 36 25.88 Glenn Maxwell 24 18 9 1 37.46 34 33.38 Going through that list of players I reckon the most credentialed player would have to be Mark Cosgrove. Still only 29 and has over 20 first class 100's and nearly 50 50's! We all know about some of his fitness issues, but I tell you what with the state our batting's in, as long as he fits in and helps provide a happy dressing room then surely he'd have to be close to getting a gig on the return leg if we loose 5-0 here!?

Tea on Day 3 England 1st Innings 361 I. Bell 109 J. Bairstow 67 R. Harris 5/72 (26) S. Smith 3/18 (6) Australia 1st Innings 128 S. Watson 30 M. Clarke 28 G. Swann 5/44 (21.3) T. Bresnan 2/28 (7) England 2nd Innings 4/171 J. Root 97* T. Bresnan 38 P. Siddle 3/51 (19) J. Pattinson 1/24 (18) I've said it before and I'll say it again, we've had no luck at all since the tea break on Day 2 of the first test. How the third umpire gave Bell not out for Smith catch off Harris is nothing short of a farce! Can't see us bowling them out within another 15 runs unfortunatly, and the way it's going I can see them looking to set us 550-600 odd to win and we'll need to bat the best part of two days to save the test. Maybe at some point over those two days we can get some luck. And maybe all our players should refuse to walk, even when it's caught down at long on!

Forgot to comment on this bit. You may be onto something there. Wade's first class batting average is better then the likes of Marsh, Doolan, Ferguson, Bailey etc and we've already seen that he can make centuries at this level and knuckle down and bat time when required also, but can explode when need be at the same time. Brendon McCullum's now a specialist batsman with New Zealand, so maybe Wade could become that for Australia. We've got a tour match against Hove I think after this test. If Wade plays and makes runs maybe they'll consider bringing him into the middle order somewhere?

Half the side, not the entire side, and sadly I don't think it's over the top if we were to loose 5-0 after loosing 4-0 in India. Cowan I agree isn't good enough Watson despite his talent has had such an extended run and only has 2 test hundreds and an average in the mid 30's. If on top of that he does cause friction within the team well then he should be let go. Warner has that x factor about him, but one has to question whether he'll ever have the ability to be a consistent test player. It may be worth cutting our losses and letting him concerntrate on the shorter forms. Rogers & Haddin as I mentioned would be stiff to be moved on but it would simply be part of a bigger picture. Hughes & Khawaja as I said because of their age I'd be willing to give them a go as first pair to have a crack as the opening combo but the likes of Maddinson, Silk & Doolan should also be considered there. I'm amazed you rate Shaun Marsh TU. This is a guy in his late 20's who only average around 37 at first class level. If he can't establish himself as a top batsman in Shield cricket I can't see him doing it at international level. As you said Henriques & Maxwell are both project players and will probably be in competition with Mitch Marsh for the long term all rounder role. Reckon Marsh & Maxwell have the inside track due to their younger age but we'll see. Doolan, like Shaun Marsh only averages about 38, however at least he's seems to have averaged over 40 for the last two years, so he seems to be coming into his best. And as has been mentioned, George Bailey shouldn't be discounted as he brings a lot to the table. But for some good news, Australia A knocked off Zimbabwe by 80 runs in their 3 day match. Australia A 1st Innings 226 M. Henriques 71 K. Jarvis 4/54 (16) Zimbabwe 1st Innings 142 M. Waller 25 F. Ahmed 4/54 (11.5) Australia A 2nd Innings 156 A. Doolan 52 E. Chigumbura 4/26 (10) Zimbabwe 2nd Innings 160 (Target 241) H. Masakadza 69 F. Ahmed 4/23 (11) Well done also to Fawad Ahmed who ended with match figures of 8/77 off 22.5 overs. and Pat Cummins who took 4/43 off 19 overs in his comeback.

Certainly is cause for concern. If this series ends up being an England whitewash which is still a possability and something many people predicted then changes should be made and for the start of the Australia leg. There's no point waiting till after the Ashes down here as after that we have a tour of South Africa, then Pakistan at a neutral venue and then a home series against India, so you may as well bite the bullet heading into this coming summer. As others have mentioned, it may be time to cut loose some of our serial under performers who seem to cause issues within the team and say to the likes of Watson & Warner that they're ODI & T20 specialists from now on. On top of that thank some of the older player we brought back for this series like Haddin & Rogers but say we need to move forwards. Bring in Jo Burns to bat at 3, bring George Bailey in as captain to bat at 4, throw Mitch Marsh into the deep end at 6 as an allrounder and bring in Tim Paine a keeper & vice captain. Our bowling line up can pretty much stay the same. That would then just leave the question of openers? Maybe give Hughes & Khawaja first crack at it, but keep a close eye on players like Nic Maddinson, Jordan Silk & Alex Doolan who could come into that role also. Potential Australian XI for the GABBA Test: Phil Hughes/Alex Doolan/Jordan Silk? Usman Khawaja/Nic Maddinson? Jo Burns George Bailey* Michael Clarke Mitch Marsh +Tim Paine Ashton Agar Peter Siddle Ryan Harris Jackson Bird 12th Man: James Pattinson/Pat Cummins/Micthell Starc Edit: Added Silk

Stumps on Day 2 in both matches England 1st Innings 361 I. Bell 109 J. Bairstow 67 R. Harris 5/72 (26) S. Smith 3/18 (6) Australia 1st Innings 128 S. Watson 30 M. Clarke 28 G. Swann 5/44 (21.3) T. Bresnan 2/28 (7) England 2nd Innings 3/31 J. Root 18* A. Cook 8 P. Siddle 3/4 (5) S. Smith 0/1 (1) Well after what looked like a very good start quickly turned to disaster with yet another batting collapse. Watson & Hughes wasting reviews while Rogers didn't use one when he should of and copped a horrible decision. They really should hand over DRS to the 3rd umpire! Will take a very good bowling effort followed by batting effort to pull off a miracle here. I'm hoping we can knock them over for under 190 and chase 420odd which would set a new record. A very long shot, but not totally out of possability! Meanwhile, elsewhere at Stumps on Day 2: Australia A 1st Innings 226 M. Henriques 71 K. Jarvis 4/54 (16) Zimbabwe 1st Innings 142 M. Waller 25 F. Ahmed 4/54 (11.5) Australia A 2nd Innings 156 A. Doolan 52 E. Chigumbura 4/26 (10) Zimbabwe 2nd Innings 4/51 (Target 241) H. Masakadza 35* J. Hazlewood 2/10 (5) Australia A seem to be in control there on what seems to be a pitch that's crumbling! Cummins up to match figures of 4/25 off 14 overs which is fantastic and it's also good to see Fawad Ahmed taking wickets! David Warner made 11 in the 2nd innings to go with his 6 in the first for those of you interested.

Stumps Day 1 in both matches England 7/289 I. Bell 109 J. Bairstow 67 J. Trott 58 S. Smith 3/18 (6) R. Harris 3/43 (20) S. Watson 1/41 (12) & in the other match Australia A 226 M. Henriques 71 G. Maxwell 61 A. Doolan 35 K. Jarvis 4/54 (16) E. Chigumbura 3/42 (11) T. Chatara 2/49 (13.5) Zimbabwe 5/82 M. Waller 19* T. Maruma 16 V. Sibanda 15 P. Cummins 2/6 (6) J. Hazlewood 2/20 (9) F. Ahmed 1/17 (3.3) As I mentioned earleir, it turns out that Siddle no ball when he bowled Bairtow has hurt a bit as he ended up making about another 40 odd runs, however on this wicket if you had of offered us 7/289 at stumps I reckon we'd of taken that as it looks a great batting wicket. Hopefully we can knock them over in the first hour for about 320, bat out the day and most of Day 3, make about 450 with a lead of 130odd and then really put the heat on England late Day 3 and heading into Day 4 as the pitch starts to become more difficult. And good to see the Aussie A team in a reasonable position despite their soso batting performance. Very good to see both Cummins and Fawad Ahmed amongst the wickets especially!

Tea on Day 1 England 4/183 I. Bell 62* J. Trott 58 J. Bairstow 28* R. Harris 3/28 (13) S. Watson 1/22 (7) A. Agar 0/22 (8) Well that no ball by Siddle hurts, if he had of taken that you'd say it's break even, maybe even us slightly ahead, now it's possibly break even with them inching ahead. We need minimum two but hopefully closer to 4 wickets in this final session to finish the day off strong and put us in a good psoition heading into Day 2. England 8/270 sounds ok to me. Meanwhile 6 overs out from stumps Australia A have Zimbabwe at 4/53 Pat Cummins 2/6 (6) Josh Hazlewood 2/20 (9) Fawad Ahmed 0/5 (2) Good to see Cummins take a few wickets and seeing as Zimbabwe are also struggling maybe it's a difficult wicket over there? Anyway I'm turning in with dreams of a big finish in the final session to the Aussies!

Siddle bowling Bairstow just before tea off a no ball makes me want to tear my hair out! On somewhat better news, Cummins has picked up his 2nd wicket to go with Josh Hazlewood, another up and coming pace bowler who's had his injury issues to have Zimbabwe at 4/49.

Pat Cummins takes possibly the first step in his long comeback from injury dismissing Sibanda from Zimbabwe with his 10th ball back!

Australia A bowled out by Zimbabwe for 226! M. Henriques 71 G. Maxwell 61 A. Doolan 35 And as I mentioned above, for those of you interested Dave Warner made 6. Australia A have about 25 overs to bowl at Zimbabwe tonight, so hopefully the likes of Pat Cummins and Fawad Ahmed can take a few wickets to keep some pressure on the lot over in England.

Lunch Day 1 England 3/80 J. Trott 34* I. Bell 23* A. Cook 12 R. Harris 2/21 (9) S. Watson 1/12 (4) A. Agar 0/5 (1) Great first session, especially first hour by the Aussies, with a great bowling change made by Clarke bringing Watson on early. Fingers crossed for another 2 or 3 wickets in the next session at least. Oh and in other news, Australia A 7/205 against Zimbabwe with Warner out for 6! Henriques and Maxwell have saved the 2nd Australian XI from a complete embarasment over there in Africa. Hope for Warner's sake he makes some runs in the 2nd innings or in the next match if he wants his spot back for the 3rd test. Edit: from, not for.

I almost forgot, double the cricket tonigth with Australia A taking on Zimbabwe in a three day mtach kicking off in two hours featuring David Warner & Pat Cummins. Can follow it here: http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/643351.html Hopefully with bat in one and bowl in the other!

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/cricket/ed-cowan-mitchell-starc-axed-for-usman-khawaja-and-ryan-harris-for-second-ashes-test-at-lords/story-fni2usfi-1226681302949 Little paper claiming Cowan & Starc out, Khawaja & Harris in. Personally I would have left Cowan one more test and waited till Warner was avaialble and brought Bird in instead of Starc, but if there's changes are correct, lets hope they work well.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/newzealand/content/current/story/652325.html Quote: "He's obviously still very keen and committed to play for New Zealand". Do I get Jesse back???

Not aware jazza.

What's also of interest is what the make up of Englands team will be for the 2nd test? Two things are very clear about their XI after that first test. Well three if you include that Broad's a [censored]! 1. Steven Finn gives them nothing, and if you look at the amount of overs he bowled compared to the other bowlers, it's aparant that Cook has no confidence in him. 2. They rely on Anderson with the ball about as much as we do Clarke with the bat and he needs more support. So apart from the what you'd think would be obvious change of Finn out for another bowler (both Bresnan & Onions were in their squad for the 1st Test). Will they make a 2nd change and bring ina 5th bowling option probably at the expense of Bairstow who's only averaging 30.23 after 9 tests. Those are Ed Cowan type numbers! When you consider that Tim Bresnan has a batting average of 31.28 and both Broad and Swann are handy with the bat, you could see a situation of Finn & Bairstow out with Bresnan & one of either Onions or Panesar (if they want 2 spinners) in. Would give them an XI of: Cook* Root Trott Pietersen Bell +Prior Bresnan Broad Swann Anderson Onions or Panesar Will be interesting to see....