Are Australia good, or are we appallingly bad? The ball's not even reversing - are we simply unable to play pace and bounce? Diabolical.
They are good but then so were we....we've made them look a hundred times better than they actually are.
I think I'll go with Boycott, Australia aren't very good but we are so bad that we are making them seem world class. I don't know who we have got to replace this lot with but ALL of them should be dropped. Doesn't matter if your bottom of the 2nd Div you can still show some heart and some courage. These players are not showing either and they deserve to be publicly humiliated for it!
It's not JUST the players though Dave (not that I'm excusing their total lack of heart) the major decisions from the very off have all been wrong: Poor preperation, 3 warm up games, one of which was totally rained off and one of which was only 3 days. Not taking Onions as a main strike bowler and not playing the man they took instead (Finn) at all. I mean I can't imagine what clues they might have had that proper quick bowlers can do serious damage in oz *cough* Johnson *cough*. The coaching staff have also allowed the whole KP affair to sour the mood in the team and that's not all KP's fault despite the fact he acts like a cock at times. Guys like Swann, Prior and even JA have been allowed to get too big for their boots and totally lose focus. They also totally failed to spot Trotts issues. The over use of Anderson as a main strike bowler when he has never been suited to the Aussie conditions. Either use him for a really short spell at the start or use him more as a containing bowler and play Finn too. They were worried Finn would get snotted around the park and yet they never reacted to the fact that all our bowlers were getting raped anyway and at least Finn would bring chances. The total failure to deal with the batting problems we've had for 3/4 series now. Moving Root up to three was an almighty mistake....dropping him for this final test just adding insult to injury. They haven't at any point been able to pick the morale up as a team and THAT is their job ultimately. I won't argue against a cull of a lot of these players mate as only a handful deserve to wear the shirt ever again however I suggest that those above them are held accountable as well.
I'm sorry Cook has to go. He has not got the courage to be a Captain. Losing is bad enough, but in this way is unprecedented, especially with the quality of these players. So ****ed off.
It's hard to argue against right now mate but I still think as a young captain (and one who has performed well in the past) he deserves the chance to learn from his mistakes. A lot of these accusations were levelled at Clarke before this series by the aussie press and fans but he's found a way to turn things around. I just think he now needs to surround himself with players who will fight for the shirt and not just for their next central contract, a big fat IPL deal or their bloody ego. I'd keep Cook, Bell, Broad, Stokes and Anderson but that's all. Let Jimmy have the next ashes as his swansong and use him and Bell for the next generation to learn from. Oh and sack the ****ing batting coaches. Shocking stuff and not just in this series either.
A defeat and performance this bad I'm not sure you can recover as a captain. This isn't just a loss, its a record breaking humiliation led from the front.
I know mate...it's grim eh. I look at it as a humiliation led from the top though. For me the coaching staff have got them all (and Cook most of all) into a negative, defensive mindset and they haven't had the nouse to change that. Another one bites the dust...to the ruddy spinner. Jesus H
Feel really sorry for the Ballance & Borthwick who have had to come into this team with confidence at it's lowest, Australia's at it's highest, 50k Australian's loving it in the crowd and trying to save a match to avoid a 5-0 defeat. Then to have to come in with the scores at 23-5 and 112-8 is shocking. Yes, I'm all for giving youth a chance, but give them a proper chance, don't throw them in at the deep end with no armbands ffs! The senior players should have had to go out there and either prove they are good enough or face up to the fact they got us into this position and have to deal with the embarrassment. Anderson's showing that without swing he really doesn't offer an awful lot. The one player than can offer serious pace to rival Harris & Johnson is Finn who hasn't been given a chance. I said before that I didn't think Stokes was good enough at this level with either bat or ball to be a decent all rounder but in the last 2 games he's proven me very wrong. he's probably the only one who can hold his head up high from this test and if he can keep improving and become a genuine all rounder will give us great options and balance to the team going forward.
The Aussies are 311 ahead at the mo,I reckon they will take it up to the 450 ish mark and then get stuck in to Englands openers.
