Is this the worst ever Australian Test team?

[Zeshan547]

I really think so, i mean it's hard to believe that at some point in past they could have been even worse than this, this is basically a team of two batsman two fast bowlers and 7 jokes. [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] and [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] would like to know your thoughts on this, as you both have best historical knowledge on cricket. As for as i think it's really a new low for Aussies test team.

 

[szrana007]

Nah, the one from 1984-1988 was the worst.

 

[aloo paratha]

Home was the only place they could win, seem to be losing that as well, really shows the "quality" of cricket they play.

 

[Bilal7]

I really hope Burns, Marsh brothers, Voges, Mennie, Lyon and Wade play in the series against Pakistan. Every single one of these is a passenger.

 

[Rayyman]

I really hope Burns, Marsh brothers, Voges, Mennie, Lyon and Wade play in the series against Pakistan. Every single one of these is a passenger.

Yup. Khawaja is good tho. Wanna see Sarfraz speak Urdu to him.

 

[Zeshan547]

Nah, the one from 1984-1988 was the worst.

how they were worse? Are you just going by rankings or was they really worse than this joke of a team even at home? Did they carried only 4 good to decent player and seven or so passengers in that era?

 

[MMHS]

I think, it is, when it comes to Test cricket.

For 3 reasons -

1. That AUS side in mid 80s looked so poor because they were up against some of the best teams ever. I think, ENG was decent, while IND had a tremendous batting & a great all-rounder. But, apart from that NZ had easily their best team ever, PAK was a great side & not to mention Lloyd's WI. Still, that side had some telling success like beating WI twice at SCG (they out did them in Spin friendly condition!!!!!), tied a Test in IND (& drew the Series 0-0), Managed to save 2 Tests (or 3?) against WI, in WI. They almost won a Test at Lahore (to tie the series 1-1), deprived by bad light. That AUS side of Chappells, Lillee, Marsh & few others was so good in between 1970 to 1983, that once those stalwarts retired, expectation was higher for a new team - probably performance wasn't that bad.

2. There was ray of hope. After PAK series (Jan '84), Lillee, Marsh, Chappell & Yellop retired while few senior players went to rebel tour. Then there was the melt down of Kim Hughes, which led to a start from scratch under Border. That young AUS side did struggle, but there were some outstanding U25 players in that new team & in their FC system - Steve (later Mark), Deano, Boon, Marsh, Valleta, Phillips, Taylor, Ritchie, McDermott, Reid, Hughes, Lawson, Whitney .....above all, they had a tremendous character at his prime - AR Border. Bobby Simpson was given the task to fix that young team with Border - the core was there, they just kept them focused. Also, that young team had character on not to throw the towel - for example, Deano batted for 11 hours in scorching sun at Chennai, vomiting blood (he lost 11 lbs), Boon batted for 10 hours against WI throwing everything to his body, McDermott running for 60 overs, once one of his bowling partner got injured. I am a bit disappointed with the attitude of current lot - stubbornness & die hard fight is the core of AUS cricket, this teams seriously lag in character.

3. This is hypothetical - temporary slump is not new to AUS cricket, in fact any team. Once, a great team is formed, it's always followed by a generation gap. But, AUS had the best domestic system, passion & pride for the game, a legacy that brought the best talents to Cricket & the wound was healed in quick time. I am not sure, if AUS will be able to make up this time so quickly & strongly, if ever. Their domestic system has shifted from it's core, which is the base of grooming quality cricket - FC system & diversity of playing surface/condition.

 

[LegendAli]

Yeah, Aus team is bad but don't give credit to SA for being the much superior team.

This same Aus team would have beat England in England but heh they lost at home to SA so all the sudden they must be the worst team ever.

 

[Rayyman]

Yeah, Aus team is bad but don't give credit to SA for being the much superior team.

This same Aus team would have beat England in England but heh they lost at home to SA so all the sudden they must be the worst team ever.

England are crazy strong right now. No way Aussies can beat them at home.

 

[msb314]

This current team has some potential with the likes of Warner, Khawaja and Smith all being top players.

Agree there are too many passeners in the side. Voges has to go as does Burns.

Bailey deserves a recall to the Test squad as do the Marsh brothers. I wouldn't mind trying out Finch as a test opener with Warner - maybe just replicating their ODI squad for tests is not such a bad idea given the state of their team.

 

[Sachin136]

I really hope Burns, Marsh brothers, Voges, Mennie, Lyon and Wade play in the series against Pakistan. Every single one of these is a passenger.

Shaun Marsh and Lyon are far from being passengers, and Voges will still score plenty of runs at home despite his age.

 

[soso_killer]

Woah let's not get carried away. Australia hadn't lost a match at home since SA last beat them in 2012. That is 4 straight years without losing a Test never mind a series.
Let's wait until Pakistan tours this summer, only then can we make any conclusions.

 

[The_KING]

This current team has some potential with the likes of Warner, Khawaja and Smith all being top players.

Agree there are too many passeners in the side. Voges has to go as does Burns.

Bailey deserves a recall to the Test squad as do the Marsh brothers. I wouldn't mind trying out Finch as a test opener with Warner - maybe just replicating their ODI squad for tests is not such a bad idea given the state of their team.

In no way is Khawaja a top player. He is the biggest passengers in their team.

 

[soso_killer]

England are crazy strong right now. No way Aussies can beat them at home.

England lost 5-0 in Australia last time around while SA ran away with the series.
England are strong, but not "crazy strong". Drew a series in the Windies, drew at home to Pakistan which SA and Australia won't allow. And drew a series in Bangladesh as well, almost lost the first Test too.
That's not crazy strong in my eyes.

 

[Rayyman]

Compared to other teams they are. 1. India 2. Pakistan 3. England
Aussies aren't even Top 4 atm.

 

[anuk]

Woah let's not get carried away. Australia hadn't lost a match at home since SA last beat them in 2012. That is 4 straight years without losing a Test never mind a series.
Let's wait until Pakistan tours this summer, only then can we make any conclusions.

true people are overreacting because of how strong australia usually are. nobody would bat an eyelid if pakistan or india lost 5-6 test matches in a row other than their own fans.

 

[anuk]

is it time to bring watto back??

 

[Zeshan547]

No it's not just the defeat it's the manner of defeat and totally surrender which make you think this team as the worst, the don't have an ounce of fight back, past Oz teams regardless of their skill level never surrendered so easily like this.

 

[Pantani]

The problem with this side is there are a total of five players who literally do all the runscoring and all the wicket taking - Warner, Smith and Khawaja; and Starc and Hazlewood, respectively. The other six might as well be cardboard cutouts.

Burns, Voges and Ferguson made, out of six innings between them, seven runs this test match. Seven! They could have picked three 18 year old number 11 batsmen who would have contributed as much, if not more. You could have had a middle order consisting of Chris Martin, Courtney Walsh, and Glenn McGrath, and that trio might have scored more than the seven runs managed by Burns, Voges and Ferguson in this test match. It's just inexcusable. And the ways they got out too, in the second innings in particular, was just shocking. Burns flicking at one down legside in the first over when you trail by 241 is a bad decision, luck or no luck. Voges played the worst shot I have ever seen, and Ferguson took his eyes off the ball. Just totally amateur stuff. Glenn McGrath would have batted better.

So basically where Australia need to go from here is throw in three teenage batsmen, because they couldn't do any worse, and if you pick them young they might come good in future. It's clearly, evidently, and irrefutably no point in picking late 20s, early 30s Shield journeymen, because not one of them in the past 10 or 15 years except for Mike Hussey has ever come good for any prolonged period.

Then add Pattinson to the attack when he's recovered, giving a third wicket taking bowler to the side and lessening the workload on Starc and Hazlewood.

Then find a keeper who can bat, and a spinner.

 

[Pantani]

It's clearly, evidently, and irrefutably no point in picking late 20s, early 30s Shield journeymen, because not one of them in the past 10 or 15 years except for Mike Hussey has ever come good for any prolonged period.

Correction:

It's clearly, evidently, and irrefutably no point in picking late 20s, early 30s Shield journeymen, because not one of them in the past 10 or 15 years except for Mike Hussey, Ryan Harris, Stuart Clark and Chris Rogers have ever come good for any prolonged period. Four players in fifteen years, out of however many dozens have been tried, is an awful strike rate and Australia obviously need to take a whole new approach since this one has proven to be an utter failure.

 

[Protea Fan]

They still got two absolute guns in Starc and Haze, two top class bats in Warner and Smith. Khawaja and marsh are decent so not that bad imo

 

[msb314]

In no way is Khawaja a top player. He is the biggest passengers in their team.

Meh did decently today.

Not world class like Smith but is one of their better players.

 

[Pantani]

They still got two absolute guns in Starc and Haze, two top class bats in Warner and Smith. Khawaja and marsh are decent so not that bad imo

Marsh is a handy bench player for right now I think. He's gotten too long a run on potential alone and I think dropping him for some time until he shows he's got more than just potential is a fair call to make. Everybody who gets picked as a young player gets dropped, and those who fight their way back in later on in their careers usually have what it takes.

Main priority: three batsmen
Second priority: wicket keeper who can bat
Third priority: spinner

With Pattinson coming in for Mennie/Siddle/whoever's the third seamer, fast bowling should not be a department of concern for Australia. It's also alright for Lyon to continue as the incumbent because he's not all that bad, just having a period of poor form and Australia can afford to ride it out until a better spinner makes his presence known, so finding a new spinner is the lowest priority.

What they need desperately are some batsmen who can at least hang around. This current situation of three out, all out is untenable. Who knows, maybe even Lyon, Siddle or whoever can step up and support Starc and Hazlewood if the batsmen put runs on the board and they have some scoreboard pressure to work with. If you are consistently getting bowled out for scores that are two or three hundred runs below par, you need an attack of four ATGs to stay in the game.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Australian tail starts with Voges who bats at #5 and this is the most worrying thing.

They are clearly missing an experienced middle order batsman like Clarke.

 

[Buffet]

We will find out when Pakistan tours there.

 

[Kakar]

Burns and Mennie are the real weak links in the side from last test. Others are just underperforming. They need Bird in the team. Starc, Hazlewood and Bird would be a pretty good pace attack.

 

[f.b.m]

Good that they chose Mennie over Jackson Bird. His batting made all the difference in this game.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Their selectors are worse than Pakistan's, without a doubt.

 

[Nil Dhumrojal]

From 90s YES this is the worse team. Don't know about previous teams a lot to tell.

 

[Zeshan547]

If pak can't beat this hapless team then they may never ever win a test series in Oz. Because you can't ask for any better chance than this.

 

[Dark Magician]

Shouldn't you guys be blaming their selectors as well? Who selected Mennie? Lyon is average yet Steve O'Keefe is dominating domestic cricket. Not only that, khawaja should have been opening and not Burns. As for the Mitchell Marsh experiment it's proven to be based on idiotic logic.

My opinion, fire the selectors first and then get the best performing young players like Patterson in the side. Guys like O'Keefe should be in there and ffs quit with this allrounder rubbish. Marsh is not an all-rounder! 6 batsmen and 4 bowlers with a keeper that can actually bat. That should be the plan. Starc, Haze and Pattinson or Bird as the 3 fastbowlers.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Shouldn't you guys be blaming their selectors as well? Who selected Mennie? Lyon is average yet Steve O'Keefe is dominating domestic cricket. Not only that, khawaja should have been opening and not Burns. As for the Mitchell Marsh experiment it's proven to be based on idiotic logic.

My opinion, fire the selectors first and then get the best performing young players like Patterson in the side. Guys like O'Keefe should be in there and ffs quit with this allrounder rubbish. Marsh is not an all-rounder! 6 batsmen and 4 bowlers with a keeper that can actually bat. That should be the plan. Starc, Haze and Pattinson or Bird as the 3 fastbowlers.

Behrendorff should be the 3rd bowler if Pattinson is injured.

Handscomb and Bancroft in for Voges and Burns.

 

[Suleiman]

I hope we can take revenge for UAE 2002, where they crushed our weakest test team ever and started our decline in international cricket.

 

[Robert]

Nah, the one from 1984-1988 was the worst.

But they had Border and Lawson, with Dean Jones, Boon and Waugh emerging.

 

[Slog]

Prolly yes.

People always talk about the 80s team and yes they were poor but they were up against WI, Pak sides which are among the top sides of all time as well as NZ's greatest side. Ind were great at home.

 

[Hasan123]

2010/2011 Aussies side that faced England was pretty bad and was called worst Australian team as well. But current team is bad barring a few players

 

[Ab Fan]

SA team are themselves pretty weak with hardly any experience.

Australia's batting line up is pretty mediocre to be honest..

Smith isn't inspiring as a leader either.

 

[OS_89]

80's Australia was most definitely worse. Most of the decade it was Border alone scoring runs and the rest folding pathetically.

 

[Amjid Javed]

The team of the mid 80s was a really poor one but if the current team continues on like they are they will probably end up ranking along side them. The batting as unit looks pathetically bad.. and i feel sorry for the bowlers who are pretty good.

 

[Abdullah719]

A few changes and suddenly they're looking a lot better. If they can somehow get another win in India, it will be massive though imo they've already surpassed expectations.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

2nd win was there for the taking. Couple of unlucky dismissals and Rahane/Pujara partnership did it for them.

What I wanna see is if they can match India's batting prowess on an honest pitch which offers a bit.

 

[Chrish]

Far from it..

 

[Sadevdesai]

You can only decide that after the Series is over !!!

 

[f.b.m]

*Bump*

For anyone who think that the current Australian team is the worst, just remember that the ATG Joe Mennie played a test match for Australia.

 

[Aman]

This is most pathetic Australian team I've seen in my lifetime.

Old Aus teams never surrendering even when undermanned and out skilled, they fought.

This team has rolled over with no fight.

 

[Sachin136]

This is most pathetic Australian team I've seen in my lifetime.

Old Aus teams never surrendering even when undermanned and out skilled, they fought.

This team has rolled over with no fight.

How do you determine if someone is trying to fight back or not (when they simply aren't good enough)?

 

[Aman]

How do you determine if someone is trying to fight back or not (when they simply aren't good enough)?

Have you watched this series?

India have toyed with this lot, most of the batsmen do not look like the belong at this level.

If they can't score runs on these wickets, what are they going to do overseas?

 

[Sachin136]

Have you watched this series?

India have toyed with this lot, most of the batsmen do not look like the belong at this level.

If they can't score runs on these wickets, what are they going to do overseas?

Yes, that's because they're not good enough compared to India. But how can you tell that they're not trying to fight back? Unless you can read their minds, I'm not sure how you know that they're surrendering.

This is the same team that batted out a draw in the UAE.

 

[Cuts_and_cuts_hard]

This team is not worse than late 70s/world series era Australia.

The batting is terrible but the bowling lineup is world class.

 

[Dr_Bassim]

Have you watched this series?

India have toyed with this lot, most of the batsmen do not look like the belong at this level.

If they can't score runs on these wickets, what are they going to do overseas?

They drew a match against Pakistan with even a weaker team having no Cummins etc.

 

[Robert]

80's Australia was most definitely worse. Most of the decade it was Border alone scoring runs and the rest folding pathetically.

Up to the retirement of Chappell in 1984 their batting was good. By 1988 they were rebuilding with some excellent players.

What really hurt them was the SAB XI ban, where they lost Hughes, Yallop, Dyson, Alderman, Hogg, Hohns, Rackemann. I think Australia would have retained the 1985 Ashes if they had Alderman and a couple of the batsmen.