- Joined
- Oct 2, 2004
- Runs
- 218,012
Well you know what they say - no smoke/no fire!
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Australia vice-captain Josh Hazlewood says the focus on the "aggressive" dressing-room debrief between assistant coach David Saker and the bowlers after day one in Sydney has been overblown.
Saker told ABC Grandstand that he had stern words with the bowling group after India reached 4-303 at stumps on the opening day of the fourth Domain Test.
Saker said he was unusually "aggressive" and "animated" and that head coach Justin Langer also "wasn't happy" with how the bowlers performed on Thursday in a match Australia had to win to level the series and deny India a historic maiden series win on these shores.
But in the wake of Saker's comments, captain Tim Paine played down the animosity of the bowling meeting and now Hazlewood, who was part of the discussion, said the debrief was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Yeah, absolutely," Hazlewood said on cricket.com.au's Facebook Live when asked if Saker's comments had been overblown.
"We always have a chat pretty much every night or the next morning. It wasn't really different to normal.
"The bowlers know when they haven't done their best and you don't really have to point it out.
"We know, we've played enough cricket and we'll try to get better as we go along."
It has been suggested one issue discussed after play on day one was how Paine and the fast bowlers were not on the same page, unable to agree on the best bowling tactic.
But Paine refuted those claims after play on day two.
"We always have discussion post game but in terms of being on a different page, no," Paine said.
"We know all the time (what the plan is), I think we’re pretty clear on what we’re trying to do.
"Yesterday afternoon – and to be fair probably the first hour in the morning then the first hour after lunch – we got it slightly wrong.
"It can sometimes look like that. but we know what we’re trying to do.
"Sometimes you don’t quite execute and teams can get away from you and that’s what happened."
Test legend Ricky Ponting said he's seen Saker firmly address the bowlers in the past and has no issue with that style of feedback if it's warranted.
What Ponting was not pleased with is how the details of that meeting have been made public.
The former Australia captain wants to see discussions of that nature remain in-house.
"It's no good patting people on the back day in, day out when they're not doing things you're expected to do," Ponting told cricket.com.au.
"I've been around the team a bit the past 12 months, I've seen David Saker do the same thing and if I was a player and I was playing like this team is playing now I'd expect a bit of a kick in the pants every now and then as well.
"The disappointing thing for me is that it's spoken about publicly.
"Those things don’t need to be spoken about publicly, they can stay within the four walls of the dressing room."
India have outplayed Australia in all facets this series, which is why they have retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and look set to win their first Test series on Australian soil.
Australia's struggles to bowl India out have been a clear issue this summer, a problem Hazlewood says comes down to executing their bowling plans.
"I think they've been the right plans we just haven't stuck at them long enough," Hazlewood said.
"They've probably outlasted us in a lot of areas: patience, probably discipline.
(Cheteshwar) Pujara is the main one who has broken the back of us early on in each game.
"The other batters have cashed in on that."
Hazlewood, who has taken 13 wickets at 30.61 this series, says his form has been "patchy" but overall he's happy with how he's bowled against a star-studded lineup.
"It's the No.1 batting lineup in the world and they've proved that this series," he said.
"But I think if you ask any of the four main bowlers they could have been better at certain stages."
The 27-year-old and fellow quicks Mitch Starc and Josh Hazlewood will miss the upcoming three-match Gillette ODI Series against India to freshen up and prepare for the two Tests against Sri Lanka, starting in Brisbane on January 24.
It means the trio will have only 10 ODIs before Australia picks their 15-man squad for the World Cup on April 23.
But Hazlewood says there is ample time to make the switch from five-day to 50-over mode.
"I think it’s the right decision," Hazlewood said when asked about missing the India ODIs.
"We've obviously got two more Tests, which is a bit unusual for an Australian summer after the Sydney Test.
"Freshen up, look forward to that and there is still quite a few one-dayers after that before the World Cup to work on our one-day format."
https://www.cricket.com.au/news/jos...-meeting-australia-test-series-scg/2019-01-07
=============
Australia vice-captain Josh Hazlewood says the focus on the "aggressive" dressing-room debrief between assistant coach David Saker and the bowlers after day one in Sydney has been overblown.
Saker told ABC Grandstand that he had stern words with the bowling group after India reached 4-303 at stumps on the opening day of the fourth Domain Test.
Saker said he was unusually "aggressive" and "animated" and that head coach Justin Langer also "wasn't happy" with how the bowlers performed on Thursday in a match Australia had to win to level the series and deny India a historic maiden series win on these shores.
But in the wake of Saker's comments, captain Tim Paine played down the animosity of the bowling meeting and now Hazlewood, who was part of the discussion, said the debrief was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Yeah, absolutely," Hazlewood said on cricket.com.au's Facebook Live when asked if Saker's comments had been overblown.
"We always have a chat pretty much every night or the next morning. It wasn't really different to normal.
"The bowlers know when they haven't done their best and you don't really have to point it out.
"We know, we've played enough cricket and we'll try to get better as we go along."
It has been suggested one issue discussed after play on day one was how Paine and the fast bowlers were not on the same page, unable to agree on the best bowling tactic.
But Paine refuted those claims after play on day two.
"We always have discussion post game but in terms of being on a different page, no," Paine said.
"We know all the time (what the plan is), I think we’re pretty clear on what we’re trying to do.
"Yesterday afternoon – and to be fair probably the first hour in the morning then the first hour after lunch – we got it slightly wrong.
"It can sometimes look like that. but we know what we’re trying to do.
"Sometimes you don’t quite execute and teams can get away from you and that’s what happened."
Test legend Ricky Ponting said he's seen Saker firmly address the bowlers in the past and has no issue with that style of feedback if it's warranted.
What Ponting was not pleased with is how the details of that meeting have been made public.
The former Australia captain wants to see discussions of that nature remain in-house.
"It's no good patting people on the back day in, day out when they're not doing things you're expected to do," Ponting told cricket.com.au.
"I've been around the team a bit the past 12 months, I've seen David Saker do the same thing and if I was a player and I was playing like this team is playing now I'd expect a bit of a kick in the pants every now and then as well.
"The disappointing thing for me is that it's spoken about publicly.
"Those things don’t need to be spoken about publicly, they can stay within the four walls of the dressing room."
India have outplayed Australia in all facets this series, which is why they have retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and look set to win their first Test series on Australian soil.
Australia's struggles to bowl India out have been a clear issue this summer, a problem Hazlewood says comes down to executing their bowling plans.
"I think they've been the right plans we just haven't stuck at them long enough," Hazlewood said.
"They've probably outlasted us in a lot of areas: patience, probably discipline.
(Cheteshwar) Pujara is the main one who has broken the back of us early on in each game.
"The other batters have cashed in on that."
Hazlewood, who has taken 13 wickets at 30.61 this series, says his form has been "patchy" but overall he's happy with how he's bowled against a star-studded lineup.
"It's the No.1 batting lineup in the world and they've proved that this series," he said.
"But I think if you ask any of the four main bowlers they could have been better at certain stages."
The 27-year-old and fellow quicks Mitch Starc and Josh Hazlewood will miss the upcoming three-match Gillette ODI Series against India to freshen up and prepare for the two Tests against Sri Lanka, starting in Brisbane on January 24.
It means the trio will have only 10 ODIs before Australia picks their 15-man squad for the World Cup on April 23.
But Hazlewood says there is ample time to make the switch from five-day to 50-over mode.
"I think it’s the right decision," Hazlewood said when asked about missing the India ODIs.
"We've obviously got two more Tests, which is a bit unusual for an Australian summer after the Sydney Test.
"Freshen up, look forward to that and there is still quite a few one-dayers after that before the World Cup to work on our one-day format."
https://www.cricket.com.au/news/jos...-meeting-australia-test-series-scg/2019-01-07
