Not only is the sky not falling, this Australian Test team is really good!

[Sir Alex]

I certainly expect most teams visiting Australia to look at the Indian bowling tactics, field placings against the Australian batsmen and realize that this saying that you need to be Chris Tremlett, Steve Harmison, Mohd Irfan type 6-5 to 7 ft tall, bowling at 140 km/hr plus, banging the ball in is just a myth. Less talented bowlers can put the fear of god on the batsmen with superior non stop aggressive bowling at the stumps and stacking the leg side. The key to neutralizing Australia in Australia is to first stop their batting line up piling more than 200-300 runs and preventing them from putting 500-600 runs, it ends up neutralizing their pace attack completely as the bowlers feel the pressure of not having enough runs on the board.

Yea and this resulted from hours and hours of planning well in advance and then having a set of bowlers who executed those precisely.

Easier said than done and needs highest discipline.

 

[Savak]

That's why it will be foolish to overreact to change too much due to series loss here.

Aussies hate losing. The 2005 ashes series in England ended up terminating the careers of Damien Martyn, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz. Mathew Hayden was temporarily dropped from the team. The Aussie Selectors are very ruthless this way, past performances are not taken into account.

 

[wrongun]

I certainly expect most teams visiting Australia to look at the Indian bowling tactics, field placings against the Australian batsmen and realize that this saying that you need to be Chris Tremlett, Steve Harmison, Mohd Irfan type 6-5 to 7 ft tall, bowling at 140 km/hr plus, banging the ball in is just a myth. Less talented bowlers can put the fear of god on the batsmen with superior non stop aggressive bowling at the stumps and stacking the leg side. The key to neutralizing Australia in Australia is to first stop their batting line up piling more than 200-300 runs and preventing them from putting 500-600 runs, it ends up neutralizing their pace attack completely as the bowlers feel the pressure of not having enough runs on the board.

The surprising thing in this series & what got India on top was actually the performance of their spinners. India got 23 wickets at about 26 run apiece from all their spinners combined this series. That's outstanding for Oz & absolutely unheard of for visiting finger spinners. It flummoxed Australia as the tried & true method in Oz is to belt the opposition spinner out of the attack, which forces their quicks to bowl more & tires them out.

When the spinner fires & can bowl enough overs to refresh the quicks & also keeps it tight, then Oz had lost their traditional scoring outlet.

That's how India were able to get maximum value out of an attack without the usual assets needed in Oz.

 

[Savak]

The surprising thing in this series & what got India on top was actually the performance of their spinners. India got 23 wickets at about 26 run apiece from all their spinners combined this series. That's outstanding for Oz & absolutely unheard of for visiting finger spinners. It flummoxed Australia as the tried & true method in Oz is to belt the opposition spinner out of the attack, which forces their quicks to bowl more & tires them out.

When the spinner fires & can bowl enough overs to refresh the quicks & also keeps it tight, then Oz had lost their traditional scoring outlet.

That's how India were able to get maximum value out of an attack without the usual assets needed in Oz.

Ashwin is a world class spinner. He has plenty of experience in Australian conditions and he worked out how he will bowl on this tour and against each Australian batsman. I saw him bowl 1-2 overs and my god, each and every delivery was different where he would wilfully vary the pace, the loop, he could bowl a turning off spinner, a carrom ball, knew the angles, the pitching trajectory. Washington Sundar applied the same tactics as well in the final test.

To win in Australia, all bowlers have to pitch in and keep the pressure. This is where other teams touring Australia fall short.

 

[wrongun]

Aussies hate losing. The 2005 ashes series in England ended up terminating the careers of Damien Martyn, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz. Mathew Hayden was temporarily dropped from the team. The Aussie Selectors are very ruthless this way, past performances are not taken into account.

There's only a couple of positions really in doubt.

Openers going forward will be Warner & Pucjovski.

Labu & Smith at 3 & 4.

#5 spot is now open. Wade was brought in a couple of years ago to add some toughness but he's reached the end of his usefulness & his limitations have been shown up. He's 33 & probably going to be moved along. I suspect the selectors will try & get Head back in at #5 & hope he scores runs as he is seen as having the brains for future captaincy in a team where all the other options for leadership have huge question marks. Kwahaja is probably the best bat not in the team at the moment but Langer doesn't seem to like him.

Paine has probably taken this team as far as he can. He might be able to get his glovework standards back & score a few more runs if not worried about being captain. Otherwise Carey is seen as doing a good job on the ODI front & could be considered.

Even though I think Paine is cooked as captain, the other real leader in the team is Cummins. Selectors are too narrrow minded to consider a bowling captain though. Smith could do it, but I'm not sure if he's been blackmarked forever. So Paine probably stays by default.

I don't think they'll make wholesale changes to the bowlers, just be slightly quicker to rotate them in future, after a couple of Tests. The quicks looked tired because they really needed to get more out of Green. Honestly S Waugh & M Marsh used to provide a LOT more with the ball than Green showed. He looked timid. If Green had chipped in a few wickets in those last 2 tests then the ball would have been rolling in Australia's favour.

Green will still be #6 but needs to attack the game more & show more intent with the ball.

 

[Bhaijaan]

I agree with the sentiments. Just because the opposition was better doesn't mean you always suck. This Aussie team would still go undefeated against most.

 

[shah_1]

There's only a couple of positions really in doubt.

Openers going forward will be Warner & Pucjovski.

Labu & Smith at 3 & 4.

#5 spot is now open. Wade was brought in a couple of years ago to add some toughness but he's reached the end of his usefulness & his limitations have been shown up. He's 33 & probably going to be moved along. I suspect the selectors will try & get Head back in at #5 & hope he scores runs as he is seen as having the brains for future captaincy in a team where all the other options for leadership have huge question marks. Kwahaja is probably the best bat not in the team at the moment but Langer doesn't seem to like him.

Paine has probably taken this team as far as he can. He might be able to get his glovework standards back & score a few more runs if not worried about being captain. Otherwise Carey is seen as doing a good job on the ODI front & could be considered.

Even though I think Paine is cooked as captain, the other real leader in the team is Cummins. Selectors are too narrrow minded to consider a bowling captain though. Smith could do it, but I'm not sure if he's been blackmarked forever. So Paine probably stays by default.

I don't think they'll make wholesale changes to the bowlers, just be slightly quicker to rotate them in future, after a couple of Tests. The quicks looked tired because they really needed to get more out of Green. Honestly S Waugh & M Marsh used to provide a LOT more with the ball than Green showed. He looked timid. If Green had chipped in a few wickets in those last 2 tests then the ball would have been rolling in Australia's favour.

Green will still be #6 but needs to attack the game more & show more intent with the ball.

Wade,Paine and Starc need to go. Travis head should be given another go, Alex Carey should debut and James Pattinson should return or Micheal Neser.

 

[Savak]

There's only a couple of positions really in doubt.

Openers going forward will be Warner & Pucjovski.

Labu & Smith at 3 & 4.

#5 spot is now open. Wade was brought in a couple of years ago to add some toughness but he's reached the end of his usefulness & his limitations have been shown up. He's 33 & probably going to be moved along. I suspect the selectors will try & get Head back in at #5 & hope he scores runs as he is seen as having the brains for future captaincy in a team where all the other options for leadership have huge question marks. Kwahaja is probably the best bat not in the team at the moment but Langer doesn't seem to like him.

Paine has probably taken this team as far as he can. He might be able to get his glovework standards back & score a few more runs if not worried about being captain. Otherwise Carey is seen as doing a good job on the ODI front & could be considered.

Even though I think Paine is cooked as captain, the other real leader in the team is Cummins. Selectors are too narrrow minded to consider a bowling captain though. Smith could do it, but I'm not sure if he's been blackmarked forever. So Paine probably stays by default.

I don't think they'll make wholesale changes to the bowlers, just be slightly quicker to rotate them in future, after a couple of Tests. The quicks looked tired because they really needed to get more out of Green. Honestly S Waugh & M Marsh used to provide a LOT more with the ball than Green showed. He looked timid. If Green had chipped in a few wickets in those last 2 tests then the ball would have been rolling in Australia's favour.

Green will still be #6 but needs to attack the game more & show more intent with the ball.

Not sure why the aussies did not consider Mitchel Marsh, last time i saw him the guy was clocking 87 mph and even chipping in with wickets here and there. His batting could not have been worse than Green

 

[wrongun]

Not sure why the aussies did not consider Mitchel Marsh, last time i saw him the guy was clocking 87 mph and even chipping in with wickets here and there. His batting could not have been worse than Green

Marsh's batting was pretty ordinary & his bowling was looking like it would average 35 at the very best at Test level. Since his batting average was 25 & he just never looked like he was improving at either discipline he was dropped for good from tests. he might play white ball cricket.

Green definitely looks a better bat than Marsh. He just needs to find some energy & role for his bowling. We could handle him averaging 30-35 with the ball if he bats at 35-40.

 

[TheSultan]

The Aussies batted poorly and the bowling really has issues mentally - they have been destroyed by that Stokes and Leach partnership.

There were only 2 reliable batsmen and even those two weren’t at their best. No batsman in the modern era, no matter how good you are can consistently average above 60. There is always a correction somewhere, and that correction is happening to Smith now. Marnus played ok, but didn’t push on.

Harris is a joke - I don’t know why they persist with him in the squad. Warner was definitely not fit. Puckovski looks to have potential but we didn’t see enough to make a judgement. Wade, Green and Paine were very poor and don’t look test standard.

Bowling is good on paper, but as I said, they have a mental block these days - especially with tailenders. Cummins is always consistent but he’s not destructive. Hazelwood is steady but not always effective. Starc needs a break from test cricket. Lyon again - there’s a reason why he has 400 wickets and is still unheralded.

 

[Hasan123]

I agree. It is a good test team. But they probably need to replace Wade and Paine. And Starc should only play in certain conditions.

 

[hadi123]

They are good but weren't able to grab games by the scruff of the neck this series, hence they lost 2-1.Wade is rubbish, he has no business playing international cricket.

Paine had a bad game in the 3rd match but he is under rated. Let's not forget he was man of the match in the 1st Test. He averaged like 40+ with the bat this series I believe. He's done a good job behind the scenes and should be retained as captain.

 

[topspin]

Paine needs to be stripped off captaincy and rope Gillespie in as Head Coach.

 

[Rana]

Paine needs to be stripped off captaincy and rope Gillespie in as Head Coach.

Langer Head coach of Pakistan

 

[topspin]

Langer Head coach of Pakistan

Massive upgrade from Misbah but his fans will tell you otherwise.

 

[Hyperion66]

Paine needs to be stripped off captaincy and rope Gillespie in as Head Coach.

Right, but I think they are gonna stay till the next Ashes at least. The reason behind their selection wasn't purely cricketing, they did it to make a point.

 

[Buffet]

There's only a couple of positions really in doubt.

Openers going forward will be Warner & Pucjovski.

Labu & Smith at 3 & 4.

Yah, I don't see too many positions in doubt. Bowlers are not going to change except Aus can rotate bowlers quicker to avoid having them tired.

 

[mystical man]

Australia are 2nd best team in the world and beating the second best team in their own backyard against their best side is a legendary win.

If I think of all the series wins that has happened in Australia in last 40-50 years, I doubt any of the Australian side was better than the current one.
This side had 7 world class players and a couple of young players with plenty of potential.

I still rate england and new zealand above india (especially england and wonder if we have a mental block against them in test matches) and that will be the final fortress for us.

 

[MP2011]

I still rate england and new zealand above india (especially england and wonder if we have a mental block against them in test matches) and that will be the final fortress for us.

lol, how can anyone rate England above us when all they do is to win home test series, same as we do!

If anything, we at least won a test in England last time we were there, something which England couldn't do last time they were in India.

Same goes for NZ who are massive home bullies themselves.

 

[Mesozoic]

I still rate england and new zealand above india (especially england and wonder if we have a mental block against them in test matches) and that will be the final fortress for us.

England better Test team than India? Get out of here.

Got demolished in India, Australia and wait for it.... West Indies.

Lost comfortably in NZ and UAE. Almost got swept by Bangladesh and would have lost the home Ashes too if not for an umpiring error and some unreal luck...

Dropped 5 Tests in the last 3 home summers to 7th and 8th ranked Pak and WI.

No way they're better than any of Ind/NZ/Aus...

 

[Nikhil_cric]

I still rate england and new zealand above india (especially england and wonder if we have a mental block against them in test matches) and that will be the final fortress for us.

England drop tests to mediocre teams like West Indies at home besides getting destroyed away by the Windies. How exactly are they better? Couldnt beat Australia at hone and couldnt win in NZ and are yet to play India and Australia away. Haven't played in the UAE/Pakistan for more than 5 years either.

 

[Saurav]

I rate out batting as fairly weak right now.

1 Warner. Destructive at his best but a massive ftb.

2 We haven't had a settled opener partner for years. I have high hopes for Pucjovski but at the moment we don't have a settled opening pair & it hurts the team.

3 Marnus. Pretty good player. Should average 40-45 in Tests. He's very annoying but puts a price on his wicket & generally gets the game moving when needed.

4 Smith. An outstanding batsman. One batsman doesn't make a team though.

5 Wade. Served a purpose when he was brought in just to add toughness to stiffen up the side around an inexperienced captain. But he's now reached his use by date & his limitations are showing. Needs replacing.

6 Green. Showed some glimpses of talent & should be persisted with. He should reflect on that series & the way India's rookies were prepared to grab the game by the scruff & take it on, whereas Green just looked a but timid & like he wasn't imposing himself on the game, merely taking part. Same goes for his bowling attitude.

7 Paine. He's a bit of a return to the days when a keeper who averaged 30 & scrapped tough runs when needed was all you hoped for from a keeper. Healy. Boucher. Moin Khan. You can get away with that when the rest of your top 6 is humming with quality. But with all our other weaknesses then Paine's contributions get scrutinised. Then we see Pant & get all nostalgic for when we had Gilchrist & that raised the bar for all time...

Wouldn't Carey be the better WK bat than Paine?

 

[leatherface58]

Australia need to rotate their pace attack. Cummins and Hazlewood are world class but they need rest from time to time as well. Pattinson is supposedly injured again but Richardson and Neser need to be in the mix and get proper experience. If Cummins or Hoff fall apart say mid-tour of India, you will be dropping an inexperienced pacer into a very tough situation. Rather let them play at home and get comfortable with the rigors of test cricket.

Wade needs to go. He is not scoring runs and acting like a knob on the field. Not sure what happened to Kurtis Patterson who looked good against Sri Lanka. If Paine is sacked as a captain (he should not), he has no reason to play in the team. I am not convinced about Carey in whites but no harm trying him in a home series.

 

[wrongun]

Wouldn't Carey be the better WK bat than Paine?

That's certainly some peoples opinion.

There's 2 scenarios to your idea: 3 years ago when the team was at a low point, public opinion was against the team & they wanted a "back to basics" approach then Paine was a fair enough call; an experienced state captain; the best gloveman in the Shield; no other candidates with a much better batting average (Carey is about the same FC average); reputation as a strong morals & genuine nice guy.

3 years on & the team has moved on a little bit. Paine's batting is still about the same level I described & only really becomes a talking point when his keeping slips. Paine is at an age when Oz keepers usually hang up the gloves due to performance struggles. Carey might offer marginally more with the bat (I don't see him averaging over 35/36 really) but if his keeping is now better than Paines too then the argument for Paine is weaker.

Really Paine will be given one more series to show his decline is not terminal. I don't think the selectors are in a rush to put a new captain in. They are unsure how a return to Smith would be seen- plus have seen a little bit of the hysteria surrounding Smith now with how people reacted to him taking guard*. Cummins as captain would be very bold. I don't think Langer believes in that. So they need a series or two for Head to bed in, or for Smith to have some more time to be reaccepted.

So at this stage, given that Carey is only maybe, marginally better than Paine & the other factors, I expect Paine to be retained. But that pendulum can swing if Paine doesn't buck up in SA.

 

[wrongun]

Australia need to rotate their pace attack. Cummins and Hazlewood are world class but they need rest from time to time as well. Pattinson is supposedly injured again but Richardson and Neser need to be in the mix and get proper experience. If Cummins or Hoff fall apart say mid-tour of India, you will be dropping an inexperienced pacer into a very tough situation. Rather let them play at home and get comfortable with the rigors of test cricket.

Wade needs to go. He is not scoring runs and acting like a knob on the field. Not sure what happened to Kurtis Patterson who looked good against Sri Lanka. If Paine is sacked as a captain (he should not), he has no reason to play in the team. I am not convinced about Carey in whites but no harm trying him in a home series.

Patterson just didn't have a good Shield season- selectors are trying to back guys who put up runs 2-3 years in a row. So it was a matter of just getting overtaken- there's probably 5 or 6 guys at least who have scored enough runs each year to keep their names in front of selectors (from young guys like Gren & Pucjovski to experienced guys like Head, Harris, Marsh, Wade, Enriques).

He'd have been right in the mix if he hadn't lost form.

 

[Suleiman]

Agree. It was more about a depleted India’s brilliance than it was about Australia being terrible. Both teams fought on equal footing throughout the series... if anything, Aussies were the ones who got their one dominating win in the series.