4 axed for 3rd test

[courtjester]

Get rid of Clarke and Arthur and bring back the players and administrators from the Waugh era to mentor and bring back some stability and proper values of a traditional Australian Cricket team. This is our only true national game these two fools and the majority of CA are playing with and its got to stop. They don't appear to have any respect for our current players and are treating them like a schoolboys. Clarke should stick to the catwalk and leave cricket to those that embrace the real traditions of past Australian players.

God, I am so sick of this sort of shit. It's bullshit. Clarke is probably the best captain we've had since Taylor. And the shit about Clarke on the catwalk, wake up. It's not 1968 anymore. Every player in the Australian team with a decent profile and half decent looks makes some cash on the sides with endorsements.

 

[courtjester]

i'm just waiting for the gov to come on and tell us gregg ritchie would have done it better

Or Steve "Stumper" Rixon!

 

[King Elvis]

Reports on another forum that Patto was dropped for falsifying fitness reports.

And that Khawaja, Lyon and Johnson are part of a clique around Watson.

I'm guessing Patto might've been lying about how he was feeling because he didn't want to be rested/rotated for the next Test?

Second sentence wouldn't surprise me either - half expected to hear Siddle mentioned in that group as well though, after the Hussey thing.

Also makes you wonder if it has anything to do with Lyon being treated so poorly.


EDIT - I missed the reports around Warner though, what's that about?

 

[courtjester]

I'm guessing Patto might've been lying about how he was feeling because he didn't want to be rested/rotated for the next Test?

Second sentence wouldn't surprise me either - half expected to hear Siddle mentioned in that group as well though, after the Hussey thing.

Can anyone enlighten me to what "the Hussey thing" actually was?

 

[The_Reaper]

Can anyone enlighten me to what "the Hussey thing" actually was?

Hussey's retirement and James Packer's boat.

Ring any bells?

 

[courtjester]

Hussey's retirement and James Packer's boat.

Ring any bells?

Oh yeh, what was the situation there? Clarke wanted to go on the boat, but Hussey wanted to go to the pub or something? Hardly a big deal I would've thought, and nothing that wouldn't happen between any mates on a Sat night when one wants to go somewhere and another doesn't.

 

[King Elvis]

It's a power trip the second you suspend a player who didn't even play for not handing in an essay/text message on the team's performance.

Seriously, what on earth is Mitch Johnson meant to write? "I could been more diligent with the drinks"?

Not to mention Patto;

"I bowled my guts out in trying conditions, and was the only one to take wickets and appear threatening. I'm not sure what else I could do, but maybe bring back Lyon, get SO'K in the side, tell Siddle to be more than an honest toiler and get rid of Maxwell and Doherty. Oh, and tell the useless bastards in the side for their batting to actually make some runs.

PS - Please don't rest me for this Test.
PPS - Why doesn't anyone like our Captain?"

Asking for something like this to be done by text or email is gutless.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Get rid of Clarke and Arthur and bring back the players and administrators from the Waugh era to mentor and bring back some stability and proper values of a traditional Australian Cricket team. This is our only true national game these two fools and the majority of CA are playing with and its got to stop. They don't appear to have any respect for our current players and are treating them like a schoolboys. Clarke should stick to the catwalk and leave cricket to those that embrace the real traditions of past Australian players.

Get rid of Clarke and we won't win a test for quite some time.
Its very simple, in any sport whether it be professional sport or club level you do what the coach asks if you want to play

 

[Suckling2Gunston]

Oh yeh, what was the situation there? Clarke wanted to go on the boat, but Hussey wanted to go to the pub or something? Hardly a big deal I would've thought, and nothing that wouldn't happen between any mates on a Sat night when one wants to go somewhere and another doesn't.

Until Clarke made it an "official Cricket Australia fuction" and then called Hussey in the early hours of the morning abusing him.

 

[King Elvis]

Something along the lines of these two posts should have been the commonsense approach from Arthur & Clarke. Not maintaining silence & then adopting a 'gotcha' approach. You get the impression that perhaps Arthur and/or Clarke may be losing some of the players.

It does smack of them trying to establish their authority.

 

[Ron]

Some of the jokes floating around over this are pretty funny

I'd love to find a bigger image of this one, cracks me up.

 

[courtjester]

Until Clarke made it an "official Cricket Australia fuction" and then called Hussey in the early hours of the morning abusing him.

Really? Can you verify both those claims somehow?

And don't say "I play cricket with some guys who play FC cricket and they said blah blah blah..."

 

[King Elvis]

God, I am so sick of this sort of shit. It's bullshit. Clarke is probably the best captain we've had since Taylor.

Best Captain since Taylor - based on what?!

It's not team unity and it's not performances - I'm not sure what else matters.

 

[courtjester]

Best Captain since Taylor - based on what?!

It's not team unity and it's not performances - I'm not sure what else matters.

Tactical ability. The most important thing.

 

[King Elvis]

Until Clarke made it an "official Cricket Australia fuction" and then called Hussey in the early hours of the morning abusing him.

And it wasn't going to a Pub, it was staying in the dressing rooms having drinks as a Team.

You have to elaborate on the bold though - that's the first I've heard of that...

 

[courtjester]

Some of the jokes floating around over this are pretty funny

I'd love to find a bigger image of this one, cracks me up.

Pisser. Got a link for that?

 

[Caesar]

It's a power trip the second you suspend a player who didn't even play for not handing in an essay/text message on the team's performance.

Seriously, what on earth is Mitch Johnson meant to write? "I could been more diligent with the drinks"?

My understanding is that it was a form of team critical analysis, not self-justification. Whilst I think that sort of thing is of dubious benefit, it's not unreasonable to ask everyone to brainstorm ways about how the team can collectively improve in the wake of a loss.

If the coach asks the team to do it and a small group of players refuse to, what does THAT say? "**** it, it's not my problem, let the rest of the team deal with it"? How is that attitude good for team cohesiveness or morale?

Maybe the task is questionable but the decision of the players to opt out of an exercise in collective team responsibility is far more of a problem IMO.

 

[western royboy]

Tactical ability. The most important thing.

Tactically he's brilliant, as a player he's brilliant, but there is another facet and that's his ability to get the best out of his players and the team as a whole. And on that front he would appear to have a few issues.

 

[King Elvis]

Tactical ability. The most important thing.

Massively over-rated.

Probably the third or fourth most important thing - and the differences between a good tactician and a bad tactician are often more directly related to the calibre of the team they have at their disposal.

 

[courtjester]

Tactically he's brilliant, as a player he's brilliant, but there is another facet and that's his ability to get the best out of his players and the team as a whole. And on that front he would appear to have a few issues.

I'm still not convinced it's Clarke's issue tbh, but more to do with the fact that Watson is a complete ****. Watson is a complete moron imo, everything he say/does is destabilising. Constantly wants to change his role which places pressure on others, and his demeanour and body language are a disgrace for any elite athlete, let alone a VC.

Prepared to be wrong about this, but I'd be 90% certain Watson is the toxic factor in this team. We smashed India at home last summer when Watson was injured, and the team gelled really well.

 

[western royboy]

I'm still not convinced it's Clarke's issue tbh, but more to do with the fact that Watson is a complete ****. Watson is a complete moron imo, everything he say/does is destabilising. Constantly wants to change his role which places pressure on others, and his demeanour and body language are a disgrace for any elite athlete, let alone a VC.

Prepared to be wrong about this, but I'd be 90% certain Watson is the toxic factor in this team. We smashed India at home last summer when Watson was injured, and the team gelled really well.

I'm thinking Clarke is the issue, I'm happy to be wrong, but there are enough unhappy punters around who will tell you he is the problem and too many good blokes amongst them for them all to be wrong.

 

[mediumsizered]

I'm still not convinced it's Clarke's issue tbh, but more to do with the fact that Watson is a complete ****. Watson is a complete moron imo, everything he say/does is destabilising. Constantly wants to change his role which places pressure on others, and his demeanour and body language are a disgrace for any elite athlete, let alone a VC.

Prepared to be wrong about this, but I'd be 90% certain Watson is the toxic factor in this team. We smashed India at home last summer when Watson was injured, and the team gelled really well.

We always smash India at home, just like they always smash us in India (except 2004).

FWIW, yes Watson has indicated he likes opening the batting, but him being barred from bowling is on the advice of the high performance coach. If Watson had his way he would have been bowling on this tour.

 

[Caesar]

Tactically he's brilliant, as a player he's brilliant, but there is another facet and that's his ability to get the best out of his players and the team as a whole. And on that front he would appear to have a few issues.

That's a pretty nebulous criteria to try and measure, because it's down to a lot of things that are not necessarily within the control of the captain. Border failed for several years to 'get the best out of his players', with the side notorious for sustained poor form and collapsing under pressure. A bunch of players disliked him, which in no small part contributed to several of them jumping ship to go play the rebel tours.

Incidentally it wasn't until the ACB backed him by bringing in Simpson and giving the two of them full support to revamp the team at their own discretion, ruffle feathers inside the team and out, and rebuild the team from the ground up with a culture of their own design that they eventually started to see some improvements. Sound familiar? Remains to be seen if Clarke and Arthurs succeed as spectacularly as Border (doubtful) but it's no doubt they're following the same blueprint.

 

[skipper kelly]

The world has gone ****ing mad.

 

[aussierulesrules]

My understanding is that it was a form of team critical analysis, not self-justification. Whilst I think that sort of thing is of dubious benefit, it's not unreasonable to ask everyone to brainstorm ways about how the team can collectively improve in the wake of a loss.

If the coach asks the team to do it and a small group of players refuse to, what does THAT say? "**** it, it's not my problem, let the rest of the team deal with it"? How is that attitude good for team cohesiveness or morale?

Maybe the task is questionable but the decision of the players to opt out of an exercise in collective team responsibility is far more of a problem IMO.

Exactly, very well put.

I have no problem at all with the sanctions, it sounds like a line definitely had to be drawn in the sand, just like when Ross Lyon left out Dal Santo and Milne a few years ago, after he deemed they weren't toeing the line. Was probably the best thing he could have done as the TEAM went on a huge roll from that point on.

If Watto has spat the dummy and left, he can keep on walking.