Aussie Test team yet to prove anything!

[Ash Grant]

Yeah that's right. You heard me loud and clear.

This is BS. The whole summer is nothing more then a rigged election. Green tops for every test match and doctored conditions. It failed against New Zealand because they are used to this sort of set up. They've done it to India themselves.

There could have quite easily been egg on the face of the test team and Cricket Australia if the coin toss went the other way in the last test. Or the conditions didn't conspire against the Indians in Sydney.

This will not help the team in the long run. Only further harm it. Giving players like Pattinson a false sense of what it's like at test level.

Austalian Cricket is falling further behind now.

 

[HardCaucasian]

I agree with most of this, don't think cricket in Australia has gone backwards but these wins def don't mean much

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Completely agree with the OP.

I mean, after all, it's not like Ben Hilfenhaus or Peter Siddle haven't remodelled the way they bowled to test-class batsmen inside 12 months or that Michael Clarke hasn't brought a sense of imagination and urgency to the position of captain of the Australian test team.

Look, India has to an extent beaten themselves in the way they've played the game so far. But on the whole, Australia has bowled and batted to a plan much better than in the past. The depth in the fast-bowling ranks in Australian cricket is the best it's been for close to a decade. It's been hostile and accurate for much of the summer.

The top six is still too fragile and there needs to be succession planning around the positions of Ponting and Hussey, but by and large, they've done the job necessary to put the runs on the board. Warner and Cowan are great finds at the top of the order, and their development as a pair of openers will allow the selectors flexibility about where to slot Watson back into the XI and how much bowling he needs to take on as the fourth seamer.

There is still a question mark over no. 3, but there are at least two viable alternatives to hold down no. 3 (Marsh and Khawaja), which isn't a bad problem to have.

It would be nice to unearth a weapon as a spinner, but until that player emerges, Nathan Lyon has done a decent job.

I'm not pretending that it's all sweetness and light in the Australian test team, because batting collapses against South Africa, New Zealand and India in the last few months suggest that there's a fair way to go, but the improvement since the Ashes 12 months ago is marked. You're kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

 

[deledio7]

I love Bigfooty.

We lose and point the finger at all and sundry and we win and it means nothing.

We smashed Sri Lanka away. Drew with the Saffers away. Drew with NZ at home with no in form batsmen. Smashed India at home.

Am I crazy to think we have had a pretty good year considering the inexperience in our side?

 

[Tassieboy]

Haven't we proved we can bowl India out in helpful conditions or am I seeing things?

 

[mattymac]

there is no doubt this indian team have been shite and the toss went our way in sydney and perth, and yes people are getting ahead of themselves. our batting is still s**t. sydney turned into a highway after the first day. in perth, if you took out the opening stand it read like a classic ponting era collapse. the poms would most likely dismantle our batting with some ease.

however i don't think you can say we are falling further behind. our bowling has come forward in leaps and bounds. yes, the opposition has been poor. siddle for example took 4 wickets at 50 odd in south africa but against NZ and an aged India on alien pitches he's looked like a talisman. but he does seem better and hilfenhaus has improved out of sight, bringing late swing, good cutters going both ways and that offspin style slower ball etc together to manufacture wickets in the middle overs and is leading the series at 23 wickets for 16 a piece (siddle = 17 @ 20). plus there have been the discoveries of pattinson and cummins. sure patto has been flattered by poor opposition and friendly wickets and will learn all about it as he moves forward, but in terms of natural talent he and cummins have shedloads more of it than siddle and hilf ever did. they will only get better. watson is finally out of the opening spot as well which should help both his batting and bowling.

so, the opening pair looks solid and the bowling is much improved. on that basis we are moving forward compared to the hughes-watson and MJ-siddle days, even though the rest of the batting and the keeper are still suspect

 

[Natho]

No world beaters but improving. Indian were shithouse but.

 

[courtjester]

What a pile of crap in the OP.

This is BS. The whole summer is nothing more then a rigged election. Green tops for every test match and doctored conditions. It failed against New Zealand because they are used to this sort of set up. They've done it to India themselves.

On these same "green tops", we've seen Clarke make a 300, Hussey a 150, Ponting a ton, Warner two tons, while India's vaunted batting line up have struggled to make any runs against our attack. India's pace bowlers are of a decent standard, Khan and Sharma are good. And India's batsmen have played on quick green wickets before, duh!

This will not help the team in the long run. Only further harm it. Giving players like Pattinson a false sense of what it's like at test level.

FFS, the guy has come in to test cricket and destroyed a brilliant (admittedly aging) Indian batting line up. What more could he do than succeed against who he is playing?

There could have quite easily been egg on the face of the test team and Cricket Australia if the coin toss went the other way in the last test. Or the conditions didn't conspire against the Indians in Sydney.

Seriously? We just won a test in under 3 days.

Austalian Cricket is falling further behind now.

Behind what? Beating teams above us in the test ranking is hardly "falling behind".

 

[The Casey Cat]

We have proven that our bowlers have improved. Helpful conditions or not they are putting it in much better areas and bowling with much better energy and pace than the same time last year.

 

[djrossie16]

Regardless of rankings I feel we're the second best team in the world alongside Saffers. They lose to Sri Lanka. We lose to New Zealand. Our loss is probably better (less glaring).

This Indian series hasn't said a lot. But guess what you still have to beat what's put in front of you. Cliche yes I know.

This is an Indian team that did draw a test to the Windies at home so they are struggling.

If we played the no 1 England I think we'd lose. They have the most well balanced team and are the most well planned team. But at least we're building towards something capable of challenging them in the Ashes.

I feel we have proved something with our unearthing of talented young cricketers.

Still not completely sold on Siddle, Hilfy and Lyon winning us a series in England or Harris and Watson staying fit.

There are still a lot of question marks but the fact we seem to be consistently expanding the depth in our squad is positive.

 

[Higs]

Don't give a stuff. We have a very competitive team at the moment which makes for entertaining viewing and many engaging test matches. Why people are only content if we're relentlessly smashing teams is beyond me

 

[Yabba]

This summer I would say that pitches are getting a bit more like what they were in the past. Over the 2000's the pitches became very flat to assist the strong batting line up knowing that we would be able to bowl out a side with McGrath & Warne.

I think these pitches are the type of pitches that Australia should continue to produce, we are starting to get some good depth with fast bowling, why wouldn't we give them favourable pitches? In reality are similar to a pitches in South Africa or England.

Is putting a bit of grass on the wicket any differant to sub-continent sides preparing a big turner?

 

[Smoooothy]

haters gonna hate

 

[Shutty05]

Fk it is hard to please some people, and we doctored the pitches when playing away?? *face palm*

 

[MisterMarcus]

Admittedly it is hard to judge how far we've come since India have been so spineless.

They'd struggle to beat a Shield side at the moment.

 

[djrossie16]

ALso Lol at the OP thinking the last 3 tests have been greentops.

 

[Stig O'Hara]

Considering we have are winning Test Matches with half our side having less than 10 Tests, and in a transitional phase, reckon we are doing pretty bloody well.

Obviously there will be inconsistent performances, but we have definetely found a few, and Clarke has been fantastic.

Greentops my arse.

 

[R00StaR]

What about all the other sad souls that need attention on internet forums, save some for them!

 

[BarneyBent]

Regardless of the conditions, we've played well. If conditions are helpful to bowlers, well that says heaps about our batsmen, who have comprehensively outperformed the more fancied Indian top-order. If conditions have been more helpful to the batsmen (arguably the case in the SCG Test), then that says heaps about our bowlers.

The New Zealand series was disappointing, and yes, consistency with our batsmen is still an issue, but we can take a lot of positives out of this series so far.

 

[Tassieboy]

Doctored pitches... Yeah I see how non-roads are doctored

 

[deledio7]

I don't care what anyone says about the pitches we have played on; our bowlers have been superb in the last 6 or so months. Since the Ashes I'd hazard a guess that we haven't had many big scores made of our attack.

Our batting is fragile but we do have many inexperienced players around the squad. And Haddin..

 

[Righteo]

Yeah that's right. You heard me loud and clear.

This is BS. The whole summer is nothing more then a rigged election. Green tops for every test match and doctored conditions. It failed against New Zealand because they are used to this sort of set up. They've done it to India themselves.

There could have quite easily been egg on the face of the test team and Cricket Australia if the coin toss went the other way in the last test. Or the conditions didn't conspire against the Indians in Sydney.

This will not help the team in the long run. Only further harm it. Giving players like Pattinson a false sense of what it's like at test level.

Austalian Cricket is falling further behind now.

Ah ok, that's learned me.

 

[frankrizzo]

Bowling is light years ahead of this time last year, the batting is still a major concern and realistically will be the major factor stopping us from winning in england.

On the bright side a year ago it looked like all the major test sides would wipe the floor with us, now the only team you can say that is clearly well ahead of us is england.

The idea though that we only won on green decks vs india is flawed, Sydney should have suited the indians flat track style perfectly, Melbourne was a great test match strip and so was Perth, great bowling and great batting were rewarded on both.

The two true greentops we have played on the past 6 months were hobart and cape town and we got belted on both, greentops with exaggerated sideways movement are not where our team dominates.

 

[Ash Grant]

What a pile of crap in the OP.

On these same "green tops", we've seen Clarke make a 300, Hussey a 150, Ponting a ton, Warner two tons, while India's vaunted batting line up have struggled to make any runs against our attack. India's pace bowlers are of a decent standard, Khan and Sharma are good. And India's batsmen have played on quick green wickets before, duh!

What a pile of crap.

Clarkes innings was lucky in a lot of ways and HE even admitted it. Yes he did. Yes he f-ing did. He said it in his own words after the game that he was lucky that the clouds disappeared and the sun came out. He was fortunate and even if you watched his innings you would see that. Same with Ponting and Huss at that time. It was remarkable how the Sydney track dished up different conditions each day.

India made 400 after that so you could see that the first day really meant the game.

You need to watch your cricket a little more closely and start to get an idea.

 

[laminex]

Yeah that's right. You heard me loud and clear.

This is BS. The whole summer is nothing more then a rigged election. Green tops for every test match and doctored conditions. It failed against New Zealand because they are used to this sort of set up. They've done it to India themselves.

There could have quite easily been egg on the face of the test team and Cricket Australia if the coin toss went the other way in the last test. Or the conditions didn't conspire against the Indians in Sydney.

This will not help the team in the long run. Only further harm it. Giving players like Pattinson a false sense of what it's like at test level.

Austalian Cricket is falling further behind now.

Bitter much mate, i mean really what is your every day life like?? Do you walk around looking foe babies to beat???