It's time Usman

[CakeEater]

Good Career, great to watch in form.

Probably went on two years too long,However the selectors picked him, he didnt pick himself

 

[Jack Mundy]

Asked ChatGPT and it said his average as an opener was 48

Dunno if that's right but it's pretty impressive if it is, even if he did cash in on lower ranked nations

Check on how stat

 

[sydney_gws]

I dont think he went too long. As for the racial stuff, I agree about 20%, disagree 40%, uncertain of the rest.

 

[largebus]

Somewhat churlish press conference having a crack at the media for pressing for him to retire
He's 40 next year ffs

He insinuated that it was to do with his ethnicity, when Warner was getting the same treatment for 3 years. Sure the odd racist here or there may have been inclined to get stuck in than they would have otherwise if he was white but to play that card is disappointing

 

[Jack Mundy]

Yep when a Victorian gets dropped they stay dropped, Uzzie has been dropped 7 times over his career, a Victorian got as many chances as his had they would be up there in test runs

Ponsford, Harvey, Lawry.. people trying to paint Usman's career as inconsequential..

 

[Jack Mundy]

I dont think he went too long. As for the racial stuff, I agree about 20%, disagree 40%, uncertain of the rest.

Do you know Usman personally?!

 

[Jack Mundy]

He insinuated that it was to do with his ethnicity, when Warner was getting the same treatment for 3 years. Sure the odd racist here or there may have been inclined to get stuck in than they would have otherwise but to play that card is disappointing

Dean Jones called a Hashim Amla a terrorist. Darren Lehman was reprimanded for racist comments made to towards a Sri Lanka player. Greg Ritchie.. well Greg Ritchie. Not hard to find examples within cricket system.

 

[Westend]

Definitely the right call. Think if the India tour was this year he would have tried to get a few more months out of himself but think the next tours are too far away and the downward trajectory has been fairly steep. Good on him for being able to announce it on his own terms, by getting back in the team after losing his spot this series but mainly by working his way back after it looked like career over in 2019

Funny sort of career, ended up being in two equal parts. First part of his career he was often dominant at home and struggled away, always ended up getting dropped whenever we played in Asia. Second part of his career he was our best overseas batsman and did very well in Asia, and ended up being vulnerable at home or against quality pace bowling in his last couple of years

First part of his career

44 Tests, 2887 runs, 40.66 average, 8 hundreds, 14 fifties

Second part of his career

43 Tests, 3319 runs, 46.09 average, 8 hundreds, 14 fifties

I had written him off after he got dropped in 2019. If he had have finished with just 44 Tests and less than 3000 runs it would have been a bit of disappointing career for the talent he had. Fantastic for him to get back and then dominate in 2022 and 2023 like he was able to. 6000 runs is the type of career I envisioned when he came onto the scene

For me the first part of his career...he was a good player of pace poor player of spin

2nd half..its flipped Good player of Spin poor player of pace

 

[largebus]

Dean Jones called a South African a terrorist. Darren Lehman was reprimanded for racist comments made to towards a Sri Lanka player. Greg Ritchie.. well Greg Ritchie. Not hard to find examples within cricket system.

I was talking about instances specific to Khawaja because that's what he was pointing out in the press conference

 

[Jack Mundy]

I was talking about instances specific to Khawaja because that's what he was pointing out in the press conference

I don't know Usman or his story so I can't confirm or deny what he says other than racism clearly exists in the cricket system.

 

[Stax on the mill]

Yep when a Victorian gets dropped they stay dropped, Uzzie has been dropped 7 times over his career, a Victorian got as many chances as his had they would be up there in test runs

Dean Jones, Brad Hodge for starters.

 

[Ohitsthatguy]

Dean Jones, Brad Hodge for starters.

From all reports was a bit of a w***er, didn't fit in

There was also a lot of great batsmen around that era

 

[Kram]

Quality career.

 

[kickazz]

Enjoyed watching him play. Was just a bit off being really really good but geez I'll take that career given the batting woes we've had over the last 15 years.

His speech does seem a bit chip on shoulder, but geez he would have copped a lot of shit over the years. That's what people probably don't understand. PhatBoy I get your comparison to Martyn but did he have the racial shit to grow up with? And the social media age just amplifies it.

Anyway hope he tons up and we go 4-1

 

[James Colorado]

Yep when a Victorian gets dropped they stay dropped, Uzzie has been dropped 7 times over his career, a Victorian got as many chances as his had they would be up there in test runs

Any state can produce good batsmen, we just focused on the GOAT bowler

 

[Scorpus]

Somewhat churlish press conference having a crack at the media for pressing for him to retire
He's 40 next year ffs

Feels like no one inside the walls of the Australian team has told him his form has been terrible the last few years

 

[Ohitsthatguy]

Feels like no one inside the walls of the Australian team has told him his form has been terrible the last few years

Boys club

 

[SportsCentre]

Probable move into the media.

Our opening partnerships do having a liking to gravitate to the media

We have and had
Taylor/Slater
Hayden/Langer

Get set for
Warner/Khawaja

 

[MagpieArmyChronicles]

He objected to his fitness being scrutinized, he was overweight. Hes a professional on good coin with all the resources available to not have love handles. I hope they dont give him prime commentary gigs, last thing i want to hear is his political babble .

 

[schmuttt]

Had a great career and no doubt he would have experienced racism at all points, but to sook about the criticism post Perth is extremely entitled. You can't be crap for a while then have the terrible optics of that golf tournament into the back injury and expect no-one to say anything.

 

[010203]

He was a stylish batter when he got going. His two most significant innings came in the match saving knock against Pakistan in the UAE in 2018 and Edgbaston 2023.

I do believe he was done after the World Test Championship Final when Rabada had his number which continued of him no longer being good enough to face quality fast bowling, which can happen at the age of 38.

 

[Bedi]

Asked ChatGPT and it said his average as an opener was 48

Dunno if that's right but it's pretty impressive if it is, even if he did cash in on lower ranked nations

Does beg the question how many more runs he would have scored if he batted as number 5. Can be a pretty thankless role opening the batting

 

[Bedi]

Of course, and he can’t help that. But if their records are similar, which they are, then the logical thing to do to try and compare them is to analyse how they fared against the best bowlers of their era or bowlers that were of a similar standard.

I don’t subscribe to an ‘everything was better because it happened in the past’ mantra. I simply wdo barbie to an attitude that of all the attacks either player faced the best two are probably - well no probably about it at all really, the West Indies attacks David Clarence faced.

The next best are probably the SA attacks Usman has faced early on, then the Pakistan attacks Boon struggled against.

After that it’s the pommy attacks, both played some good Indian attacks away, Boon never faced any good Indian attacks here, he faced some good early Saffer attacks after reintroduction. And good kiwi attacks albeit they relied heavily on Hadlee.

Yes it’s harsh to judge someone because of who they DIDNT play and I understand that but what I’m saying is against the best opposition he met, he fared worse. I think he sits about where he should

Even if it were a one-man attack I would say Boon facing Hadlee wouldn't be far be off from facing the Windies in many ways. Even if you did get respite in between overs I have him down as the second greatest fast bowler of all time after Lillee. He single handedly destroyed us 1985/86, so another tick for Boonie

But back to Usman, i intentionally used the word 'successful' rather than 'better' than and in that sense you could argue he is on par to Boonie, Langer etc.

To be 15th ever highest run scorer for Aust would certainly make him one of the greats in my book. Not a legend (Bradman), or even an all-time great (Greg Chappell), but a great cricketer (Langer, Mark Waugh) -- which is better than 'very good' like the other names being bandied around like Katich etc

 

[Bedi]

He was a stylish batter when he got going. His two most significant innings came in the match saving knock against Pakistan in the UAE in 2018 and Edgbaston 2023.

I do believe he was done after the World Test Championship Final when Rabada had his number which continued of him no longer being good enough to face quality fast bowling, which can happen at the age of 38.

He had two absolute purple patches where he was unstoppable, incl that short stint in T20 where he was blockbuster viewing

 

[Around the Wicket]

That is the worst speech I've ever seen from a retiring sportsmen.. race card.. really..