Test Surely the Cummins/McDonald captain/coach setup is the worst in Australian Test history

Remove this Banner Ad

Log in to remove this ad.

Tactics that allow 24 singles off the first 96 balls of the England innings are damning.

Isn't the whole point of Test cricket is to build pressure? Yet they allow the batters to turn the strike over at a rate of 1.5 times per over. One maiden over in the first 16, which would equate to 6 in 92 overs (that's what Aust faced). England had 14 maidens in the 92 overs and allowed 12 singles in the first 16 overs.

Just doesn't make sense...........
 
Tactics are beyond infuriating........agree?
Unfortunately both are a pair of soft c...ks! I have never seen an Australian Test team - and especially in an Ashes Series - have such a lack of a hard edge. Not only are they far too friendly with the Poms but they are not prepared to take hard decisions when it comes to selection. Once again - and I gave said rhis from day 1 of this series - that Warner does not deserve his place in the side. Surely nobody can disagree with that. Just look at his figures. Now in this specific Test where we were determined to play 2 all-rounders in Marsh & Green, we could have rearranged the batting line-up by dropping Warner & so that would have allowed us to have a dedicated spinner. I mean you could gave had Labuschagne bat as an opener or perhaps Carey or perhaps one of the 2 all-rounders. You would not be any worse off. Now we have England batting in the last innings of the Test on a wicket which - weather permitting - will invariably break up to some extent & so turn. But no these DUMB Australian selectors do all that they can to save Warner at any cost. Now we are severely handicapped by the lack of a specialist spinner. I think that England will get a healthy lead over a relatively mediocre Australian score of 317 & so Australia will be under a lot of pressure in their 2nd innings. Unless the weather intervenes, I can see a comfortable English victory coming up. Finally, I cannot recall an Australian batting line-up that lacks so much resilience in that they are totally incapable of making scores in the 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, etc, etc & go on and make hundreds, let alone big hundreds. They clearly lack HUNGER, CONCENTRATION & MENTAL TOUGHNESS. I could not imagine these results occurring under captains such as Border, Taylor & especially Steve Waugh. I simply have had a gut full! Goodnight & good luck.
 
Unfortunately both are a pair of soft c...ks! I have never seen an Australian Test team - and especially in an Ashes Series - have such a lack of a hard edge. Not only are they far too friendly with the Poms but they are not prepared to take hard decisions when it comes to selection. Once again - and I gave said rhis from day 1 of this series - that Warner does not deserve his place in the side. Surely nobody can disagree with that. Just look at his figures. Now in this specific Test where we were determined to play 2 all-rounders in Marsh & Green, we could have rearranged the batting line-up by dropping Warner & so that would have allowed us to have a dedicated spinner. I mean you could gave had Labuschagne bat as an opener or perhaps Carey or perhaps one of the 2 all-rounders. You would not be any worse off. Now we have England batting in the last innings of the Test on a wicket which - weather permitting - will invariably break up to some extent & so turn. But no these DUMB Australian selectors do all that they can to save Warner at any cost. Now we are severely handicapped by the lack of a specialist spinner. I think that England will get a healthy lead over a relatively mediocre Australian score of 317 & so Australia will be under a lot of pressure in their 2nd innings. Unless the weather intervenes, I can see a comfortable English victory coming up. Finally, I cannot recall an Australian batting line-up that lacks so much resilience in that they are totally incapable of making scores in the 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, etc, etc & go on and make hundreds, let alone big hundreds. They clearly lack HUNGER, CONCENTRATION & MENTAL TOUGHNESS. I could not imagine these results occurring under captains such as Border, Taylor & especially Steve Waugh. I simply have had a gut full! Goodnight & good luck.
Screenshot 2023-07-20 at 14.43.37.png
 
Australia are suffering the same problem as 2005, when Kasper and Gillespie just lost all form and performance. Kasper was 33, Dizzy was only 30!.

We need to drop both Starc and J.Haz for our home summer - as we did both Kasper and Dizzy post 2005, and look to rebuild our seam attack with a view to India and England in 2024 and 2025 respectively.

There is not much test cricket on the horizon for us.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

Australia has a better record (both win% and win-loss ratio) under Cummins than it did under genius captain of the 90s Mark Taylor. Taylor was playing with a gun side too.
Wouldn't strip the captaincy off him like some want but I am worried the toll it may be having on him and if he is getting enough help.
 
I don't want to get sucked into all the Boomers V Millennials stuff, but I wonder if maybe Cummins does need to add a bit more Captain Angrypants to his game.

Yes it's important to be positive and supportive and inclusive......but sometimes blokes just need a good old-fashioned rocket up the bum. Today was one of those times where a Cap'n Grumpy demanding "what the fk is going on?!" might have been required...
 
our plans have been sufficient or lucky, rather than good. our 2-1 is not from cummins being a master tactician.
what we've been doing has been ok enough to give us the wins, and sometimes you have to go against accepted cricket practices to win.
for me it's hard to escape the feeling that we've won in spite of some of our tactics. the boundary covering has been done in response to england's tactics, and it's sort of worked. so i can't complain too much. but in the midst of that is some other less explainable tactics, and the 2nd test where the brains trust had to send out a message to target the stumps is pretty instructive of some of the rigidity and bizarre nature of what is happening.
 
I don't want to get sucked into all the Boomers V Millennials stuff, but I wonder if maybe Cummins does need to add a bit more Captain Angrypants to his game.

Yes it's important to be positive and supportive and inclusive......but sometimes blokes just need a good old-fashioned rocket up the bum. Today was one of those times where a Cap'n Grumpy demanding "what the fk is going on?!" might have been required...

He would of gone and cried in the corner and would need ongoing counseling to get passed it.
 
Tactics even in our two wins have been mind blowing. I see why we typically don’t have a bowler as captain. And who chose not to play a spinner on a dry surface made a foolish decision.

We absolutely got out of jail on both, and it was pretty obvious to anyone who was paying attention.

Preparation for this Series has been a mess - same as in India.

Lack of planning for Warner failing (which was as sure as the sun setting) is pathetic - we should've had the back up batsmen playing cricket this entire period.

Ignoring current form (ie, Green vs Neser) is extremely arrogant, considering the stakes.

Selection just a mess in general.

Batting all over the shop.

Field places baffling.

Bowling without any real plan except when we did the bouncer barrage - what's wrong with bowling good line and length, and forcing the batsmen to play good shots to score?

I'm not too bothered about the harpings of people like Hayden, but when you've got someone like Ponting just consistently baffled by what is happening, I think it's worth listening.


I'm a big Cummins fan, but we look extremely rattled at present.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top