Tim ****ing Nielsen.

[King Elvis]

This is the worst side I can remember; we struggled in the 80s obviously, but it was against brutal opposition and there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Now, we just plain suck.

We can't bowl for shit, we can't swing it, we can't bowl line and length with any consistency, we can't do anything.

Our batting is a joke, there is almost zero application from most of the side, they throw their wickets away too easily, at crucial parts of the game. Basically, if you can't get Watto out, we're ****ed, you just hope one of Huss/Hads can dig in for a while.

And possibly the worst part - our fielding is a disgrace. Should be the one part of the Aus XI that is always top shelf, there is no excuse for an Australian Cricket Team to suck at fielding, yet we do.

So, every single facet of our game is totally shit, when does the Coach, who has presided over us losing every major series we have played (bar one), get marched?

 

[Smoooothy]

after we're kocked out of the world cup in the super 8's stage, i can't see him staying on much longer

wonder what john bucchanan's doing?

 

[ROSEMVP]

Shippy needs to take over asap.

 

[philohk]

Timmy will be gutted after everything was going swimmingly a couple of weeks ago.

Seriously, Kingy, you've hit the nail on the head. I know sport is cyclical, but Australia should be able to produce a team in ANY era that fields well, that has batsmen choosing their shots and moving their feet and that has bowlers who can bowl to a plan fairly accurately. These are fundamental.

To be fair, though I'm no fan of Timmy's, you can't put this all on the senior coach - there's a bit of responsibility on the selectors and the FC system. But our preparation seems non-existent and there's no improvement in players after spending time in the national setup. That is on Timmy.

 

[Plugger35]

after we're kocked out of the world cup in the super 8's stage, i can't see him staying on much longer

wonder what john bucchanan's doing?

Not sure going back to John Buchanan is the answer, he has a great coaching record but that was mainly due to having a great team at his disposal.

They need to look for someone new, whether that is one of the state coaches or a recently retired ex-player like Steve Waugh or someone from overseas like Mickey Arthur.

Why CA didn't wait until after this Ashes series and the World Cup before renewing Neilsen's contract is dumbfounding. It is becoming increasingly clear that he isn't the right man for the job.

 

[Punchy Bassett]

Lets face it you employ someone with a SACA background and we are surprised we are turned into a bunch of losers?

And that is a SA person saying this!

 

[ROSEMVP]

too much sa involved with the team. lets face it sa cricket sucks.

 

[Jolldo87]

Time for Neilen to go. No matter the ability of the players in your side you should be able to get the basics right. The players must take some of the blame for this but the coach must also.

Steve Waugh or Greg Shipperd would do a good job imo. Personally i'd go after Waugh if he was interested.

Also get rid of the BNG. He's useless.

 

[Brad Goodman]

Should be hanged. Or at the very least launched from a very large catapult into the Pacific Ocean.

 

[Rocket23]

Not sure going back to John Buchanan is the answer, he has a great coaching record but that was mainly due to having a great team at his disposal.

They need to look for someone new, whether that is one of the state coaches or a recently retired ex-player like Steve Waugh or someone from overseas like Mickey Arthur.

Why CA didn't wait until after this Ashes series and the World Cup before renewing Neilsen's contract is dumbfounding. It is becoming increasingly clear that he isn't the right man for the job.

Agree with all that you've said except for the bolded bit. Look at blokes like Staker. He has done wonders with the English bowlers and he is a local.
I think we need to start employing blokes on merit and ability, not on reputation.

 

[The Passenger]

yeah we need to have a look at the entire set up.

you can see that the basics have completely fallen away which just shouldn't happen at the test level.

gotta ask why our selectors are picking players who are not currently performing at shield level. i'm all for picking youngsters, backing them in, but give them the best chance by bringing them into the team when they are performing at state level. It's very tough to bring Hughes, Smith, Beer, Doherty into the team when neither have been in form at the level below. I know in the case of Hughes and Smith they have had a big season or two at shield level which is why they are excited about them... but you gotta just bide your time till their back scoring runs.

i really don't think our cricket is in such a shit state of affairs.

we've gotta develop some quick bowlers who offer more than the hit the deck hard bang it short of a good length - we've got an army of those fella's in shield cricket.

 

[philohk]

yeah we need to have a look at the entire set up.

you can see that the basics have completely fallen away which just shouldn't happen at the test level.

gotta ask why our selectors are picking players who are not currently performing at shield level. i'm all for picking youngsters, backing them in, but give them the best chance by bringing them into the team when they are performing at state level. It's very tough to bring Hughes, Smith, Beer, Doherty into the team when neither have been in form at the level below. I know in the case of Hughes and Smith they have had a big season or two at shield level which is why they are excited about them... but you gotta just bide your time till their back scoring runs.

i really don't think our cricket is in such a shit state of affairs.

we've gotta develop some quick bowlers who offer more than the hit the deck hard bang it short of a good length - we've got an army of those fella's in shield cricket.

Any names there? All I can do from here is look at who's taking wickets, but I rarely actually see any of them play.

 

[The Passenger]

pretty much everyone you see on the wickettaking lists are very similar in style, including those in the test team. harris, siddle, bollinger, swan, wright, cutting, george, d pattinson, mckay, magoffin, hogan, butterworth etc,. some are a bit quicker than others (siddle) and some swing it a bit more than others (swan, magoffin)

the only guys who really offer something different are johnson (x factor but wildly inconsistent), copeland (swing and bounce), hazlewood (bounce and accuracy), pattinson (speed and accuracy).... but we are having trouble keeping the last two on the pitch with hazlewood being ruled out for the season.

as for our spinners..... well that is just a very sad state of affairs.

 

[Goldencats]

Can some1 tell me if this moron has actually been answered any questions after any of our losses or actually spoken to the media and accepting some responsibility?

I can't recall an instance

 

[Jesse Custer]

What about the WA coach Micky Arthur? I reckon we need someone outside of Australia.

 

[Goldencats]

What about the WA coach Micky Arthur? I reckon we need someone outside of Australia.

Yep, we have to think outside the square now, we have to follow the path the likes of India (Kirsten) and England (Flower) have taken, that is employ some1 from outside Aus or has had experience outside Aus

You need different ideas in situations like this

Micky Arthur is a proven coach and is a key reason as to where RSA are now

 

[Brad Goodman]

Robbie Deans?

 

[King Elvis]

Deans is a gun.

 

[Adz87]

Personally I think you're all a bunch of peahearts.

Like anything the game changes, great players come and go.

Burning people at the stake because the cattle simply isnt there, really shouldnt be the first course of action.

You take Warne, Mcgrath, Hayden, Langer and Gilchrist out of a side and it will leave a massive hole.

I also think we badly, badly felt the loss of Katich when he got injured.

Its a bit hard to generate any momentum from the top of the order when you have a hack like Hughes nicking up all the time and putting pressure on his teammates.

Guys like Ponting and Clarke, two seasoned players shouldnt need coaching. One of the elements of junior high performance coaching is the idea that by the time you are through with the talent they should be able to coach themselves.

Granted, every now and then a little observation is required by an outside source but these blokes are good enough to look after themselves.

Sadly I think Ponting is over the hill and Clarke has been found out as a number 5 bat at best.

Maybe we just dont have the talent. I dont think we do, the Australian side keep talking about the talent they have and how they just need to show it, well, Im calling bullshit.

Hughes, Smith, Helfenhaus and Siddle arent test match players.

Warne was once quoted as saying Coaches were pointless at the highest of levels.

I think he's right. It's just a get out clause for the players who arent performing and an easy target for muppets who want to cry foul about something.

Talent identification, talent retention, especially when competiting against other codes and high performance junior coaching is the issue IMO.

 

[Sman-21]

yes the players are to blame for the performances out on pitch.

But guys like nielsen are supposed to be coming up with gameplans to counteract the opposition.
Have u seen any change in our gameplan (bowling side) throughout the whole series?
Have u seen any different plans agains batsman that have been destroying us all series?

A cricket coach at test levels job isnt to coach a player an work on their skills technique etc.
Its to scout the opposition.
Tell each bowler what the batsmans weaknesses are, where to bowl an how to get him out.

Nielsen has no idea he must go
It wont make us number 1 again by dumping him but we will atleast be more competitive an not so far off the top 2 teams.

 

[Adz87]

yes the players are to blame for the performances out on pitch.

But guys like nielsen are supposed to be coming up with gameplans to counteract the opposition.
Have u seen any change in our gameplan (bowling side) throughout the whole series?
Have u seen any different plans agains batsman that have been destroying us all series?

A cricket coach at test levels job isnt to coach a player an work on their skills technique etc.
Its to scout the opposition.
Tell each bowler what the batsmans weaknesses are, where to bowl an how to get him out.

Nielsen has no idea he must go
It wont make us number 1 again by dumping him but we will atleast be more competitive an not so far off the top 2 teams.

Nah, that's crap.

If a player of Pontings experience can pick out potential weaknesses in an opponent he shouldnt be skipper.

Im sure there were plans, Im sure there were was a method.

We saw the fire and brimstone to unsettle the poms in Perth.

It's a tad hard to execute said plan when you have a bunch of battlers.

It's like West Coast attempting to slow down a Collingwood side.

The intent is their, the cattle are shit.

 

[Sman-21]

ok well we should sack him anyway coz in your opinion a coach isnt needed.

Good hes gone then

Once a player makes it to test level they shouldnt need anymore technique training
so whats his job other than to organize training etc?

Upto the coach to do all the scouting of opposition.

Its then up to ponting to get the fielders in the right spots for plan A if thats not working try plan b an plan c.

An the result in perth was mainly due to the wicket.
An a tiny bit to do with MJ having a freak day where he looks awesome happens about 4times a year.
Its the fastest an bounciest wicket in the world, its extremely hard for players from other countries to adapt especially players from england where bounce is lower.
All we had to do was get it close to the right area an the small movement plus that extra speed an bounce made life difficult for the poms.

They take that wicket an use it everywhere we would win 9 times out of 10.

 

[Simon_Nesbit]

It's not hard to hold the seam straight.
It's not hard to bowl in the one spot.
It's not hard to leave the ball outside off.
It's not hard to pitch the ball up.

We fail at all of those. Consistently. Most/All of that can be blamed on the assortment of coaches for mine.

So what's actually wrong with Australian cricket? Well the easy answer is lots, but one thing which for mine is (close to if not the) biggest reason that is regularly ignored/overlooked are the 'quality' of our pitches.

How many of our batsman cope with the swinging ball? or movement off the pitch? two-paced?

Of the test side, Khawaja is probably #1. Without having any idea on his background, my guess is his club side plays on greentops more often than not - his technique is one of the best going around.

England/NZ = Gabba (early), Bellerieve
WIndies = WACA (80s, recently)
SAfrica = Gabba (late), MCG
India/Pakistan/etc = SCG, Adelaide Oval

Between our six main grounds we had pitches that at least emulated the conditions our players would face overseas. Batsmen developed techniques that worked on all surfaces - or they failed.

It's almost like every curator in the land looked at Adelaide Oval and went....hmm....6/500 is a good score, lets make that.

It's an issue throughout all of cricket (Day 5 $$$), but it's a poison, slowly killing off the game's future, just to eke out some more $$$ now. It's allready in advanced stages in Australia - perhaps because the concept of "preparing" pitches for the home team is relatively 'foreign'.

 

[Adz87]

ok well we should sack him anyway coz in your opinion a coach isnt needed.

Good hes gone then

Once a player makes it to test level they shouldnt need anymore technique training
so whats his job other than to organize training etc?

Upto the coach to do all the scouting of opposition.

Its then up to ponting to get the fielders in the right spots for plan A if thats not working try plan b an plan c.

An the result in perth was mainly due to the wicket.
An a tiny bit to do with MJ having a freak day where he looks awesome happens about 4times a year.
Its the fastest an bounciest wicket in the world, its extremely hard for players from other countries to adapt especially players from england where bounce is lower.
All we had to do was get it close to the right area an the small movement plus that extra speed an bounce made life difficult for the poms.

They take that wicket an use it everywhere we would win 9 times out of 10.

You havent really said anything here.

 

[Adz87]

It's not hard to hold the seam straight.
It's not hard to bowl in the one spot.
It's not hard to leave the ball outside off.
It's not hard to pitch the ball up.

We fail at all of those. Consistently. Most/All of that can be blamed on the assortment of coaches for mine.

So what's actually wrong with Australian cricket? Well the easy answer is lots, but one thing which for mine is (close to if not the) biggest reason that is regularly ignored/overlooked are the 'quality' of our pitches.

How many of our batsman cope with the swinging ball? or movement off the pitch? two-paced?

Of the test side, Khawaja is probably #1. Without having any idea on his background, my guess is his club side plays on greentops more often than not - his technique is one of the best going around.

England/NZ = Gabba (early), Bellerieve
WIndies = WACA (80s, recently)
SAfrica = Gabba (late), MCG
India/Pakistan/etc = SCG, Adelaide Oval

Between our six main grounds we had pitches that at least emulated the conditions our players would face overseas. Batsmen developed techniques that worked on all surfaces - or they failed.

It's almost like every curator in the land looked at Adelaide Oval and went....hmm....6/500 is a good score, lets make that.

It's an issue throughout all of cricket (Day 5 $$$), but it's a poison, slowly killing off the game's future, just to eke out some more $$$ now. It's allready in advanced stages in Australia - perhaps because the concept of "preparing" pitches for the home team is relatively 'foreign'.

Khawaja will be exposed for an inability to play through the covers.

He really needs to improve that part of his game, otherwise he will be choked far too easily.