Scotty
David Codey (61)
Great post and great wrap up.
I feel our lack of consistency in the bowling comes from the lack of having a great leader or two out of the bowling unit. Even one of McGrath or Warne could have turned the whole bowling unit around. Johnson is the only one who has the ability to be a great bowler, but with his lack of consistency he is unlikely to be a great leader of the bowling attack. It is a shame Clark is not 3-4 years younger.
As far as the batting inconsistency goes, there is no real excuse. Our three most experienced players are batsmen, and they should be leading from the front (which two of them normally do). I maintain that a big part of our failure to win series over the last year has been Hussey's lack of form. When we were a very strong side we could afford to carry a batsman through a rough trot (our bowlers hardly ever had one), but we cannot anymore. A top of form Hussey would have helped sway the tide Australias way in many of the lost or drawn games (our other big issue was the injury to Stu Clark before the start of the South African series - an injury that is still having ramifications with our bowling unit).
Back onto the batting inconsistency the selectors can be given the thumbs up for handing North his debut, but I feel in the long run a big thumbs down for dropping Hughes. Watson is most certainly not a test cricket opener, and I feel has ridden his luck to score the runs he did. Hughes has the ability to produce a big match defining ton that Watson doesn't, so who knows what he may have achieved at the Oval in the last game.
I feel our lack of consistency in the bowling comes from the lack of having a great leader or two out of the bowling unit. Even one of McGrath or Warne could have turned the whole bowling unit around. Johnson is the only one who has the ability to be a great bowler, but with his lack of consistency he is unlikely to be a great leader of the bowling attack. It is a shame Clark is not 3-4 years younger.
As far as the batting inconsistency goes, there is no real excuse. Our three most experienced players are batsmen, and they should be leading from the front (which two of them normally do). I maintain that a big part of our failure to win series over the last year has been Hussey's lack of form. When we were a very strong side we could afford to carry a batsman through a rough trot (our bowlers hardly ever had one), but we cannot anymore. A top of form Hussey would have helped sway the tide Australias way in many of the lost or drawn games (our other big issue was the injury to Stu Clark before the start of the South African series - an injury that is still having ramifications with our bowling unit).
Back onto the batting inconsistency the selectors can be given the thumbs up for handing North his debut, but I feel in the long run a big thumbs down for dropping Hughes. Watson is most certainly not a test cricket opener, and I feel has ridden his luck to score the runs he did. Hughes has the ability to produce a big match defining ton that Watson doesn't, so who knows what he may have achieved at the Oval in the last game.