So we've been unbeatable for the best part of 12-18 months now, including becoming world champions and a win streak of the last 8 international matches, yet we lose one test and suddenly all the armchair critics are coming out of the woodwork.
Unbelievable. We knew we had an old squad, it was raised numerous times prior to the tour and no one seemed to have a problem with it then. Yet, we drop one test, two days after one of our best bowlers retires and suddenly we can't compete with England any more and the wrong blokes are on tour. The same England that we beat 5-0 and rolled over at the world cup.
I think we were somewhat ambushed by the Cardiff pitch. They bowled well in patches but by in large we threw our wickets away with terrible shot selection. The axe needs to be wielded at the selection table but by no means do we have younger blokes putting their hands up for selection. If anyone believes Voges shouldn't be there they are seriously kidding themselves.
Regarding first drop, I reckon it's a weakness of ours that hasn't quite been figured out. I'm convinced Smith is our best batsman and he will mature into the role but right now his technique is fragile to swing bowling and he will be found out in English conditions. Read an article that compared him to Jon Trott which I thought was quite interesting, he definitely has the same shuffle prior to delivery. I'd expect that average of his to decline slightly throughout this series but TBH we have no better option there.
For the next test, I'd drop Haddin and Watson, bring in Neville and M.Marsh. If Starc needs to be rested then Siddle is the man.
Plenty of us had a problem with the age of the squad and the lack of any real move towards gradual generational change, it's just that victories masked many of the problems.
This is not the same England team we beat last series, they've retained some and they've brought in some new guys and the balance of their team is right. That's what it's all about - balance. Baristow - gone, Finn - gone, Prior -gone, Bresnan - gone, Panesar - gone, Tremlett - gone and Swann - gone. If we were playing an England team with those guys playing, our curent team would be unbeatable.
How on earth can we say that we were ambushed by the pitch? This is what we are going to get; slow seaming wickets - it's been written about so often could it be that team management were unaware of it?
I believe that Voges shouldn't be there, because his time has passed. There's been plenty of time in the last decade where the top scoring run maker in Sheffield Shield hasn't been in the Australian team - but all of a sudden he has to be there because of domestic form?
If indeed the only middle order batting option for the selectors to pick was a 35 year old, it shows a lack of develop of young players in this country. Not so long ago, we used to laugh at the Poms for picking old blokes who had scored in county cricket, who's laughing now?
