Problems in Australian Cricket and possible solutions | Thebigtip

So we’ve just lost a one-day series to Sri Lanka 2-1 and had our only win come in the dead rubber up at the Gabba.

It is a very low point in Australian Cricket and there are a good many questions that need to be asked and answered. There have been also a good many suggestions and I think it’s time that we looked at all the issues and saw some changes made, not only to the playing roster, but also behind the scenes.

I will highlight a number of these issues/questions and try to provide reasonable answers in order to see if we could get to the bottom of our troubles.

1. Dad’s Army

Have a look at the last test squad that went over to India. When you look at that squad, you’ll quickly come across the fact that this is the oldest squad we’ve had for a long time.

Ricky Ponting (35)

Michael Clarke (29)

Doug Bollinger (29)

Peter George (24)

Nathan Hauritz (29)

Josh Hazlewood (19)

Ben Hilfenhaus (27)

Phillip Hughes (21)

Michael Hussey (35)

Mitchell Johnson (29)

Simon Katich (35)

Marcus North (31)

Tim Paine (25)

Steven Smith (21)

Shane Watson (29)

Out of those, Hughes, Hazelwood, George and Smith didn’t play in either of the matches so it could be said that it was a reasonably old team that played.

2. Reliance on Under-Performing Players and basing selections on reputation

This would have to be the biggest bane in Australian Cricket at this point in time; the fact that when every series comes around, the same players are being picked, not based on performance but based on past deeds (or reputation as it’s known).

Marcus North – Either gets 100 or does nothing. More often than not, he does nothing.

Mitchell Johnson – He just cannot bloody bowl the ball accurately or consistently.

Michael Hussey – Has been very mediocre over the past 6 Test Series, averaging just 25 with the bat.

3. Captaincy succession

Is Michael Clarke really the captain in waiting? Based on Tuesday night’s abysmal one-day loss to Sri Lanka, absolutely not. If you have a team reeling at 8/107 you generally would expect that the game would be over. You wouldn’t expect a middle-order batsman and a tailender to go the slog and get a world record 9th wicket partnership of 139. Sadly that’s what happened and a large portion of the blame has to be attached to Clarke and his decisions. I mean, it all went wrong the moment he brought Johnson on to bowl. He got slogged and everyone else got slogged as a result. His field placings were poor and frankly, it was embarrassing to watch.

4. Bowlers unable to perform consistently

This would definitely be a huge bane with the likes of Mitchell Johnson unable to bowl consistently. Ever since they lost Troy Cooley as bowling coach, the bowling has gone to absolute shambles. During the one-day series it was disgusting to see Australia not even bothering to bowl at the stumps. They tried to bowl to a plan and get people out hooking or cutting or anything like that but if you can’t deliver that ball consistently, you’re going to get smashed. Australia were smashed and it doesn’t bode well for the Ashes series at all.

So what needs to be done to improve our fortunes

1. Change the look of the team

At the end of the Ashes series, we need to say to the likes of Ponting, Hussey and Katich “you’ve been brilliant for a long time but now we need to rebuild” and we need to replace them with performing younger players. Players like Callum Ferguson and Cameron White.