Official Ashes 2006-07 Team Discussion Thread

apollo_creed · Dec 28, 2005

Re: The 4 things that need to happen in the next 12 months if we want to regain the A

Homer Jnr said:
How is it poor?

Ohhhh... Because I don't agree with you!

How silly of me to disagree.

Dude go easy.

It took me about an hour to post what I did above.

Homer Jnr · Dec 28, 2005

Re: The 4 things that need to happen in the next 12 months if we want to regain the A

apollo_creed said:
Dude go easy.

It took me about an hour to post what I did above.

Fair enough!

Very analytical, and I think where we are at with the discussion (mainly coz I seriously couldn't be rooted picking it all apart), is that we agree with plenty, and through my long-term Johnson watching (4-5 years), I think he has the tools to get there, whereas you don't agree on what you have seen. All of this is totally fair enough.

Nothing but respect for the amount that you care about your cricket, and it is obvious this is a particular topic that you care alot about.

Johnson could very well be there one day, but I'm yet to find anyone who suggests he has what it takes to be there in the next 3-4 years.

Please don't use Alan Mullally, you are scaring me

. No one deserves that. I am merely saying that he some tools at his disposal that others around the scene don't have. IF he can harness them successfully, he has overcome most of the battle.

He is a 'prospect' amongst many others, but at this stage, I think we need to just find a group (10ish) of these prospects and do whatever we can to fast-track them. 15 months time Lee, Tait and Dorey are our quicks. Lewis, Gillespie, Bracken and co are only there in case of a very dire situation. Once Lee, Tait and Dorey are our leading quicks, who is below them? Rofe and who else? Thus we need to develop the prospects. This is the key to our long-term progress, because batsmen come and go all the time.

GoSydneySwans · Dec 29, 2005

Re: The 4 things that need to happen in the next 12 months if we want to regain the A

I really want to see Dorey bowl now. I've heard too much about him, even from non-WA people, so he must have something going for him.

One thing to remember though, Australia's future quite simply rests in the hands of Shaun Tait. He's the only long-term prospect that we've definitely know has the ability, and it looks as if it will be that way for a while. If Lee and Dorey are going to be joining him in our pace attack, then consider that Lee is almost 30 now, and Dorey is only one year younger. Although it doesn't seem this way for champion bowlers like Warne and McGrath, it is only natural for a bowler to start going downhill after passing the age of 30.

We really have no prospects outside Tait, so as soon as we can, we must get him into the side permanently, and stop playing players like Bracken and Clark who quite clearly won't be winning the Ashes for us, as Bracken's claimed 'swing' is invisible to the naked (and clothed) eye, and Clark is simply not McGrath.

Gunnar Longshanks · Jan 16, 2006

Re: The Ashes 2006-07: How will the side look?

I'll make one guarantee about this side:

If there are two spinners, there will also be a batting all-rounder at #6.

You can lock that in. That is the new reality in Australian cricket.

People who have named Warne and MacGill along with 6 specialist batsmen are kidding themselves.

For as long as there are 2 spinners among our best 4 bowlers, Watson or Symonds will get picked ahead of a 6th specialist batsman.

Hopefully, Tait can do enough to leap-frog MacGill and alter that calculus. But in the meantime, the batting all-rounder is a priority for the selectors. Only the emergence of a 3rd world-class quick will change that.

Makes you realise just how significant Gillespie's decline was.

The_Eagles · Jan 16, 2006

Re: The Ashes 2006-07: How will the side look?

Im not being a sycophant here, but Gunnar you're a top cricket poster..so many morons on this board

Gunnar Longshanks · Jan 16, 2006