Posted by   on (June 26, 2013, 1:38 GMT)

I was surprised when Mickey Arthur was made coach of the Australian team. I wanted either Tom Moody or Boof to be the coach. I believed that with either of them as coach we would still have Ricky Ponting and David Hussey in the team and not to mention Simon Katich. The Ashes is the most IMPORTANT thing in Australian cricket and either winning or retaining the Ashes is an all or nothing thing. It shouldn't matter what age a player is if they are scoring well or taking wickets they should be in the team.

Posted by milepost on (June 25, 2013, 22:20 GMT)

Still time to remove Clarke as well though not sure who would be captain?

Posted by Clyde on (June 25, 2013, 11:31 GMT)

It is as if a lot of people are mesmerised by the notion of a coach. I am sure a lot of other people, like me, even if they have been good cricketers in their time, would not have the faintest idea what a coach does. What is all the fuss about?

Posted by Clyde on (June 25, 2013, 11:06 GMT)

The coach ought not to matter very much, but somehow he has become shockingly prominent. The selectors should select and not play. The players should choose a coach if they want one. One gets the impression that very recently in Australia the cricketers have been dominated by their servants.

Posted by batz.man on (June 25, 2013, 9:16 GMT)

@Michael Dickson, you must be joking. Tell me you are. The way those Indians were going, even a green lush park wasn't going to stop them and I'm not talking about their bowling. Their death bowling and a couple of their middle-order batsmen (if we are lucky) are the chinks which I saw was worth exploiting for England. The thing here is, if their batting fails, I can't see any other batting unit surpass it given their current form on any pitch. Which means either the Indian young brigade is better than their predecessors with green pitch/short balls or barring England, all the other teams are going through a rut. Take a pick. So who would win even on a green lush pitch I wonder. But yes, I was hoping the Kiwis meet them in the semi, agree with you on that, just to see how it goes. But the more we see how it goes, the more they win, at least during this tournament. As for the finals, 20-20 was our best bet esp since we won the toss and yet..

Posted by   on (June 25, 2013, 7:41 GMT)

@Massey_T, I agree with TheBigBoodha completely about the CT pitches in England. These were very dry and unusual pitches as far as "English" pitches are concerned. A lot of Cricinfo preview articles and opinion pieces were saying the same thing. India will struggle against sides that prepare greentops. NZ could also cause them a lot of problems if the groundsmen prepare such pitches in 2014 for them as well, as our bowling stocks have never been better than they are right now (we haven't even got our best prospects out on the park yet - Matt Henry and Adam Milne will be interesting to watch, Milne looked very good in the 5th ODI vs Sri Lanka before weather cut the match off).

Coming to this article/video though, Chappell makes a very sound point about leadership vs captaincy, and I don't think Clarke has very strong leadership. The team need to gel together and be willing to fight for each other if not together (and preferrably ON the field) if they want to turn their fortunes around.

Posted by Prasanna_310 on (June 25, 2013, 7:15 GMT)

It is amazing how pundits are slowly retreating their strong belief in role or coach in "building" a team. Earlier, you heard it from every pundits barring Imran Khan about the role a coach had had in a team. I remember how Imran did not believe in coach's role and always focused on good captain, and now we can see why. Take India for example, whether there is a coach or not, they have performed. Their success in building a potent team is due to the presence of a capable captain in Dhoni. Earlier it was Ganguly. Australia needs someone who regularly performs, and who encourages young talents.

Posted by Massey_T on (June 25, 2013, 4:05 GMT)

Bigboodha, werent you one of them that 'predicted' in a serious and solemn know it all manner that 'I predict India will not win any matches' in the just concluded CT tournament? lol. I rest my case. Once they are winning now, its all dusty and flat tracks is it. Of course it must be, such was their batting dominance! Too hard to believe for normal simpletons who would of course deem all England pitches that India played from start to end as flat/dry or such. Please do continue with such predictions. Oh I see you have already made the next one rofl. As for Australia's problem, its just temporary and you shall see the difference once a couple of changes are made. We dont need any concerned sympathies mate

Posted by Massey_T on (June 25, 2013, 4:05 GMT)

Well said Leggie. @Bigboodha, werent you one of them that 'predicted' in a serious and solemn know it all manner that 'I predict India will not win any matches' in the just concluded CT tournament? lol. I rest my case. Once they are winning now, its all dusty and flat tracks is it. Of course it must be, such was their batting dominance! Too hard to believe for normal simpletons who would of course deem all England pitches that India played from start to end as flat/dry or such. Please do continue with such predictions. Oh I see you have already made the next one rofl. As for Australia's problem, its just temporary and you shall see the difference once a couple of changes are made. We dont need any concerned sympathies

Posted by Batmanian on (June 24, 2013, 18:50 GMT)

@Leggie, I guess we had fifteen years where at any given time three or four Shield teams would have been in the top ten FC teams in the world - Test sides included. Probably got a bit complacent. The two transitions from Club to Shield to Test is less fraught for quicks than spinners and batsmen, obviously.