Carlton Supporters Club

Australia are 1-0 down in the series and are facing not a world record chase, it'll be a universe record number of runs they need to win this second Test. However, the cracks that have appeared in this series, which will undoubtedly turn into gaping chasms by the time the team arrives back here for the return series, are not something that has just magically appeared. It is my strong belief that this has been coming for some time, its just that the pressure & microscope of an Ashes series has made them more visible than ever before.

Australian cricket, not dislike our fabulous football club, goes in cycles of success based on the quality of key players assembled at any given time. We have been giving the Poms some serious wallopings for some years on the back of having player like Warne, Waugh, McGrath & Gilchrist in the team.

If we take a look at the current team, only Michael Clarke is genuinely up to world standard although Ashton Agar has given us some future hope. Siddle & Pattinson are good bowlers, but not great, with both having some control issues and not knowing when & when not to be aggressive and in their face. Haddin is not a 'keepers bootlace yet if you ask anyone, they'll tell you he's the best of a bad bunch. Khawaja, Rogers, Cowan etc all have reasonable techniques but don't have the iron-clad mettle to build a long innings whilst Hughes is just a complete dud with an equally dud technique and footwork.

Basically, we have not been able to replace the gun players of the previous era (it is not something done with ease either) but the players we keep pinning our hopes on are too soft mentally or are too focussed on themselves, not the team (read : Watson).

We have recently seen the players have a hand in former coach Mickey Arthur being sacked with Watson's sooky-la-la attitude being central to it all. There is a culture within the playing ranks that is in complete contrast to that of yesteryear whereby the players did what was expected of them and didn't quibble about being pushed harder to achieve greater heights. They had genuine character and lived up to the standards that go with wearing the famous baggy green cap. 

It seems like this behaviour is not only tolerated, it is considered acceptable by many of them too !!

To add insult to injury, the ACB is being run by one James Sutherland who to the best of my knowledge, has not done anything ever to promote the game in this country nor focus on producing better cricketers overall. I say this because I keep getting the online newsletters telling us at grass roots level how well cricket is going in this country yet he is undoubtedly out of touch with reality. Cricket does not have increasing participation levels at all James, sadly, it is on the decrease and by a reasonable amount too. So instead of facing the reality of the situation and making plans to address it, they just put their heads in the sand and say its all good, great work if you can get it I reckon !!

And the ACB itself, it has some serious issues to address for this thing to be turned around and heading in the right direction. It appears to me that it is more and more being run along the lines of what you would get an your local and well-established suburban club with the only difference being that these guys actually get paid for giving their old school buddy a lucrative job or getting their best mate's son into the state squad.

They say the 'fish rots from the head' and if we look at the ACB as a complete entity, this one is past being rotten, it is decrepit. I cannot see any reason for us to return to being a power in world cricket whilst we have lacklustre administration running the game.

With India producing Test quality players as quickly as they do Bollywood movies, we will fall further behind unless we have the right people running the game in this country with a passion & committed drive for success.

Right now, we are fast becoming a national joke and an international embarrassment.      

The problem is, just like the 80's, development suffered on the back of a superb national team.

Plus, they gave Michael Clarke the captaincy 5 years ago and since then he's been waiting to get it from Punter officially, who was a crap skipper himself.

Clarke is the worst thing to happen to Oz cricket ever.

Clarke is a **** pure and simple and I don't mean a **** when he needs to be, like Alan Border, I mean just a **** every **** day of the week.

screw him, Watson and Haddin (all ****s) off and start again.

Quote from: cimm1979 – on July 21, 2013, 07:34:28 pm

The problem is, just like the 80's, development suffered on the back of a superb national team.

Plus, they gave Michael Clarke the captaincy 5 years ago and since then he's been waiting to get it from Punter officially, who was a crap skipper himself.

Clarke is the worst thing to happen to Oz cricket ever.

Clarke is a **** pure and simple and I don't mean a **** when he needs to be, like Alan Border, I mean just a **** every **** day of the week.

screw him, Watson and Haddin (all ****s) off and start again.

You're kidding about Clarke. He's made you look silly quite a few times so I suggest you quit that one while your behind. Especially as he's averaging 52.

As I said, try some blokes from the A Team currently touring SA.

The administration in this country has focussed on developing players who are best suited to playing 20/20 which does nothing for sustaining or improving a player's technique. Their mindset is all slather and whack because they think they only have 20-overs to bat, instead, they have five days which none of them have been able to completely grasp.

The administration is wrong, the selectors are wrong, the appointment of Clarke as captain was wrong at the time, the balls-up with Mickey Arthur ........... where does it stop ??

We are faced with years of rubbish like we are seeing in England right now because of the ineptness of the current people in control of the game in this country.

You cant have unrest in the camp unless you have Bradman like players who can perform on the field even if they dont get on with each other off the field and Watson aint no Bradman.

Bird must be played...... bizarre that he wasn't for this Test.

Watson must be dropped - can't get rewarding the carpola he produces...... fly in another 19 YO IF THAT'S ALL WE'VE GOT....

Does Rogers get another go after that deplorable effort?

Way too many NSW guys in the team too. Smith? Meh?

Hughes - double meh.......Shaun Marsh is 6 times the player Hughes could ever be......

Voges? D. Hussey?

Mike Hussey saw the writing in the wall i reckon.

Is Clarke as Captain the problem?!!