Australian Men?s Cricket is heading for a fall

[Guest]

Would love to hear people?s thoughts on where Australian Men?s Cricket in the next 3-4 years is heading.

My personal thoughts are that we are heading for a fall. I say this because I see a real fall off in our batting in particular - Smith is not the bat he once was and the move to opener which in his own words was done partially to get Green back into the side and also to hopefully give him a spark has failed. The structure of their batting order has changed dramatically with the retirement of Warner as the the top 4 are now players who tend to grind runs and then Head and Marsh who are the exact opposite (Thrashers who at best could be described as unreliable). They have a number of players who are a lot closer to the end than the start (Smith, Khawaja, Starc, Hazelwood and even Marsh) and other than Spencer Johnson don?t see a lot of youngsters pushing up to challenge for a spot. This summer I have watched most of the top batting order shaking there heads when dismissed as if they have been unlucky when in fact it has been bad shots (and perhaps some arrogance) in general that has got them out.

thoughts!!!!

[GVGjr]

Re: Australian Men?s Cricket is heading for a fall

Test cricket is heading towards some challenges. Some countries like South Africa aren't taking it seriously and their focus on financial windfalls from T20 will hold test cricket bacFrom an Australian perspective, our domestic competition is still quite strong but we will have to find replacements for an ageing Test team that has housed some excellent talent over a long period of time.
How much easier it would have been to be an Australian captain knowing that with Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood and Lyon at you disposal they'll find a way of getting 20 wickets more times than not.
I agree that the development with the likes of Johnson and then Morris, Richardson and Murphy are important factors for the bowling stocks of Australian cricket. Finding batsman might be a bit harder but I've liked the look of McSweeney and Hardie.

[FrediKanoute]

Re: Australian Men?s Cricket is heading for a fall

Maybe some selection integrity may be required. Smith should never have opened. He is not the batsman he was and opening is hard.

Green needs time. He will be a great batsman, but it will take time. He is still learning and in an ideal world would still be batting at 6 but for Marsh's form demanding he have a spot.