Australia down but not out for The Ashes?

There is an interesting article in today's Independent by John Townsend warning of the Australian teams depth; in it he states that Australia must recall Symonds now. Whilst I believe that Symonds is a world class all-round cricketer, I'm not sure he would bring enough to the bowling department to make that much of a difference in the area that Australia require it the most (namely spin). There is no doubt that Symonds will and should always feature on the current Australian team sheet but is he the saviour? I'm sure he will be back for the ashes!

Symonds is an excellent fielder and a dangerous batsmen (scoring runs at pace, which can always turn a game on it's head) but will his bowling tie up an end sufficiently? Don't forget in the past Australia didn't only tie up an end with spin or consistent bowling, they added huge amounts of pressure and quite often ripped through teams in the form of Warne. Australia have been blessed over the past few decades, having pairs of bowlers that can apply pressure and take wickets constantly during a test match with opposing batsmen getting very little rest bite. I was at Trent Bridge in 2005 on the Sunday when Warne almost bowled England out very cheaply; which would have put a completely different complexion on the ashes.

I personally wouldn't write Australia off for the Ashes yet; after all we are yet to see England out in India, we also need to wait and see how Australia bounce back for the third test (the Australia of old would come back at India and normally win). We shall have to see!

I must admit I loved the jibe about almost turning to Darren Pattinson; unfair on Darren but something that we all believe the England selectors deserved. That was a SHOCKER!!

The full article as it appears in the Independent is below:

Australia outfought in India but enough punch remains for Ashes
The Baggy Greens may appear to be sagging but England must be wary of their strength in depth

By John TownsendMonday, 27 October 2008

It says much about the state of Australian cricket that barely a year after the retirement of the greatest spinner in history, the nation is clamouring for an emergency call-up for a bowler who has spun out just a dozen batsmen at Test level.

Andrew Symonds is currently doing penance at state level for the heinous crime of going fishing rather than attending a team meeting on the eve of last month's instantly forgettable one-day series against Bangladesh. Given that players repeatedly complain that most team meetings consist of bowlers issuing prosaic reminders of the need to aim at the top of off and batsmen talking up the bleedin' obvious value of building partnerships, it is little surprise that Symonds preferred to hook a delicious barramundi rather than dissect, yet again, the minnows of world cricket.

No doubt there is more to the Symonds banishment, though the Australian public is yet to hear it. As English journalists at the Symonds press conference at the MCG during the last Ashes series would recall, a large store of anger seethes close to the surface of the all-rounder and he is often just one uncomfortable question, or extra beer, away from releasing it.
The refusal of Cricket Australia to consider selecting Symonds, referring to mysterious "medical and related issues", has polarised the country. Newspapers and talk radio have been filled to the hyperbolic brim with debate on the issue, with Tom Moody, the West Australian coach and recent Sri Lankan boss, speaking for many fans this week when he argued: "Australia must send an immediate SOS to Andrew Symonds if they want to pick their best team. India is the toughest place in world cricket to come from behind and when the Australian team is struggling for balance, form and cohesion, we simply can't afford to leave him out."

Symonds' absence is just one more complication for an Australian team facing the new age challenge of maintaining world-class standards without a host of world-class players. Shane Warne was best of class, Glenn McGrath arguably the same and Adam Gilchrist in a class of his own. There may be three new players standing under baggy green caps in their place but they cannot replace a trio whose standing and impact may not be matched for generations.

Underlining the difficulty of the search for replacements is the sobering fact that should another debutant – the seventh for the year – be included for either of the next two Tests, and that is highly likely given the magnitude of the 320-run loss at Mohali, Australia would not have tried more new players in a year than when World Series Cricket gutted playing stocks three decades ago.

Much like most Ashes series of recent times – except the 2005 anomaly, which has been scrubbed from Australian history books – there has been a sense of inevitability about the tour of India. But it has been from a position that England would find familiar: the hope of success tainted by a deep-seated sense that something is about to go badly wrong.

From the moment that the Australia selectors named a squad including an uncapped Jason Krejza (Jason who?), an uncapped 36-year-old, Bryce McGain, an uncapped Doug Bollinger, an uncapped Peter Siddle, a keeper with three Tests' experience, an injury-prone all-rounder who had not played for three years, a fast bowler going through an ugly marriage breakdown and a 36-year-old opener recuperating from a serious Achilles tendon injury, the country knew we were up against it. Crikey, things were so crook we nearly turned to Darren Pattinson.

Sure, Ricky Ponting is the best batsman in the world and Mike Hussey not far behind him; the pace attack is varied and versatile and Australia's fighting spirit and indomitable aura are worth an extra player. But as Moody pointed out, India on their own dung heap are a different proposition to the team that has traditionally toured as well as Guinness.

Ponting is realistic enough to recognise his remade team have to gel quickly, with the Border-Gavaskar and Ashes challenges looming. "We have got enough talent around Australia to maintain our No 1 ranking in Test cricket," Ponting said earlier this year. "I don't know how far we are in front but you would think, given what we have done for a fair period of time, that we would be a fair way in front. But how we adapt will determine how good a team we are."

Ponting was satisfied with the effort in the first Test when Australia had the better of the contest but was reluctant to risk an early declaration in a bid for victory. He remains a conservative captain but an inspirational one who has recovered from adversity before.

Australia are represented by a team who play hard, end careers and gather trophies. Record junior playing numbers attest to the positive impact the Baggy Greens have had on the nation's youth. We are going through a tough trot but don't rule out one or two of those youths having arrived by the time Steve Harmison threatens second slip with the first ball of the 2009 Ashes series.

KP - Aussies are in Decline

Sky sports has reported in an interview with England captain Kevin Pietersen that he feels Australia are in Decline.

The Kevin Pietersen article as reported by Sky sports is written below:

Aussies are in decline
Retirements have weakened Ponting's men, says England skipper.

England captain Kevin Pietersen says Australia will be taking a "backward step" if they recall Shane Warne for next year's Ashes.

Australia's spin cupboard is empty following the retirement of Warne and fellow wrist spinners Stuart MacGill and Brad Hogg in the last 18 months.

Leg-spinning all-rounder Cameron White has been unsuccessful in filling the void during the first two Tests of their current tour of India.

Warne, who took 708 wickets in 145 Tests, has previously stated he would consider an Ashes comeback if asked by Australia captain Ricky Ponting.

"I've already had a text from him saying he might play in it next year," said Pietersen, who played with Warne at Hampshire.

"If he does I think it will be a real backwards step for Australia. If they did decide to pull somebody out it would show how much it did mean to Australia, certainly.

"There is still a long way to go before we play them and there is room for improvement - but they certainly aren't the team they were when we played against them last year. Definitely not.

Hammered

"They took Test cricket to a new level with the side that they had and absolutely hammered us. They really hurt us.

"But the side that is playing for Australia now is certainly not the one we played against two years ago.

"They don't have Glenn McGrath they don't have Adam Gilchrist they are missing some pretty dangerous players. They are missing Justin Langer at the top of the order."

Warne claimed 40 wickets during the 2005 Ashes series but Pietersen insists England would not be fazed if he was to pull on the Baggy Green again.

"To be honest it really doesn't matter if he plays or not. I don't have a problem with it and our guys play Shane pretty well. I enjoy facing Shane," added Pietersen.

Pietersen is currently in Antigua with England's limited-overs squad preparing for the Stanford Super Series.

England then travel to India and the West Indies before the 2009 Ashes summer gets under way.

Pietersen wants to tackle Australia on the back of successive series victories, as they did in 2005.

"We have a very important next few months," he said.

My View:

In my humble opinion; KP is probably right, although I wouldn't want to rile the Aussies too much. It's impossible for a team to lose some of the greatest players of the modern cricketing era and not take a step backwards; Warne, McGrath and Gilchrist are unquestionably modern greats with Langer, Hog and MacGill all top drawer players that can have a significant impact on the result of a match. Australia have got quality players to replace the before mentioned players but it will take time for them to fully establish themselves in the test arena and as stated in the Sky sports article Australia are currently lacking in the spin department.

Although I concur with KP's opinion I can't help but think that if Warne were to decide to come back for Australia during the Ashes in 2009 that he would play a significant role. I'm sure if Warne was to make a return he wouldn't comeback half cooked and would make sure that he would be bowling well!

As an Englishman I would rather not see him return; as a cricket fan it would be great to see him bowl again (if he could find some of the old form as he was a magnificent bowler).

The Ashes Can Be Ours says Harmison

Rejuvenated England paceman Steve Harmison says he is concentrating on the 2009 Ashes series despite the huge amount of money on offer in the Stanford 20/20 (the winner-takes-all match on November 1 against the Stanford Superstars). The $1 million per man on offer for the winner of the Stanford match is the biggest individual team prize in the history of sport!

"This is going to be an exciting and intense 12 months of cricket and I cannot wait. People will go on about the Stanford series and the money that is on offer, but every single Englishman knows the Ashes series against Australia is the one to really win," said the Durham and England fast bowler. "The money on offer for the Stanford tournament is a lot, but you've got to win it first. We are going out there to represent our country, just as we will do in India and the West Indies this winter."

Harmison defended himself from critics who said he returned to England's limited-overs side for the Stanford millions. "I think we will get a certain amount of stick about playing in the Stanford games, but it was the ECB who organised it, not the players," he said. "We'll get stick if we win and we'll get stick if we lose. I even offered not to play because I knew people would say I've only started playing one-day cricket again for England because of the money, but that wasn't the case."

As far as I'm concerned, if Harmison delivers and performs as he did in the final test and one day matches against South Africa then he should play, if on the other hand he returns to the Steve Harmison that had been playing for the past two years (which led to his eventual overdue dropping from the team) then he should be dropped immediately as England had to carry him the last time.

Harmison said winning the Ashes next year was a "realistic goal". England won the memorable last contest on these shores, in 2005, but were demolished 5-0 in Australia in 2006-07. "I do feel I've got a bit of a score to settle. I know what it's like to win the Ashes and I know what it is like to lose the Ashes 5-0. It's the same for Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Andrew Strauss."

"I think it can happen, I really do, but we've got a hell of a lot of cricket to play between now and then. I think we've got ten different series in the next 12 months and I'd like to play in and win them all."

Harmison forced his way back into the England fold after being dropped with a very impressive county season for Durham; he finished with 60 wickets in 12 games and Durham won their first Championship title. Harmison was recalled for the final Test against South Africa at The Oval, under new captain Kevin Pietersen (who obviously has great belief in the bowler and thinks of him in very high regard), and was later persuaded to return to the international limited-overs version of the game.

"It is a season which began with me at my lowest ebb, but it is one I will look back on with an enormous sense of satisfaction," Harmison said. "I've achieved my own personal goal of getting back into the England team and Durham have won the title, I couldn't have asked for much more. This has been a fantastic season for me, unbelievable really. We had our disappointments at Durham, losing in two semi-finals, but we kept on going."