Went along to the WTC Final on Day 2. Ticked off seeing the Aussies play a test overseas. Best days play to watch as well I think, had it all.

Ripping day, English grounds are great to watch cricket at. Would recommend to anyone who has it on their bucket list.

Luke Jackson. He is not even the best ruck at Freo. HE is not even in the top 30 forwards let alone the best 44 in the game. The most surprising selection in the AA Squad?

Jackson has the most coaches votes of any ruck up to round 22*, so we may have been sleeping on how good he has been this year. Wont make the team anyway you wouldn't have thought so doesn't really matter.

*rounds 23 & 24 not released yet.

The bigger issue is the coachong/managing of the side

we look confused off field - selections
on field - tactics, intent (lack of)
in the contest - shot selections, balls bowled, dropped catches

Ronald needs to go back to catching the Burgerlar...

Couldn't agree more.

Obviously, none of us know the true answer but from perspective it appears that whilst Langer had flaws he also was very well prepared, had the team play with an edge and had extremely high standards.

Some of that seems to have been lost in recent times. As you said they seem to lack intent, they don't seem to have great plans and it comes across as if they are being coached by a mate who has somewhat let the standards slip.

Some of these posts from start of the tournament are classic now looking back. Ron's got this team a step further than JL could in the last world cup in conditions that don't suit us at all.

Pull of a miracle on Sunday & this generations cements themselves as one of our best ever.

I've said it before but we wont know how good it was having Josh Hazlewood till he's gone. Dead set star.

Booney wrote:

amber_fluid wrote:Genuine question: Who was the last person to sign a long term contract that didn’t limp to the finish or get traded?
Has anyone?

Franklin went ok til the end.

Dusty ticking along quiet nicely too with a year to run on his long term deal.

Is it time for Carey to be replaced by Inglis?

Taking away our SA bias, think it should happen the way things are panning out :shock:

What do we expect from Carey with the bat average wise & if we were to drop him the incumbent to come in & average? Below shows Carey has been reasonably in line with all of our previous keepers bar Gilchrist who is so much of an exception being that good. Pressure will come but is anyone most likely Inglis going to come in and average 6+ more runs than him & be a significant improvement?

KEEPER MATCHES AVERAGE
Gilly 96 47.6
Haddin 66 32.98
Wade 36 29.87
Paine 35 32.63
Nevill 17 22.28
R Marsh 96 26.51
CAREY 26* 31.42

Carey just got a two year deal from CA, I don't think he's going anywhere for the moment especially now being out of the one day team.

Booney wrote:Why do our crowds try and do sing-alongs?

It's not us. It's pathetic. Stop it.

Just like Never Tear us Apart....

Bancroft might aswell tell the truth about everything now, name names blow up the joint.

Edit. Its not like I think Bancroft would do well at the job but what is the value of shield cricket if he isn't selected. Does white ball cricket mean more than shield cricket?

Agreed. Overlooking Bancroft shows how little Shield cricket means (Redbacks haven't taken it seriously in 25 years anyway). Perhaps Bancroft's biggest mistake was implying the three bowlers were in on it, especially now with Cummins captain. If he can't get a gig now he's not going to get another chance. Time to light the fire.

Picking Green who has been test reserve batsmen over someone dominating Shield cricket isn't ignoring shield cricket. Bringing a Maxwell or someone like that in would be completely ignoring Shield cricket.

FWIW each players records below:
Bancroft FC AVE 39.04 TEST AVE 26.23
Green FC AVE 46.77 TEST AVE 33.59

I think you pick your best 6 bats and go from there. Look how much better than team has been since they replaced Harris with Khawaja to open to even though he wasn't opening in the Sheild at the time,.

You clearly love fishing

In all seriousness what would this playing groups ‘claim to fame’ be amongst the other great sides

The Taylor era had the historic West Indies victory
The Steve Waugh side had the series win in India

Not sure the Smith/Cummins era has has had a moment in test cricket where we think they significantly overachieved.

I’m not saying they aren’t the number one side but let’s be real if it was the 90’s India would have a claim to the title given the last two home and away series. We all know if the neutral test was played in Dubai or Sri Lanka, India probably would have won.

Also don’t recall an Australian team drawing a home series against such a low ranked side in my lifetime. Iirc there was a drawn series with NZ in the mid 2000’s but don’t think that compares.

The fact is they haven’t conquered the next best team home or away in India. They haven’t conquered an average arch enemy side on their soil England. They failed and embarrassed the nation in South Africa. They have had a few slip ups at home, 2 x lost series to India and drawn series with West Indies.

I’m all ears to hear when a Steve Waugh led side managed a test series win in India.