When the test match started I did not think that I would be writing such critical posts about a team I follow passionately. But when a team performs at such low standards they need to be told exactly how it is.
This is a team that plays in the professional era and thinks they deserve top dollar for performing for their country. They demand contracts and do not take lightly to attacks by the media when things are not going well. This time though they need to eat a lot of humble pie and realise that putting on a baggy green is an honour not a right and to perform in such a way will bring the heaviest criticism of their performance.
Something is seriously wrong with Cricket Australia and has been for a long time. It is showing that by taking so long to sort out the coaching and selecting positions of the national team has had an affect. And by having a captain that does not in my opinion deserve all the accolades and silver plate gifting of everything thrown his way does not help the situation.
But where to for here for Australian cricket? Are wholesale changes needed? Not all of the players in the team should be punished for one performance but their are certainly some in the team that should be watching their back. Haddin is the first I would put on the chopping block and as much as he has been a match winner and great player of past Ponting should be given the tap on the shoulder. Johnson would be the next I send home and Australia need to stop picking him after one good performance and make him go back to state level and perform for a season. Hughes is by far the worst opener to choose from and how he got back in is a puzzle.
Keep the rest but change to the makeup of the team. Watson is by far the best but should be slotted into the middle order to lengthen his career and utilise his bowling. Hussey is close to going but has been in form of late and is either one game away from success or failure. If he fails in game two, sack him. Australia needs to really start looking to the future but without direction at the top it won't come straight away.
Australia might have hit rock bottom and it could be a long summer of short games.
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