Last night I read an article in Daily Sunday Telegraph ” 10 reasons why Poms won’t win“ I found the article completely self delusional and written by someone sufferring from typical Aussie bigotry.
1 Overrated
They walked around The Oval after their dominant home summer like they were God’s gifts to Wisden. Here’s who they really beat. No one. Nuffies and cheats. England clean-swept the worst team on the planet, Bangladesh, and then won three out of four Tests against rotten Pakistan. Now they’re portrayed as superstars.
This is just plain laughable stuff, the moron who wrote this article was so desperate to prove his point that he just decided to pick and choose his references and completely ignored those which proved him wrong, England won the Ashes last year quite convincingly but the writer instead of referring to the most recent encounters between England and Australia mentions the last series which Australia won.
England in their last five test series have won against West Indies, drew against South Africa, Won against Australia, won against Pakistan and Bangladesh but the fool who wrote that article thinks that they have only beaten Pakistan and Bangladesh. Pakistan drew the series with Australia and had “cheats” not cheated themselves they would have beaten this ordinary looking Australian team quite comprehensively.
2 Kevin Pietersen
He might be growing a moustache for a very good cause but he’s still getting around looking like Dirk Diggler out of Boogie Nights. His most recent Test efforts have been the biggest joke. John Buchanan was right with his assessment of Pietersen. Buchanan was panned because the truth hurt. There’s more than one ‘I’ in Kevin Pietersen and it hurts morale.
Kevin Peiterson is struggling with form but is Micheal Clarke in form? The Australian themselves are not sure what will be their batting line up, Clarke, Hussey and North all are struggling at the moment and their replacements Usman Khawaja and Ferguson have already failed against a second string English attack in the on going side match.
3 No top speedster
Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Steve Finn are respectable quicks. But they lack the fear factor. Every truly great attack has someone pushing 150km/h, like Mitchell Johnson does for Australia. None of the touring fast bowlers are frightening. Away from swing and seam-friendly England, that doesn’t leave them with much.
Mitchel Johnson can just push 150k, he can’t reverse the ball has no accuracy I don’t think that he can scare any English batsman, Ben Hilfenhaus is just a cheap immitation of Asif or McGrath he is no where near those two guys if he was a Pakistani bowler I doubt that he would have ever gotten a chance to make it to the national team. Bollinger is the only one in the current Australian pace battery who is reasonably good, none of the Aussie Pacers can reverse the ball. I don’t think that this Aussie pace battery can frighten their opposition.
Anderson and Broad have improved a lot, Australia out of fear of these two will just make flat tracks in every match, their third pacer Finn can prove to be handful on Australian wickets because of his height and the extra bounce he generates. From what I have seen of the two teams English bowlers are much more skillfull than their Aussie counterparts.
4 Passive captain
Andrew Strauss has to lead by example because his introverted demeanour doesn’t get the blood pumping too much. Only his scores do. He leads with quiet assurance when things are going well. But he comes across as introverted and submissive when things start going pear-shaped.
In other words he leads from the front and doesn’t lose his cool and remains calm in difficult situations. Would you call him passive? If yes then passive is good maybe Ricky should also become passive.
5 No superstars
Pietersen is as good as anyone when he’s in the mood, but he hasn’t been in the mood for a long time. He couldn’t make a hundred against Bangladesh – his 99 was close but no cigar – and Doug Bollinger, Ben Hilfenhaus and Johnson can smell blood. Graeme Swann is the only Englishman to make a world XI right now.England are successful because they know their limitations. Which means there are limitations.
The writer perhaps is living in the past and has forgotten that Mcgrath, Warne, Lee, Gilcrist, and Hayden are no longer in the Australian team, Ponting is just a shadow of his past, Clarke and Hussey are not in form and their is hardly anyother player who deserves to be called a super star.
6 Over-analysis
They’ve faced bowling machines with footage of Australian speedsters running in at them – and still didn’t want to know about Mitchell Johnson. They’ve given themselves three weeks in Australia to acclimatise but haven’t played on pitches like the monster they’ll encounter at the Gabba. Every breath they take is a part of a suffocating plan. There’s no freedom, nothing instinctive or adventurous. Paralysis by over-analysis.
The writer just stopped short of making a claim that every Australian player has two dicks, one in front and th other stuck up in his arse. The English team has seen enough of Johnson they don’t need to study him anymore.
7 No depth
In such a cramped schedule, injuries are bound to hit both camps. England are in serious strife if they lose any of their first XI. There’s a vast gulf between their top-tier players and those on the standby list. Australia can only hope and pray that off-spinner Monty Panesar is called in for Graeme Swann. Australia have eight Test-standard speedsters in the queue.
England has a pretty decent bench better than the Aussies their only concern is their middle order which consistently failed against Pakistan but Pakistan’s bowling was much superior to that of Australia and the conditions in Australia are not going to be as tough as they were in England. Australia doesn’t have even a single quality spinner in their line up England has two, in batting Trott, Strauss, Eoin Morgan, Matt prior even if Pieterson, cook and Bell fail they have enough strength in their batting line up. Where as Australia will have to pick inexperienced players like Usman Khawaja and Ferguson if Clarke, Hussey and North don’t step up their performance.
Australia can have 18 bowlers on the bench but if their class is the same as of their current lot then that would hardly be considered as a plus point.
8 Chokers
This is England we’re talking about. Losing is a tradition. Think soccer World Cups. Think Tim Henman at Wimbledon. Think every cricket tour of Australia since 1986-87. They always arrive talking themselves up, vowing they won’t wilt under the heat and pressure and scrutiny, then wilt under the heat and pressure and scrutiny. They’ve hired a self-described Yips Doctor – because they need one.
A team which hasn’t lost a test series out of the last five that they have played and have won the T20 WC they can hardly be called chokers, one has to be completely self delusional not to see and understand the trend.
9 Warm-ups
Everyone keeps rattling on about England’s perfect preparation. They must be having a laugh. A few of them made runs at Adelaide Oval. It’s like batting on the Hume Highway. Anyone seen the scorecards? Western Australia rolled England for 223. South Australia dismissed them for 288 on the Hume. And Australia A ripped through their top order in Hobart A yesterday. Perfectly prepared? Piffle.
Australia A is struggling to avoid innings defeat at Hobart. They are almost certain to lose the match.
10 Scars
Five of their top six batsmen are the same lot who stumbled and bumbled through the 5-0 loss on England’s last trip to Australia. The scarring is deep and real. Jimmy Anderson’s memories of Australia are all nightmarish. He averaged 45.16. Broad and Finn are yet to play a Test series in Australia. Hard surfaces jarring bones and muscles, oppressive heat – they won’t know what or who has hit them.
Those scars were healed last year when England won the Ashes quite convincingly and also when they defeated Australia in the T20 WC final, if we look at the recent results it’s the Aussie’s who are licking wounds.
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