Australia coach Tim Nielsen backs Nathan Hauritz
Australia coach Tim Nielsen has come out to defend his spin bowler Nathan Hauritz who has struggled against the oppositions batting line up. The coach suggested that the reason why Hauritz might have suffered in the Indian Subcontinent is due to the lack of bounce on the Indian pitches. He said that the Indian bowlers were used to the conditions in India and hence made use of top spin to produce bounce. On the contrary it took Hauritz some time to adjust on the slow tracks.
His figures have been less than impressive in the Tests, where he averaged a disappointing 65 taking 6 wickets and then failing to take a wicket in the second ODI where his team had to suffer defeat by five wickets.
Coach Nielsen says that his statistics in India are not reflective of the amount of potential that he possesses and his performances for Australia have been better in the past. Australia has struggled in India despite some good performances by Shane http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 and Marcus North. Ricky Ponting has also struggled with his form, and has been under scrutiny for facing a Test series defeat against India.
The captain Ricky Ponting came under a lot of criticism by former team mate Shane Warne who was critical of the field positions that he had set while Hauritz was bowling. Warne wrote on twitter, “How the h**l can Hauritz bowl to this field?? Feeling for hauritz, terrible!! What are these tactics? Sorry Ricky but what are you doing”.
Warne had earlier written on twitter that Ricky Ponting should back his bowlers on the field and his tactics would be crucial to their teams bowling success. While on the other hand, Bishan Bedi criticized Ricky Pontings captaincy and said that the Punter was not a very good spinners captain.
Ricky Ponting lashed back at Warne for his criticism and said that he gave Hauritz complete freedom to choose the field he wanted to bowl to.
''He's got his opinion out in the public at the moment, and it's a personal opinion. Different people say things at different times, we don't always agree with all of them, that's life I guess. It would be nice if they were a bit more informed before they made some of their comments though,'' Ponting remarked.
Coach Neilsen went on to say that in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 the wickets are harder which is why the Australian bowlers are used to bowling side spin, while on the contrary the Indian bowlers relied more on top spin. That he said was a big difference between the approach of the Australian and Indian spinners.
Hauritz performed brilliantly against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in the home Test series. He managed to take 18 wickets with an exceptional strike rate. The Australian summers are now approaching and the Sheffield cup about to start, Coach Neilson said that it would give Hauritz ample time to prepare before the Ashes.
However the nagging worry for the Australian coach is the inexperience of the Australian pace attack which is relatively new and inexperienced. John Hastings and Mitchell Starc made their debut against India in the second ODI at Visakhapatnam and their partner Clint Mckay is also relatively new to the international side. According to the coach lack of experience in the fast bowling department is surely a big worry for the Kangaroos.
He said that his side won the Champions trophy in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/VVS-Laxman-c2772 in the first test match, India would have found themselves sweating with anxiety.
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