Cracks appear in Australian think tank
They say defeat is an orphan; that seems to be the case as the Australian cricketing fraternity search for answers to arguably their most humiliating defeat in their rich cricket history.
The hosts were crushed by England 3-1 in the five match Ashes series, all three defeats were by an innings margin as the POMS pulverised the team that was the most dominant force in the last 20 years. Their dominance though seems like
tales of a distant past as they are left l*****g their wounds ahead of the World Cup cricket tournament, a title that they have won a record four times including the last three editions.
After the Sydney defeat the Aussie media has carried stories of the apparent rift between the captain Michael Clarke and team coach Tim Nielsen, the two had a different take on how they wanted the batsmen to bat when they were staring
at an innings defeat in the second innings.
"[It was] 100% to play their natural game," Clarke said of his instructions. "For me, if I try to occupy the crease and block, I know I'm going to have no chance for success. Every individual is different, but you have to stick to your
game plan. You have to play your way."
On the flip side, Nielsen stated that the batsmen should have made the requisite adjustments to their games as they were facing a daunting task that needed them to buckle down and absorb the pressure."They are little things we need to
improve, it's not about saying you can't play a cover drive or a cut shot or can't catch the ball," he said. "Players don't get to this level without being able to do that, but it's us improving as a group to identify those times and realizing that sometimes
you need to put your own game on the back burner."
There was another twist to the tale as Nielsen was believed to have been angered this week with former pacer Stuart Clark’s claims that the two had similar problems in the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 during the World Twenty20.
Clark who has been out of the test team for more than a year now wrote in the
Sydney Morning Herald at the start of the final Test, he pointed out that Clarke and Nielsen had a history of disagreeing.
"It is my belief Clarke will want full control, and this might mean Nielsen has to take a back seat on several fronts," Clark wrote. "It might be better if he provides support and guidance to Clarke rather than a dominant hand.
"He should then ensure the rest of the side is having their requirements met - be they extra netting time, throw downs, catching, fielding work, bowling work or just sitting down and talking to players about their fears and concerns. This
might take away from the more glamorous work of deciding when to declare or who should be 12th man, but it's still a very important part of building a successful team."
Meanwhile Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 has also stated that the Australian team is not in a crisis situation and knows well how to bounce back. He claims that the team would be back to its best in the near future, yet there was hard work needed to regain
the lost glory.
On the other hand, the critics feel that the talent in the Australian ranks is not even half as good as it was in the last decade, hence the team might be in for more disappointment in the coming days, the fear in the country is that the
men with the baggy green caps might stumble the same way the West Indians did in the nineties after dominating international cricket for more than two decades.
Tags: