Cricket
1 hour ago
Healy: Get real Australia, you're just like England
By Ian Healy
We were 1-110 and that’s when we lost our second wicket. We only put 181 on the board. All these finishers in our team. We needed 201 and we would have won.
We had the wrong players in there.
There is no answer to why Steve Smith was not playing.
Sean Abbott is on the bench as well. A bowler and quality specialist we haven’t use in the tournament. I’m an outsider, how would I know why we haven’t used him?
How can you have answers from 12,000 kms way? Let's dissect this.
The ball was not spinning; the conditions were not like they were in Colombo.
Australia was bundled out in the early stage – we were duped; just like England cricket did in November before the Ashes.
There was defiance if ever criticised, there was denial if ever wrong and there was confidence that “we’ll be right”.
In November, England assured everyone the game had changed and that they had it pegged.
Get real Australia. The captain (Mitch Marsh) decided to retire post Bumrah and finish Shield cricket in December to focus on this tournament and totally devote to it. He was excited about the squad that had been all over the world.
We had two bowlers and our best batsmen dropped in our final match for one all-rounder, one bowler and the captain's return – to lengthen our batting order. Cooper Connolly, really? How lengthened is that making our order? He hasn’t made double figures for six games.
The team it left us with are all finishers, no starters.
Cam Green at 3, Tim David 4 and Josh Inglis 5 – he’s getting bounced around and they’re wasting his form. It’s an unbalanced team. Then Abbott, Smith and Matt Renshaw waiting for Oman now? Are they really going to play that game?
A selection misguidance was a year ago when they prioritised power over batsmanship and over-confidence over grit. They forgot form and performance over what could happen.
Green – he must bowl. Glenn Maxwell must complete; he didn’t get the job done like he has before.
Marcus Stoinis – must hit out, strongly over fielders. Tim David must finish. Cooper Connolly must wait. If Maxwell finishes and he starts to develop as a replacement then maybe.
We claim to be clever at developing the future but it’s all gone soft on us in the cushy little club at the top of Australian T20 cricket.
Too long term with selections and not going with red hot form.
Stoinis, Maxwell and Connolly is not an Australian bowling attack; they’re part timers who can be handy.
The Australian team on the park overnight is not good enough and is playing poorly. How did we get to this? Having put so much thought into this, what happened? This is an Australian cricket low point.
