Hieronymous the Anonymous

Always remembered

Anzac Day is just about my favourite day of the year. Yesterday it was fine and mild. I headed off early to get myself a seat at the MCG for the big match. Bought a badge at the ground, one of the marinated chicken rolls I like so much, then settled in for the game.

As always it was very impressive, and very moving. The two teams burst through the same banner before lining up across from each other for the last post and the national anthem. Everyone stood. In the silence you could hear the flag flapping in the breeze. In the national anthem 90,000 sung along to the words everyone now knows so well.

It was a cracking game, worthy of the day. We lost, which was no great surprise, but we gave them a fright, and played with intensity and heart. I left satisfied knowing that we are the real deal, thinking that we are ahead of everyone else in the comp but Collingwood. That's a big call, but I've seen no other team this year approach the intensity and skill on show by the two teams yesterday.

Last night I watched some of the programs I had recorded earlier. I watched the pre-game show, which featured interviews and conversations with the usual experts, but unusually also featured social commentators and journalists. Anzac day is the big day in Australian culture, and yesterday was deep immersion.

I found myself greatly adffected by what I saw. Many times I found my eyes glistening with emotion. Interviews with old diggers relating their stories. Commentators putting into some kind of context. And in the background looming was the big game.

There is occasional controversy over whether a big game of football devalues the day, or commercialises it. I find the arguments specious rubbish. I'm loathe to get into discussions about what people fought and died for because it becomes trite in the expression - however, if I want to attribute any meaning to it then I would suggest these men marched off to war to preserve the lifestyle and freedoms we all so cherish. Football may seem small beer, but it is a good part of our culture and in its way representative of those hopes.

Football is not life and death (though it feels it sometimes), and it doesn't pretend to be. We fight for 4 points, and no lives are on the line. Only the very lame draw those parallels. It is who we are though, proved by a crowd yesterday of 90,000 and a TV audience of millions, including thousands of ex-servicemen. It's part of the life these great guys fought for, and a day like yesterday the perfect celebration of what they stood for.

What is also often overlooked is how a game like this has put the spotlight on the Anzac tradition. The teams, the AFL, are very respectful of the day and what it means. The hype and and aura of the game feeds into the Anzac legend, which the teams and the media pay homage to. I truly believe that this game creates awareness, and in the periphery of it educates as each year other stories are highlighted.

The other argument is whether the day should be the sole provence of Essendon and Collingwood. Not surprisingly there are many envious of the tradition and granduer of the big Anzac day clash. For me it's a no-brainer. These are the two biggest and most popular footbal clubs in Australia. Support for them is tribal and vociferous. Between them they have created this tradition around which so much has accreted. They have made Anzac day this celebration, and it is the tradition and the rivalry between these two clubs that has made it so.

To change that formula would be to diminish it. The magic is in the tradition and the clubs who have built it. It would lose the glamour and mystique if it was just another home and away match.

Footy is a good way. This is a great season so far, and the Bombers are looking good.

 

The sport of Gods

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Last weekend I went to a big game of footy at the MCG. Carlton versus Essendon is always hotly contested regardless of the scores on the field. The two teams hate each other, and that fierce rivalry extends to the crowd. I went with Donna, a typical Carlton supporter who hates Essendon above all others. We sat in the tightly packed members area amid supporters in the blue of Carlton and the red and black of the mighty Bombers. I was pretty relaxed, as I usually am, but desperate for a win against this mob. Donna was a bundle of nerves. I've been to about half a dozen of these games with her and only once has Carlton won in that period. By the end of the day that stat remained unchanged, though in unexpected ways, and Donna was literally all a tremble.

Great rivals make for great contests. A crowd of 80,00 helps, but there is so much history between teams like this that it is always going to be a desperate battle. The there's a buzz in the air as the players take the field, a crackling tension almost as the ball bounces and the crowd roars and the ball whizzes from one end to the other, bodies careen off each other and the crowd stills and roars like at the Collosseum. It is wonderful theatre.

It was a wonderful game to. The re-born Essendon took control early and looked the goods. Then in the space of then minutes two season ending injuries to key players turned the tide of the match. It's very hard to win, to even be properly competitive, with twoi players down. Gradually Carlton evened the match up, and early in the second half looked like they might skip away. Each time they got to a a couple of goals lead though the Bombbers bit back against the odds.

The last quarter was like that also. Essendon kicked the first goal to go ahead by that margin bedore Carlton kicked the next three in a hurry to grab a handy lead. That Essendon was able to fight back once more was testament to Essendon resilience, to a few quite remarkable moments of football, and a combination of laziness and panic by Carlton.

With a few minutes to go Carlton led by a point. Then Garlett marked in their forward line within range and looking over his shoulder decided to play on. Bad move. On his tail was the oldest player in the competition, Dustin Fletcher (BOG for the match), who chased and then desperately lunged with his long arms to bring Garlett down and save the day.

Not long after Carlton were in control of the ball with that lead when they kicked backwards and then out of bounds on the full. A hurried kick forward, a spill from a pack, and then a snap from the boundary line by Zaharakis saw the scores levelled. Moments later the siren went: draw.

As an Essendon supporter I was happy. We had no right to be so close given the handicap of our injuries. It was a terribly gutsy effort by the players, and might just be the making of the team. Backs against the wall and they never gave up.

Tomorrow is another game epitomises that spirit - the annual Anzac Day match between Collingwood and Essendon. This is the biggest game of the year outside the finals. There'll be 90,000+ there tomorrow, and I'll be one of them. Collingwood are the reigning premiers and top of the table; Essendon is the glamour team of the moment, playing purposeful, attractive football led by a favourite son. Tomorrows game has extra significance because James Hird, our coach, was a hero in so many of these matches - he won the Anzac day medal three times. You can bet he'll get the team properly geed up for the occasion.

Collingwood go in favourites, and that's fair enough. Essendon know they're the underdogs and have boldly selected a team that might prove a masterstroke, or backfire badly. I love the thinking though: let's attack. I hope we win tomorrow and I think we're a chance if we get our defensive pressures and our run going. Regardless of result I have the strong feeling that we're a real contender this season. I can't believe Im saying this, but I think we can go all the way.

On a related note I have to comment on the early death of one of my favourite players growing up. Alan Noonan died last week after a long struggle against cancer. He was 61. If I had a duffel coat when I was young and had the number of any player - as was the custom in those days - it would have been the number 10 of Alan Noonan.

My dad and I went to the footy most weeks from the time I was about 7 until 15, and pretty well every week we played at Windy Hill. We gad reserved seats in the Reynolds Stand of which I still have many very vivid and exciting memories.

Amongst the players I watched week in, week out my favourites where Noonan, and after him Moss. Noonan was a very good CHF, underrated by hposterity, but a very strong competitor, a good mark and a booming kick. He was a good looking man, I guess about 6'3" in the old vernacular, daerk hair long in the fashion of the day, high cheekbones, a big porn star moustache. Well muscled he seemed to always have year around tan, his skin slick with the liniment they applied pre-game. His look was rugged, masculine and somewhat brooding. As you can probably tell, that very young me wanted to be him.

Strange to think he's gone. I've not the personality type to have heroes, though certainly I have admired many. Alan Noonan I think was one of my few heroes, and the very first. For an impressionable kid growing up in the tumult of VFL, sitting in the crowd as it roared and cheered and drummed it's feet on the wooden floor of the stand, chanting Esse-en-don...Ess-en-don... joining with all my might filled with all the colour and spectacle, the noise and wonder, small still, so impressionable, impressed as I was by the clever men who sat beside us week after week making witty, intelligent comments on the game, the tump of boot on ball and the waft of liniment coming from the ground, lifted by it, transcended by mysterious passion and carried onwards by the moments collecting all on the field I was in a kind of childish heaven. Others would come, others great and many who remain, but in those days it was the sight of Alan Noonan roosting the ball through the big sticks from 60 metres out that was my idea of absolute bliss.

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A footy fairy-tale

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I was like a giggly kid on Sunday. For the last 7 months I have like every Essendon supporter keenly awaited the opening of the 2011 football season. The return of the most beloved player in living memory as the team coach was every supporter's wet dream come true. Delightful as that was the list of top-line and legendary coaches joining James Hird as assistants left all of us wondering if we would wake up to find it was just a dream.Was it too good?

It was no dream though, there they were living and breathing and injecting hope into the multitude of passionate supporters. In that there was a danger I think everyone Essendon supporter felt deep in their heart. What if it was a disappointment, like Voss? What if all our hopes would be dashed and revealed as childish dreams? What then, what would we feel, how would we recover? What if the great man has feet of clay?

There's a lot of naive hope in following any football team, but then that is one of the great pleasures of being a supporter. We suspend disbelief and occasionally common sense in barracking for the team we grew up loving. It's not about common sense or even pragmatism. The church may not like it, but following a team hard is like being part of a religion in which you all share a common faith. It is all about rituals and symbols and blind adherence to the word - and the word is the club.

Following a footy team will often test that faith. From week to week and season to season hope surges and retreats, it causes us to blaspheme sometimes, to question and doubt; our faith ebbs and flows, but rarely if ever is it broken.

In that context then James Hird has returned to the club less as the prodigal son than as the messiah with his band of apostles. As coach he said the right things and guided the team through a pre-season that was impressive and demonstrably better than previous years. There was reassurance in this, some relief. It was not the real thing though, not yet: that would come with the season proper.

The season proper began for us on Sunday. We went in as underdogs against one of the powers of the competition. I wanted a win, but I was happy to see effort, performance, improvement. For all the hype James in the end is only human (allegedly), and it was my more prudent self suggesting to keep a lid on it, it's a long journey, let's just take it one week at a time...

And Essendon took the field and wiped the opposition from it.

I watched laughing often with delight and the sort of ecstasy that bubbles up unexpectedly when you really it isn't too good to be true. I yelled and clapped and hollered as my beloved team played with  an authority I have not seen for many a year. They were quick, they were bold, they were tough, they were exciting, they were disciplined and they were ruthless. And they won big.

I doubt Hirdy could quite believe it himself. I know it is only the beginning; I know it is a long season. I know there will be disappointments along the way. Nothing is certain, yet I also know now what is possible with this team. And I know as I was never sure before that we are on the right. And I even wonder now if James might not just be the messiah after all.

The captain retires

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A little earlier today I watched a press conference as Ricky Ponting announced he was stepping down as Australian cricket captain. He hoped, he said, to continue playing for the team, but that was out of his hands.

It was a dignified and typically forthright performance. As I wrote a few days ago he is a divisive figure in the national consciousness. Many admire him as one of the greatest batsmen of all time and as very tough nut. Many more think he is an abrasive, charmless character.

I'm definitely in the former camp. Though I support his decision I found myself feeling sad today on hearing the news. For all his faults - and he has some - he remains one of my favourite ever players. Like many men I utmost respect for the innate fighting qualities he has put on display time and again.

In some ways it's a very Australian admiration, which is why we tend to turn out tough characters like this on a regular basis. As Australians, and Australian men in particular, we have great suspicions over those we suspect as being a bit of a showpony - example Michael Clarke (who I actually like). We can respect the aesthetic qualities of our sportsmen, but what we truly admire are those we know who will go that extra mile. That's one of the defining qualities of Australian sporting success, and the benchmark we tend to measure our sportsmen by. We won't always win, but we're never beaten.

Ponting epitomises that standard. His excesses are generally the spillover of competitive zeal. He said today his motivation has always been to be part of Australian victories, and to share those victories with his team mates. He is an imperfect human being, but he is also the genuine article. I don't agree with all he says or does, but likewise think he is marked hard and often unreasonably. He is uncomplaining and honest, a hard visage throug which we occasionally glimpse the man his team mates adore, the tender husband and father, and the faithful, devoted servant to Australian cricket.

I hope to see Ricky Ponting scoring centuries for Australia again now this burden has been lifted from him. It is enough to see him step down as captain, it is too soon for him to be lost to us altogether. I don't know if people properly recognise what a colossus he has been in world cricket; better now to enjoy and understand that than regret later what we never properly appreciated.

Related articles

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Big two bow out

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The winner of the cricket world cup of 2011 is still to be decided, but for two of the big teams of world cricket it's all over.

Australia's demise was no big surprise. The slow decline of Australian cricket has been oft reported, and though still competitive they have have lost that fearsome cutting edge they once had. In this tournament they never really seemed to get going in the manner we have come to expect. As if believing reports of their vulnerability they often played tentative, unambitious cricket. Batting particularly they seemed more concerned about protecting their wickets than pushing the scoring rate along. In days past a departing batsman was replaced by someone just as capable - I think that is still true, but I don't know if the squad retains that faith. And so they played smaller when batting. It was enough to win; in past days winning was not enough, Australia sought to dominate.

Confusing instructions didn't help much. Haddin, a very capable, but occasionally dumb cricketer seemed unsure as to what his role was. A natural stroke-player he seemed to reign himself in when the occasion demanded he should go for it, only to generally get himself out stupidly when the discipline got to much for him. He should have been told to play his natural game, which is to blaze. Statistically Haddin had a good tournament, yet his contribution should have been greater.

Cameron White was disappointing. A very astute leader of men and cricket brain he seems robotic sometimes batting. He's in the side for his big hitting, but with that deserting him he had no other gear. As a batsman he seems to be fully on or switched off altogether. He seemed incapable of pushing for the quick single and rotating the strike, and seems never to be to encoraged to do so. In hindsight he was clearly a handicap to the team and though I'm a fan, persisted with too long.

The biggest deficiency in this side was the lack of a quality spinner. Australia was unfortunate to be queered by injuries and forced into a bold bowling strategem. It might have worked had the missing ingredient - a decent spinner - had been in the team. No offense to Krezja but he lacks control and, in 50 over cricket at least, venom. Ultimately our part time bowlers looked more threatening than him, and that's why we bowed out at the quarter final stage. Give me a hald decent spinner and we would have reached the final.

Still, I can't be too disappointed, and if I sound harsh then I don't mean to be. For all the shortcomings in the squad the team fought tooth and nail to the end, as they always do.

Leadinmg the way was Ponting. He's a divisive figure Ponting. I love him, but many don't. Women particularly seem to take against him while men, more attunmed to that spirit, are more forgiving. Ponting is a warrior. He's the toughest cricketer in world cricket and has been for many years. He's one of the best batsmen of all time, which he proves again and again by rising to the occasion again and again. His century in the QF after being besieged in the weeks before is just the latest proof of that.

Ponting is a great leader. Criticised from outside he seems genuinely loved by those in his charge. It's easy to see why - he's one those strong, unflinching types who lead by example. He's an ordinary on-field captain however - which leads now to the next big decision.

In the wake of the Ashes disaster a review was initiated. My hope is that it goes deep. I want Ponting to stay in the side, though I think he drop down the order in tests. I think he should be replaced as captain though, if only because the next generation needs to step forward. Selection policies and selectors themselves should be reviewed. And Tim Nielson as coach - a great disappointment in my book - should be replaced. Off field there seems insufficient guidance outside of Ponting, and some of the things Australia have traditionally been so good at have slipped back in standard.

I'll take the quick single as an example - once upon a time it was the corner-stone of the re-build of an Australian team by Bobby Simpson. The game has moved on, big hitting is much more prevalent, yet running between wickets is one of cricket's one percenters. They seemed to have been overlooked or forgotten, yet it is in the combination of these that is often the difference between winning and losing. Australia used to be way out in front in this area. Today, we're probably the best fielding side in the world still, but otherwise have become much sloppier than we once were, and someone has to be accountable for that.

If Australia's loss was no great surprise, South Africa's loss was - in a way at least. Probably the tournament favourite they went into the QF final playing the only other team never to have won a knock-out match in the comp. That's an astounding statistic. Australia have probably lost 3 over the distance, and won about 15. South Africa, perpetual favourites, seem always to fall away when the pressure is on. And so in a way their loss was no great surprise either.

Australia and South Africa leave the tournament in different states. Australia knows it must re-build, but at least there is an exciting batch of youngsters coming through. And our rich tradition of tough, uncompromising cricket has been upheld - we lose, but with our heads held high.

On the field South Africa appear to be in a much healthier state than us. They have a strong batting line-up with a good sprinkling of youth, and they have the best bowler in the world. I have a lot of time for Steyn as bowler and as a man. But they leave also with this sorry record of underperformance - let's face it, of choking - underlined once again. Amazing. The monkey on their back must be the size of a gorilla. For the likes of Kallis and Smith that's probably it - they won't be around next time. In any case, how do they recover from this.

So that's where it is. Australia, the West Indies (who have won a combined 6 of the 9 previous world cups) and South Africa out. I think Sri Lanka will win it. They've been my pick from the get-go. They're a well balanced team with good hitters, some sublime batsman (Sangakkara is world best imo) and a potentially potent attack. They'll likely play India in the final, who I'll be glad to see lose. I don't mind they beat us, but I mind the typically ungracious way so many of their supporters celebrated it. We won't forget.

Related articles

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WC 2011

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The cricket world cup begins today in India and the sub-continent. Winners of the last three competitions and with a remarkable WC winningstreak of 27 (or is it 28?) Australia go into the competition the number ranked team in the world, but aren't favourites. They may be respected still and even feared by some, but much of the shine has rubbed off after a good beating in the Ashes.

There are millions of people around the globe happy to see Australia fall from its perch. It's perfectly understandable and if I weren't an Aussie I'd probably want to be one of them. Over the last 10-12 years the Australian cricket team has won just about every major competition on offer. It's a fair call thinking it might be the turn of someone else. In relative terms I can even understand how the decline of the Australian cricketing hegemony is good for cricket; as an Australian, however, I find it hard to agree.

Though we were well beaten by the Poms in the test series I reckn we're still a strong chance to win this comp again. In characteristic style the team bounced back from that defeat to flog England 6-1 in the one day series following it. It doesn't make up for losing the Ashes, but it was still pretty impressive. There's a lot of pride in this team.

In fact I reckon it's that pride that will steer Australia a fair way through the tournament. Over the course of this contest they've been  lot of teams touted as contenders, and most have either fallen away or been bludgeoned out of the way by Australia. The stats don't lie: Australia is incredibly good at the key moments in the key tournaments. They don't blink, they just better - and they know it.

Of course Australia no longer has that plethora of great stars. I've been watching a program on the history of the World Cup. It has been great fun looking back at some of the great games and great players. Clive Lloyd for example, and Imran Khan. Then there was Wasim Akram, one of the best bowlers I've seen, and the day Pakistan beat England to the title in Melbourne in 1992. I was there.

There have been many other players, but what captured my imagination again were some of the great contests. The classics were 1999 in England when Australia down and out fought back to beat South Africa - the favourites - on the back of a Steve Waugh century to make the semi-final.

The semi-final was one of the great limited over games of all time. After posting a modest score Australia looked done for until Warne struck. The game ebbed and flowed from there until it climaxed in the most unbelievable way. How well I remember that! I lay in bed watching it on TV at about 3am with work on the next day. I couldn't turn the TV off. The last over began with South Africa needing 9 runs to win and Lance Klusener at the crease. Fleming came in to bowl the first ball and was smacked to the boundary - Klusener was a scary hitter. He bowled the second ball and Klusener did it again. With 4 balls to go the scores were tired - South Africa were a shoo-in. To the third ball Klusener miscued a drive to mid-on, and narrowly avoided a run-out. The next ball he hit hard to mid-off and ran. Donald, at the bowlers end, paused, watching the ball before running. Too late. Fleming rolled the ball down the middle of the pitch and Donald was run out. The game was over, the scores were tied - and on the strength of the previous win Australia made the final.

It's amazing to think that Australia have not lost a game in World Cup comp[etition since then. They murdered Pakistan in the fanal, as they did to India in 2003, and Sri Lanka in 2007. For every final Australia played they elevated their game to a clinical level that no-one else could match.

In 2003 in South Africa there were a few close scrapes - against England particularly, I remember - until Ponting's majestic innings in the final secured the title. In 2007 no-one came close to Australia. Never will their be a more dominant display in a tournament than that. In the final in Gilly's swansong he scored 149 to kill the contest.

Over the journey there have been all time great players - Ponting, Gilchrist, Hayden, Warne, McGrath, the Waugh brothers, Lee, Symonds, Bevan and so on. In this two tournament only two remain: Ponting and Lee.

What do I expect? Firstly that Australia will extend it's winning streak to beyond 30, never to be surpassed. I'd be disappointed to if Australia doesn't make the semi-finals at a minimum. Injuries, and perhaps interesting selections have not helped Australia, but the team remains formidable. In our way I think are India - potentially frail playing at home in front of their crowds; Sri Lanka - very talented, but possibly not quite ready; and South Africa, the antithesis of Australia in many ways. They are always contenders, but in the opposite of Australia have always choked on the big stage. It's heavy baggage, but I think they may overcome that finally. This is their time if they take it. Hopefully it is Australia again who will stop them.

 

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Bitter ashes

Tough being an Aussie right now. Not often I say that, but every Australian cricket supporter is in a state of abject shock transmuting into sardonic disdain. It's hard losing to the Poms any time, it's tough losing the Ashes, but what really grates is the manner of our defeat. We may have one match, but otherwise this team has been thumped like no Australian team before.

It's hard to know how good the England team is, and how bad we are. England are pretty good I think, and at the top of their form right now, but, despite recent results, not extraordinarily good. I think they're competent in all areas, and superlative in some. They're well coached and well drilled and generally well led. More than anything they have been absolutely committed to the goal of winning the Ashes. They may never play this well again.

Australia barring patches have been woeful. The Australian top order is a shambles and the bowling swings between patchy and diabolical. You might argue that we've been unfortunate in that our two best batsmen are in the worst form of their career, but maybe that's just how it is now.

I can cop not being good enough. What is hard to stomach is the general incompetence. Talent is God-given, but you don't need to be a champion to perform the basics well. We haven't controlled the controllables. Yesterday we saw the 4th run-out of the series; the English have had none. Fielding, where we once excelled, has been mediocre with missed chances being costly. And inexcusably we've taken wickets only to have the decision overturned because the bowler overstepped the mark. That's cost us hundreds of runs.

All these attest to some mental confusion I think. It's hard with the weight of the nation on your shoulders, but the team have excelled despite that for decades. It's difficult when you're under the pump, but then that's what sport is all about. The team has not been helped by confusing selection policies and the lack of any real strategy, and in the months ahead there are some who should be held to account for that. I question to the role of the Australian coach.

Tim Nielson seems a decent bloke, but he has never really inspired me with a lot of confidence. To my way of thinking it's his responsibility to get the team's head in the right place among other things. The addled actions of the Australian players suggest he has failed. Mistakes should be addressed and rectified, the players properly focussed. The repeated errors in this campaign - the run-outs, the no-balls, the lack of bowling plans, and so on, are proof that this hasn't occurred. The players minds are scrambled and the results are on the scoreboard.

This is not about Tim Nielson. There needs to be a substantial review of operations off the field as well as on. That Tim Nielson had his contract extended before the series commenced is evidence enough of the confused thinking of the Australian cricket administration.

It may hurt, but this result may be a blessing. This is not a result that can be swept under the carpet. Australian cricket needs to face up to the reality and act on it. I've already suggested what some of the changes on the field should be. Off the field Hilditch has to go and possibly other selectors reviewed. Chappell needs to become the chairman of selectors and set the agenda and strategy going forward - there must be one. Chappell is the right man for the job.

And I think Nielson should go. I would hope he resigns in light of this result, but don't expect it. With a younger team in the wings there has to be a different coach. He needs to be tougher, not a mate, a mentor, teacher and taskmaster. Defeat must hurt him as much as it does us sitting here watching from the sidelines.

Winning the Ashes next time

Much breast beating and hair tearing over the state of the Australian cricket team. Fair enough, we expect a lot, but it's been clear to everyone bar the selectors that the team has been in decline for some time.

While Australia can potentially level the series in Sydney, the Ashes are gone. This should be seen as an opportunity to build towards the next Ashes series, as should have been done 12 months ago. No use worrying about what's happened, have to push forward towards the next iteration of the Australian team.

To that degree Beer and Khawaja have finally gotten a go. Clarke might have made way too had it not been for the injury to Ponting. When the dust settles the ACB have to settle on a re-building stage, much as what happened in the doldrums of the mid-eighties. There are greats in this team, but they're aging and have to move on sooner or later and let the next generation take their chance.

To that extent I believe Katich has played his last test match for Australia. At 35 it's time for someone younger to take his place, whether it be Hughes or someone else. Khawaja should be retained at three and given an extended run. He's got the goods, just needs time in the middle and the faith of the selectors.

Assuming Ponting remains in the team - and I think he should for now - that means he drops down the order. I reckon bat at 5, and though it'll hurt should move on from the captaincy. That leaves Clarke as the captain despite dodgy form and a dubious reputation.

The poor form of our two best batsmen - Ponting and Clarke - just about guaranteed a series win was beyond us, but you have to back them in. Clarke will recover his form, and I think is an astute tactician if not the leader that inspires the nation. There is no-one else.

Hussey had had a great series, but like Ponting I think must be gone by the next Ashes series. I'd like to see Watson bat down the order despite his relative success as an opener. He's a genuine all-rounder, but we lose some of that with him opening, and he can be valuable option batting in the middle-order.

That means a new opening combo, Hughes possibly, maybe with Marsh. The retirements of Ponting and Hussey will open up spots  for the likes of White and Ferguson and maybe Mitch Marsh, with White targeted as the next Australian captain after Clark.

Haddin is good for a while, but has a great replacement in the wings in Tim Paine. If Steve Smith is to play - and I think he has great talent - then it must be as a bowling all-rounder. To that extent he needs to go off and develop that further. The other option is O'Keefe.

The bowlers? Well for all his erratic form Johnson will stay. On his day he is a prodigy. I like Hilfenhaus, but though he's a good partnership bowler he doesn't take enough wickets. I like the Rhino too, he's a whole-hearted performer who bowls a heavy ball. Siddle is willing, but lacks class. They have their qualities, but they're a notch or two beneath what we have been accustomed to. Bollinger I don't rate against good opposition.

All this means that we need to begin transitioning the next generation of Australian bowlers into the team. I'm not convinced by the batting, but I think our bowlers over the next 10 years should be pretty good.

They're raw still, but one or both of Pattinson and Hazlewood should be playing for the Australian test team within 12 months. Then there's Starc, Faulkner (who is developing into a potent all-rounder very quickly), Cameron who will be coming through. Fast bowling looks good, spin bowling not so flash.

Let's see how Beer goes this match. Steve Smith needs to improve, then there's O'Keefe as we've mentioned. Krezja might be worth another look as he is what we need in so many ways. He's a wicket taking spinner, and there's no point having any other sort in the team.

That's my 2c worth, and my gaze into the crystal ball. No-one can ever second guess the selectors, though I'm glad they now have a hard-nosed pragmatist like Greg Chappell guiding them. And there are bound to be players unmentioned who will surprise and press for selection, and others slip away. That's the nature of the game.

The team in 3 years might look something like this:

Marsh

Hughes/Maddinson

Khawaja

Ferguson/Marsh

Clark/White (c)

Watson/Faulkner/Keath

Paine

O'Keefe/Smith

Johnson

Pattinson

Hazlewood

Bottom line we need to build the next great Australian team, the team that will win back the Ashes. Kudos to the England team and organisation, they deserve this success. They've fought hard, are led well, and exhibited the resilience I doubted them for so long. We'll be coming back though.

On the other foot

I intended to post the other day before the 3rd test about how important it was that Australia win, if only to shut-up the painful English. After winning in Adelaide and taking the series lead they were intolerable. As only the English can they milked it for all it was worth despite the contest being live still and far from resolved. The English are bad losers, we know that, though they should be better given the practice they get. They're even worse winners though, over-reaching themselves to gloat, to prance, and to sink the boot. To an Australian it's intolerable.

Early in the 3rd test it looked like more of the same, and then Mitchell Johnson stepped in. Top scoring with the bat he then proceeded to rip through the English with the ball. On his day he is devastating and the best player in the world. Those days may be rare, but he has to be played.

Ultimately Australia dominated and recorded a win even more comprehensive than the English in Adelaide. It's a great testament to the squad to be able to turn it around as they did. Under immense pressure they squared their shoulders and returned to the style of game we are best at, and which comes most naturally: hard, aggressive, confronting, unyielding.  It didn't surprise me because that is what it is to be an Australian competing in any sport. It is our standard, win or lose, to fight for everything, to endure hardship and privation if needs be in the quest and never to yield.

In a sense that's why it was so hard to swallow the cocky bellowings of the English. There was a sense that perhaps in our mental disarray we had failed some of those standards. We had not lived up to those standards, had not been ourselves. It seemed disgraceful that we should be subjected to such ridicule from a nation that has been under our heel for so long. It seemed premature and cheap, and it also felt pretty weak given the circumstances - but there was nothing we could do about it but win. Now we have done that.

For the moment the English are back in their box and the boot is on the other foot. Cockiness comes much more easily to an Aussie than a Pom, but there is no real reason for it now. To boast, in any case, is not our way - let the results do the talking. There is something in that the English can learn, and will go a long way towards earning the respect their team has now grudgingly received.

The series isalive and vibrant. The Australians have regrouped, as the English should have known they would because they always have. It is not over though, and we must start again come Boxing Day. The scores are tied, but we must work to get the ascendancy back.

Ashes to ashes

Like many Australians I'm finding the current Ashes series hard to stomach. Not two tests in yet we're being spanked by the Poms of all people. We may yet escape with another draw, but that clouds a bigger issue.

I'm not the first to suggest that Australia has been let down by the national selectors. This present state of affairs has been a long time coming as the selectors refused to blood the next generation of Australian test players. Instead they have stuck with the old, often against rhyme or form.

To some degree they have been vindicated by the form of Hussey in this series. While he went through a tough patch he was never the worst and deserved that faith for his record and past heroics. He's a keeper.

The same can't be said for Marcus North. By all accounts an admirable individual and a handy spin bowler, it's been clear for a long time that he wasn't up to the international standard Australian supporters have come to expect. A few good centuries have deceived selectors into persevering with him despite the consistent and miserable failures. He's pretty well a duck or a hundred, but the hundreds are rare and only when Australia is well on top. We need someone reliable in his spot, and have done for a while. It's an indictment when he's more valuable as a bowler than batsman.

There are others whose form is mediocre who have aging bodies. There's plenty to suggest we should be picking for the future, as we should have before now, as we have so boldly in the past.

On the bowling side the cupboard is pretty bare. I'm confident the next generation of bowlers coming through will be pretty good, but they're not ready yest. In the meantime we don't have a frontline spinner worth a fig. You want a spinner in the side, but there's no point in selecting one for the hell of it. I'd be inclined to include Steve Smith, a developing leggie and  very handy batsman with some special qualities. Or maybe one of the young guns - O'Keefe or Beer.

Fast bowling stocks are just as bad. Mitchell Johnson, the real cutting edge of our attack is out of form, but must be persisted with. He's a rare matchwinner. In this match I've liked the belligerence of Ryan Harris, but really he's only good ordinary. Siddle has some of the same qualities but can bowl dumb, and I'm not a fan of Bollinger, who I think has been made to look good against inferior opposition. Hilfenhaus, who I do rate, was unfathomably dropped for this match for not doing anything too wrong when the batsmen can fail repeatedly and be protected.

There are bowlers in the wings, Cameron and Copeland, who might be okay, and some very promising types not ready yet in Pattinson, Starc and Hazlewood.

Australia is looking down the barrel, and needs to do something. We've not lost it yet though, and must remain true to our heritage and instinct. We have to be positive and hard. I remain cautiously confident if only because I know the innate qualities of our sportsmen, and the expectations of an Australian public.

John arlott once wrote:

"Australianism, means single-minded determination to win - to win within the laws but, if necessary, to the last limit within them. It means where the 'impossible' is within the realm of what the human body can do, there are Australians who believe that they can do it - and who have succeeded often enough to make us wonder if anything is impossible to them. It means they have never lost a match - particularly a Test match - until the last run is scored or their last wicket down."

That's what I was brought up with. Arlott wrote of an Australian team in the middle of the last century, but those qualities have been evident all throughout my time of watching cricket - including the miserable period in the mid-eighties.

There remains enough belligerent and pig-headed characters in the Australian team even now that we cann pull off a draw in this second test - Ponting, Katich, Hussey principally. All we need now though is for the selectors to come to the party. The tradition will hold though, even if we lose. Go down fighting.