Leon Trotsky, compare that to Watto, BJ, or Sids.

* State cricketers who do not have a Cricket Australia contract.

I should have mentioned this before, Trott is supposedly related to Albert and Harry Trott of Australia, his nickname is Leon (why can’t Australians have cool nicknames like this), and he actually bowls quite handy Steve Waugh/Craig McMillan style medium pace.

Jarrod likens Flintoff to a gimp because of his injured knee Robert. Saying that, he’s one hell of a gimp.

I thought ponting had the strike not Hussey. Still should have said no

Lovely to see the whingeing about South African born players - I suppose a country that got dudded by the great dullard Kepler Wessels will have a thing about this.

This was a test series played by two average teams. Ponting might be a great player but he is a poor captain and gets “upset” far too easily. Johnson spent most of the series stomping around like a 12 year old. When you see one of the Australian “selectors” plopping out his beer gut every lunch break and glaring anytime anyone doubts the wisdom of his “insight” you get the strong feeling that such a task might be better given to someone who doesn’t have to play class clown for a living. He then capped it by saying that you “weren’t allowed to lose to England”! Poor bubba, my lickle heart bleeds for him.

I dare say Australia will beat England again in 10/11, but for all that the era of McGrath, Warne, Waughs, Taylor and Hayden is gone and the spoilt Australian sporting public will have to get used to losing again from time to time.

Pritam, way more than 5.

Ian Greig, Tony Greig, Allan Lamb, Basil D’Oliveira, Kevin Pietersen, Matthew Prior, Neal Radford, Chris Smith, Robin Smith, Andrew Strauss
and now Jonathan Trott. Those are just the ones I know of. Expect alot more in the next 4/5 years.

You need a hard task master when things get tough.

That raises an interesting and I think salient point. Bradman was respected by his team members, but not liked. Border was known as Captain Cranky and that’s fine by me if being cranky means not standing around chewing gum and spitting on your hands but rather putting the wind up underperforming players. Steve Waugh was apparently not backward in telling you exactly what he thought of your performance either.

I’ve not heard of Ponting laying down the law, but I do see him internalization issues. Oh to be a fly on the wall in team meetings.

I think Cricket Australia needs to think seriously about getting selectors who don’t need the job and a captain who isn’t full of self admiration when he sees Captain beside his name. Being captain is any cricketer’s boyhood dream but somebody should tell these boyhood dreamers that being the captain is more about taking tough decisions like putting people you dont like in ahead of your friends for the sake of the country. Being captain means sacrificing yourself to ensure that others who are better players are able to deliver to the full potential. Being captain is about you being the chessmaster allowing the battle to be won by your knights. Of course if you are the team’s best player then this puts you in a sticky position and one, probably only Bradman ever negotiated effectively.

I believe that those current players who are out of favour must feel disheartened and find it hard to lift, even when they force their way into the team, while those in favour feel smugly secure and as a result overconfident. Neither situation is appropriate. An even handed captain who plays no favourites is always a better bet. I am not sure the annointed one has this level of maturity and maybe it is time to start thinking about what truly makes a good captain and select accordingly.

Take Clive Lloyd, he was a perfect combination of manners, talent and leadership. Mind you, he had a great team but he also managed some big egos skilfully enough for them to perform to their ability on almost every occasion they took the field.

Re: the Captain being a selector, New Zealand just officially made the Captain and Coach of their side selectors (but only so long as they are Captain and Coach). It’s an interesting move… only time will tell if it’s a good one.

Let’s see what happens in the ‘tween season.

I think Clarke has what it takes, he just needs to become a little more serious in his on-field demeanor but I think that would come with a test captaincy.

I always thought Warne would be a far better on field captain that Ponting because I think Warne has a better cricket brain (the only brain he has in fact), but of course off field was out of the question.

But back to Ponting: I think he’s reached the end of his run and as the famous slogan goes: It’s time.

Maybe Ponting isn’t a great Captain or maybe Australia isn’t a great team anymore?

Never the less, yes, there seems to have been some logic missing from the selection process.

Justice in these things would have the selectors automatically fired for failure along with any underperforming players. And the Captain is a selector, too.

As for Warne, he is a self-confession idiot (recall his attempts to cover himself in the diuretic affair), however, he livens up an otherwise dull English commentary team and voices the questions many viewers would have.

Although Clarke’s maturity comes into question at times, I don’t want to see Ponting head up another Ashes team, regardless of pressure from him or others to try to square up the score.

I too was a little amazed regarding Warnes remarks about the stumping. A magnificent decision which appeared risky if wrong. Good to see an umpire get one absolutely right and the commentators dont give the credit. Unfair

Yeah, I would have liked to see Lee get a chance. He might have been underdone, but he has experience on his side and would have been far more consistent. It’s unfair on the rest of the team if they need to carry a player until they find form.

Johnson and Hussey should have been replaced after the first Test.