Fredescu said:
Probably. Luckily that's not what I said. "The "team" only exists at a broader strategic and psychological level. You don't need to practice with a particular team to be able to slot in well if the skill is there. " A bad team culture will cause problems, but it wasn't culture that made McGrath land the ball on a handkerchief over after over.
If you were in a world beating team for ten years you'd make some pretty good friends too. I will bet you there are far fewer "dressing room incidents" in winning teams than their are losing teams. People playing at this level are there because they are hyper competitive. They all have a bit of the arsehole in them and they are all happier when they're winning.
I'd like to see you try and instill good morale into a team that is losing constantly. The cure to bad morale is winning. To win we need batsmen to knuckle down and graft out a good test innings, and we need bowlers to take 20 wickets. Unless there is a particularly bad element ala Andrew Symonds, those selections should be made on the basis of ability and not how many mates they have in the side.
For what it's worth, I do think there are psychological problems with our batting. They've become too used to having two of the best bowlers of all time in their side and batting with little pressure. The "back yaself, mate" mantra doesn't work anymore. We need batsmen who value their wicket above all else and don't try to score at four and over. We need a new Border or Waugh.
You're so far off base it's a little silly. No, no TEAM is teaching McGrath to put the ball in one spot. Brett Lee walking up to him after someone smacked him around for 14 the previous over and saying "thanks, now i'll get a bowl" will how ever, affect his performance. On the other hand, Lee walking up and saying "Bad luck, but you put it where you wanted, and the plan didn't come off, maybe go to your plan B" could very well get him thinking properly again. If you don't think so, then nothing i say will convince you otherwise. Team culture is more than just being talented.
People are Talented, Teams Win.
You can look at any number of professional sports to confirm this, not just cricket teams (which can be seen in the case of teams like pakistan who are ridiculously gifted, but horrible teams).
I agree on the batsmen point, to an extent. You're not going to win many test matches if it takes you 3 days to make 600 runs. You'll draw plenty, lose less than now, but not win many. I'd like to see Ferguson in the team, Cameron white (as a batsmen), or Marsh as the opener now that katich is hurt.
Yes our bowling lineup at the moment is sub par. Bollinger needs to go, he's not test match fit. He's good, but not test match fit. I don't mind what i've seen from Doherty, but he needs to work with someone on flight, he's getting no dip, no movement, no real flight to his bowling. I also reckon he's regularly bowling far too fast. I dont know what the answers are, but i know it needs a change, as do several in the batting line up.
