Ashes 2010: Oz media strikes at ‘beaten, broken, bereft’ team with vengeance

LONDON/ADELAIDE - The defeat of the Australian cricket team in the second Ashes Test against England at the Adelaide Oval has left the country’s media fuming and steaming, so much so, that they feel Ponting’s boys are already “beaten, broken and bereft’, and don’t have chance of making a comeback, let alone winning the coveted series.

The media has turned on the hapless side with a vengeance. They don’t like losing, they don’t like losing to the Poms and they most certainly don’t like being humiliated, The Guardian reports.

It has gone to the extent of saying that this is the worst Australian side for ‘two decades’, which will have to line up and take its licks.

Robert Craddock, in the Herald Sun, who, under the header “Let’s rearrange the deckchairs in the Australian team”, wasted no time in laying in with a festive air: “Beaten. Broken. Bereft of options. Australian cricket has not been in such a parlous state for two decades. The team that lost to England will never play together again. It will be ripped apart like a Christmas turkey at a boarding house the next time the selectors meet. Desperate times require desperate measures.”

Malcolm Conn in The Australian, said: “Not since Australia’s darkest days in the mid ’80s has the Test team played so badly. Has the national side which was so recently ranked number one in the world really fallen this far?”

“Australian cricket has become a product of rampant self-indulgence” led Peter Roebeck’s piece in the Sydney Morning Herald, as he too sought the reasons why and solutions to, the gulf between the sides: “England soared. Australia floundered. The gap between the sides has become a chasm … Australian cricket has become self-indulgent. Bold decisions are needed - and wise ones.”

But which bold decisions to make? Shane Warne told the Herald Sun in his live blog: “I think if Australia loses another Ashes series to England, then I think you’ll see a youth policy employed by the selectors. And they will try to re-build rather than persist with ageing players.”

Former Australian opener Mark Taylor, in contrast, told the Daily Telegraph he wanted a recall for Mitchell Johnson, his “fighting” qualities bringing something special to the Aussie attack.

“Johnson would certainly come back into calculations. He’s only missed one Test match but he is a bit of an X-Factor for the Australians. He’s the sort of guy who gives them a bit of aggro, and that’s exactly what they need. They need some penetration from their bowling attack,” he said.

Michael Slater told the paper that he wants Phillip Hughes to replace Simon Katich in Perth at the expense of Marcus North.

“I know it’s his home ground, but I’m not seeing the runs. Hughes comes in to open, Marcus North out, [Brad] Haddin batting six and [Nathan] Hauritz is in there as well,” Salter said.

In his column for the BBC, former Australian opener Justin Langer said many of Australia’s problems were self-inflicted, and added that there would be no fizzy celebration for a side that had forgotten the maxim catches win matches.

Former middle-order batsman Damien Martyn said Australia is notoriously harsh on its sportsmen when they fail so it was good to see one of them use up his limited allocation of characters to be fair as well.

He said: “Well done England!! Credit were credit is due every since arriving in the country they have looked the goods well deserved enjoy the moment.” (ANI)