It will be hard to convince anyone in one-eyed land (and possibly other such lands) that, the answer to "Is australia as good as their record suggests?", is a "yes!".

Last 15 years:

Utter Dominance


Last 16 tests:

won


Today, leaving them in home-comfort zone, and on a tailor-made wicket ... BUT with a half-decent batting line-up (with more than two days preparation) to bowl at, facing an attack with more courage than can-do and (leaving Tendulker and Dhoni aside) a pair of two-eyed umpires:

trail by 170 with 9 wickets to get.

When exactly was the last time Australia played a test match away from home against anyone of note? The south Africa test is nearly two years ago now. A 16 match unbeaten run with the benefit of playing in the comfort of their own back yard for most of it.

Pretty much like the long winning run under Steve Waugh - dominated by home victories.

I agree to an extent but remember that you can only play against teams that you are scheduled to. So it is not Australia's fault.

Mind you, it was you blokes who got them off to this start in the first place

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434, world record for the shortest period. Whos choking now?

It doesn't matter that eleven were at home, such a streak would be impossible playing mainly or even evenly away from home - of course. It's still equalling a record, you can't just dismiss that! I still say the West Indies going 27 Tests without defeat is way more impressive mind you. I also don't really get the point of the initial post.

Of course it is not Australia's fault, but when talking about records, one must put them into perspective. The West Indies run of 1984-85 would have been much longer if test matches had modern playing conditions of making up time for weather and slow over rates (which all teams were guilty of). The 450 over match has now almost consigned the draw to the cricketing dustbin. A great thing, but two of Australia's victories have come when conceding 500 first up. Now this is a great performance by Australia and is testament to their greatness, but it must be remembered that 20 years ago this would just not have happened.

There is always going to be a better chance of winning (and losing for that matter) if we get 450 overs instead of 350 - except scoring rate is always mentioned as the main reason.

It was a parody (of an earlier thread) which in truth, has backfired somewhat. I was expecting a much more dismissive response to the post.

Just found out another fact of that West Indian team of the 1980's - between 1980 and 1995, they did not lose a Test series, that's TWENTY NINE series' - the next highest is the Australian side between losses in India and England - 16

That's an astonishing record. Makes one wonder "What has really happed to West Indian cricket?"

I was actually going to start a similar thread - you have pre-empted me butchering lee

Australia has been exposed this test in terms of their inadequacy against quality swing bowling in optimal conditions. The last time they had to contend with that.......England 2005.

Not only with the bat.

The parallels with 2005 also flow on to the ball. Australia went in with a totally unbalanced attack for this test with three bowlers who hit the deck and try to get movement off the seam, and only one bowler (Johnson) who had any semblance of ability utilizing swing.

The problems of 2005 also remain the same. Who could Australia select to utilize optimum swing conditions? I am racking my brains, and cannot come up with anyone.

The problem Australia face is a bit like the problem England had against leg spin during the Warne era. How can you improve against a certain type of bowling, if there is none in the country good enough to supply you that practice? Makes things very difficult.

I don't know what happened to the classic Aussie swing bowler. We used to have them on tap, but the likes of Flemming, Reiffel, Alderman ect are no longer around. The last one of any real quality Australia had to my memory was Adam Dale, but they are now a bit like frogs in Queensland - you sit up one night in the rain and think "where are all the frogs gone? All i can hear are toads."

Certainly an issue that Australia need to address. They saw the writing on the wall in 2005, but seemingly ignored the issue hoping it would all go away. They better come up with something before the Ashes 2009, that's for sure.

Hopefully for Australia, this test will serve as a wake up call.

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The thought police are everywhere..............

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The thought police are everywhere..............