Cricket: Champions Trophy campaign over, fragile Australia looking to Ashes

David Warner, 2012, currently out of favour with the Aussie side (photo mine)

What is currently going right with the Australian team?

The answer is, not much.  And with the Ashes less than three weeks away, questions are burning hot as to whether the squad will be up to the challenge against England.

Granted, those who come in to the test side means that the line-up becomes different to the recently completed Champions Trophy; but it does not change the fact that, on current form, Australia is falling behind the stronger teams in world cricket.

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Cricket: India v Australia: Test Series Analysis and Review

Michael Clarke & MS Dhoni pose w/ the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
(from examiner.com)

Australia was thrown a curveball from the moment they stepped on to the sub-continent in February.  In the end that curveball proved to be the side’s ultimate downfall.

Batting and bowling failures alike culminated in a shocking (and at times horrifying) 4-0 series loss to India.

There are plenty of words to describe each test, each player, and each moment, but none more so than disappointing.  Even travelling with a team that had largely not played in Indians conditions before, Australia was rolled, crushed and decimated over the past month in a way no-one expected.

Cricket: Has Australian cricket finally cracked?

Shane Watson has been left in the lurch in this crisis (Dec 2010, photo mine)

Has Australian cricket finally cracked?

All summer long (and right now, as the Aussies take on India) it has been the burning question on the forefront of the fans minds.

We have the Ashes in England fast approaching, and right now the state of the Australian side is close to a shambles.  Only Michael Clarke is putting up a consistent fight.  The rest – David Warner, Phil Hughes, Shane Watson and Matthew Wade alike – are all struggling to string together a good run of scores. 

Cricket: Player In Focus: Matthew Wade

Matthew Wade v Melbourne Renegades, Dec 7, 2012 (photo mine)

Matthew Wade has copped more proverbial bouncers at the throat recently than you could poke a stick at.  All through it he’s pressed on, despite being rested for the first part of the one-day series this summer against Sri Lanka.

Since moving to Victoria from the island state of Tasmania, Wade’s career has blossomed beautifully.  Culminating in test and ODI debuts last year for the national squad, Wade is continuing to build on the criticism he is receiving and his experience.