There is far more room for improvement

There has been plenty of ranting and raving about the rejuvenated Australian bowling attack. A firing Peter Siddle and new found length inspired by bowling coach, Craig McDermott are being praised for recent wins. Despite all this, I still have my doubts about the strength and form of the Aussie quicks.

Since finding his way back into the side in South Africa, Siddle has taken 19 wickets at an average of 27.32. Admirable no doubt, but when we take a deeper look, his form is not as great as initially thought. During this period, the remainder of the Australian attack has managed an average of 23.15 with the ball. This highlights the bowler friendly wickets Siddle has had at his disposal, and when you look at the figures, he hasn't been on par with his fellow bowlers.

The talk of the new length being bowled by Australia is also unfounded. It doesn't take a scientist to observe the pitch map and see that all of the bowlers are still bowling 'back of a length'. While this has been highly effective on seaming bouncy tracks, it will only take one flat batting pitch for the Australian attack to crumble. Poor batting and juicy wickets have had a larger factor in the Australian bowler's recent success than the length they've bowled.

Ben Hilfenhaus came back into the side from the cricketing wilderness and walked away with the impressive figures of 5/75. However, many of his wickets were less convincing than one might have thought. His first was essentially Gambhir getting himself out and many others fell in a similar vein. Hilfenhaus may have taken his best test figures in the match, but I believe he is still a long way from his finest. By no means do I call for his dropping from the side, I merely mean to keep the journalists who praise these players so blindly, as honest as possible.

Furthermore, there are left-field calls for changes to the side. To play four fast-bowlers and leave out Lyon at the expense of Harris. While Harris should certainly be a walk-in back into the Australian team, a more appropriate player to leave out would be Siddle, or if the Australian selection panel are serious about their rotation policy, they should be brave enough to rest James Pattinson. After all, isn't the reason for their rotation policy, to protect the younger players from burnout?

There remains much to ponder, and that's without even mentioning the batting. While there is no question that the future looks up for the Australian side, there is far more room for improvement than the 'experts' are taking note of. Provided the Australian players, coaching staff and captain can see this, then the team will continue to improve and get on the move back towards number one.

A Peter Siddle short ball is upper-cut for six by Sachin Tendulkar

The big bash league so far

Stuart MacGill brought the intensity of his prime to the BBL

The Big Bash League has so far incited plenty of interest from myself. Originally I thought the BBL would be a flop and merely serve as a poor imitation of the IPL. However, I have so far been impressed. The matches have been exciting for the most part. Players have stood up and demonstrated some glorious performances with relevance to the state of the Australian side. Such performances have come in the way of Warner's hundred and Marsh's 99 not out. Let us also not forget the solid displays from some former greats. Warne, Hayden, Hogg, MacGill and co. have all shown glimpses of their prime and brought an intensity to the game many would not have anticipated.

So far I've enjoyed the exploits of the BBL. Hopefully it remains entertaining without it's Australian stars. 

What justification is there in calls for Hussey to go?

Talk of Michael Hussey being dropped are now rife following a less than impressive showing against New Zealand. The end of Hussey's career however, seems far away to me. Hussey was Australia's stand out performer in last summers Ashes, dominated in the Indian Premier League and not to mention his superb tour of Sri Lanka. 

In comparison to Ricky Ponting, who has only two notable scores of recent and no centuries this year, last year or the most of the year previous. What justification is there in calls for Hussey to go? Any cricketer will tell you that it's unfair to expect big scores all the time. A few short comings are far from proof that a batsman is past their best. 

Hussey has one of the best test records of any current Australian player and unlike Ponting, has scored five test hundreds in the past two years. The main thing that I believe separates Ponting and Hussey's cases, is the fact that when Ponting gets 'in', he still can't convert his score into a hundred. When Hussey gets going, he capitalises and can still score big.

I see no reason why Hussey cannot get back in his groove and continue to be one of Australia's best for the remainder of the summer, if not well into next year.