An honest defeat not bad for Australia
Australia collapsed from a strong position yet again to narrowly lose the Hobart Test to New Zealand by seven runs
The Australian team bottomed out two years ago, when they only just beat the two worst teams to have come here in decades, the 2009-10 West Indies and Pakistan. At that point the team was a sick man in denial, believing he'd burst out of bed any minute. Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey would come good again, Mitchell Johnson was a once-in-a-generation fast bowler, Shane Watson was the new Keith Miller, Simon Katich was Bill Lawry and Bob Simpson in one, Marcus North was a future Australian captain. The fruits of that thinking were harvested in last year's Ashes embarrassment.
Now we have a situation where the Australian public jump on their mobile phones to decide the man of the match, with the player who gets the most votes receiving the official award. It's nothing more than a popularity vote.