Theres no other way to say this. Australias cricketers are presently in the grip of the kind of slide that has historically ended careers.A fourth consecutive defeat, sealed with more than a session to spare by a South Africa side minus AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn, is Australias worst run of losses since six in a row in 2013. The coach Mickey Arthur was sacked by Cricket Australia between the fourth and the fifth.To find another instance of four or more consecutive losses the clock must be wound back all the way to 1984, when the Australian Cricket Board (in its infinite wisdom) scheduled 10 consecutive Tests against West Indies at their mightiest. Kim Hughes led Australia through five straight defeats before resigning in tears at the Gabba. Allan Borders first Test as captain was a sixth loss in a row.Venture further still into the past, to the divisive days of the World Series Cricket split, and another loss of five Tests in a row - four to Mike Brearleys England and one to a Sarfraz Nawaz-inspired Pakistan in 1978-79. Graham Yallop - having predicted a six-nil Ashes victory - was relieved of his command after a 5-1 series defeat. Hughes was duly in command for the Pakistan loss at the MCG, during which time Kerry Packer and the board chairman Bob Parish met to discuss a much-needed truce in the cricket war.What does all this say? That the system can only take so much strain before it breaks. Another recent example of course is the summer of 2010-11. Three innings defeats in the one Ashes series, while not consecutive, humiliated Australian cricket at home. those results ushered the end of Ricky Pontings captaincy, Tim Nielsens coaching tenure and the breaking up of the selection panel chaired by the part-timer Andrew Hilditch. Those changes were wrought by the Argus review, a major undertaking that enshrined numerous alterations to how the national team was run.Five years on, and that document still takes pride of place in the personal collection of the team performance manager Pat Howard, among others. But as already discussed, the mixed priorities illustrated by the move of the first Test of the summer from the Gabba to the WACA, and the scheduling of a solitary Sheffield Shield match - under lights with a pink ball at that - place fresh scrutiny on decision-making in the halls of CAs Jolimont headquarters.Intriguingly, the CA board recently hosted a presentation by the New South Wales chairman John Warn and chief executive Andrew Jones on how they turned around the fortunes of the games most populous state. Independent governance at director level should ensure CAs CEO, James Sutherland, is kept on his toes. So too should a mood for change at senior executive level - Kate Banozic and Mike McKenna have gone, while the former board director Kevin Roberts has come in, alongside a newly promoted head of finance in Todd Shand. Pressure, too, must fall on the coach Darren Lehmann, despite his recent signing of a renewed deal to see him through to 2019. Earlier in this match, he offered up familiar homilies to ABC Radio about the quality of the individuals currently in the dressing room, how hard they were working and how great their attitudes were. This extended not just to the players but also to support staff including David Saker, Graeme Hick and Lehmanns old state team-mate Greg Blewett - nominally the fielding coach.They do all the prep, theyre great young men, theyre trying to do as well as they can for Australia each and every time, its just a case of making little mental lapses at times, Lehmann had said. Collectively were always pretty positive, but stats will show we havent batted as well as we would have liked the last few Test matches. Theres no hiding the fact weve got to bat better.Theres always pressure when youre coaching your country or playing for the country, thats why the guys have got to where theyve got to. Theyve been brilliant doing all the work behind the scenes and playing at the level below, now theyve got to do it at this level.True as this all is, the fact is that the Australian team is not a club side defined by how well everyone gets along with each other. It is a representative team brought together to win matches. As one former captain said recently: If you ask me to choose between a happy team and a winning one, Ill take the winning one every time.Australia have passed the point where they can keep whistling merrily towards defeat. There should be consequences, and soon. Cheap Jordan China Wholesale . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration. Wholesale Retro Jordans China .7 million, one-year contract, a raise of $2.2 million. Wieters had asked for $8.75 million and the Orioles had offered $6. http://www.cheapjordanfromchina.com/ .com) - The Chicago Blackhawks aim for their third three-game winning streak of the season when they host the struggling Edmonton Oilers in Sundays battle at the United Center. Wholesale Retro Jordans Cheap . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Cheap Jordans For Sale Wholesale . The No. 1-ranked Nadal tweaked his back warming up for the Australian Open final, which he lost almost four weeks ago in a major upset against Stanislas Wawrinka. His first stop after the layoff is the clay in Rio as he tests the back and tries to stay healthy for the French Open in three months. Bangladesh 265 (Tamim 80, Mahmudullah 62, Shakib 48, Dawlat 4-73, Rashid 2-37, Nabi 2-40) beat Afghanistan 258 (Hashmatullah 72, Shahidi 71, Shakib 2-26, Mashrafe 2-42, Taskin 2-55) by seven runs Scorecard and ball-by-ball details Bangladesh were given a mighty scare, but they somehow managed to fend off Afghanistans challenge to win by seven runs in a tense first ODI in Mirpur. The 1-0 lead was possible through fine slog-overs bowling from Shakib Al Hasan, Taskin Ahmed and Rubel Hossain, who picked up seven wickets between them.Afghanistan were cruising at 190 for 2, with Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi driving their chase in a 144-run third-wicket stand. Once that was broken, with Shakib having Rahmat stumped to become the countrys highest ODI wicket-taker, things fell apart.With 28 runs needed off 24 balls, Shakib kept the game within Bangladeshs reach through a tight one-run over. Taskin followed it up with a two-wicket over that included the scalp of Mohammad Nabi, who had made 30 off 24 balls, off a slower ball. Rubel then gave away eight runs and removed Rashid Khan off the last ball of the next over.It boiled down to 13 off the final over, bowled by Taskin. With the new ball, he was wayward and perhaps a touch nervous upon his return to international cricket after getting his bowling action cleared by the ICC. Now, it was a do-or-die situation, and he responded by removing Mirwais Ashraf with a full delivery off the second ball. He then took his fourth wicket to finish a hard-fought win that could have belonged to Afghanistan had they kept their cool in the last half hour.That they were in with a chance was largely because Bangladesh missed an opportunity to post much more than 265; they lost their last seven wickets for 62, with Mahmudullahs slog sweep that was caught at deep square-leg in the 41st over triggering the slide.Mushfiqur Rahim and Sabbir Rahman then fell to Rashid Khans googlies, leaving Shakib with the task of manoeuvring the final stages of the innings; he eventually fell for a 40-ball 48 in the 48th over. Dawlat Zadran, who was inconsistent in the middle overs, returned to finish with 4 for 73 off 10 overs, while Rashid and Nabi took two wickets each.Bangladeshs platform was built by Tamim Iqbal, who made 80 off 98 balls with nine boundaries. His 83-run second-wicket stand with Imrul Kayes helped them recover from the early loss of Soumya Sarkarr.ddddddddddddTamim, who was dropped on 30 at point off Ashraf, then added 79 runs for the third wicket with Mahmudullah, before an unusual middle-overs slowdown, largely due to the oppressive heat and the slow nature of the surface. He eventually holed out to long-off in the 36th over. Mahmudullah too was given a reprieve on 58 by Afghanistan captain Asghar Stanikzai at cover, but he added just four more. He hit five fours and two sixes in all to give the total a lift.Afghanistans chase didnt take off until Mohammad Shahzad cut loose - he struck Taskin for three successive fours in the sixth over and flicked Mashrafe Mortaza for a six over midwicket - but his dismissal in the seventh over pulled them back. Mashrafe had the last laugh when he found the edge. What followed was an angry send-off, which was perhaps because of the pressure Bangladesh found themselves under all of a sudden.Shakib struck two balls later to trap Shabir Noori lbw to become Bangladeshs joint-highest wicket-taker in ODIs along with Abdur Razzak. He could have taken over the record in the 12th over, but Mushfiqur Rahim couldnt gather a difficult take down the leg-side off Shahidi.Rahmat and Shahidi then rebuilt to bring Afghanistan back into the contest. Once they found a string of boundaries, the confidence showed. Afghanistan signalled intent when Rahmat struck three sixes, over mid-off and midwicket, the third a beautiful pick-up off Rubel Hossain in the 31st over. He even scooped Rubel past fine-leg to leave the 40,000-strong crowd worried.To add to Bangladeshs woes, Shahidi was let off for the second time when Mahmudullah failed to hold on to a chance at deep square-leg in the 40th over off Taijul Islam. Fortunately for Bangladesh, another opportunity came in the next over, which they gleefully accepted as Shakib broke the record for most ODI wickets. Rahmats stumping on 71 ended a stand that, in hindsight, may have proved to be the game-changer.Shahidi then mistimed a slog on 72 and was caught by Soumya Sarkar at deep midwicket in the 44th over. From there on, it was over to Nabi and Asghar Stanikzai to pull off a heist. But on the face of some improved death bowling, the task proved a little too steep. And in a jiffy, an opportunity to record a famous win slipped by. 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