Australian Test XI - Selection Thread

Top Contributors
Re: Australian Test XI - Selection Thread

Sober Symonds;380189 said:
I don't believe what I'm reading, and believe me, there's been a bit to get through! You've gone out of your way in the past to dodge the hot potato that is Mike Hussey. Yes, you've discussed him, but only in support and admiration (oh, and reflection). I must have missed the one where you said he should have been dropped, but then you've swung to & fro so freely I could be excused for losing sight of which argument you're taking.

Now I don't wish to put words in your mouth, but your statement that the bowlers are doing their job could be misconstrued as an endorsement of - dare I say it - P.Siddle. Hell no:eek: Boris, have you lost your mind? I hope you're not selling your soul to please these nasty types who question your leanings!

In whatever argument you choose to pursue, Boris, be forthright. Have an opinion by all means, but stick to your guns. Your views might be completely insane, but the lengths you go to in order to explain your way out of controversy is worse. We don't mind slagging you off for having a say, but when you scamper for a place to sit astride the fence, it's confusing, no fun and we find we've wasted all this time and energy:eek:
Click to expand...

I have said it over and over, Hussey should have been dropped. But quite obviously he hasn't. Is he going to be dropped before the end of the Pakistan series? Most people's comments I have read suggest he will be around by then. After Pakistan there isn't much time left to get set for the Ashes, which once again seems to be everyone's target. So if Hussey is going to be there that long, in reality most likely to be scoring half decently against the sides he is up against, do you think he will be around playing in the Ashes? Take into consideration of the selectors past to stick with him. How much longer is that? I have given up suggesting he is going to be dropped because people were a year ago and he's still there. Still. How about we make the crazy suggestion that he just might be around for a bit, still as dead meat dragging back the team. How do we compensate for that?

And also if you read right about my bowling statements, being honest, I was actually making the suggestion that Siddle wasn't doing his job ;). The bowling attack is the weakest part of the side. Yes, the batting line-up collapses sometimes, but also contributes a hell of a lot of runs, more than expected sometimes. The bowling attack is a little wayward currently and not running smoothly as a group yet. How do we compensate for that?

Is having a 100 or nothing player batting number six the answer for example? This is one of the many questions that can relate to it.
 
Re: Australian Test XI - Selection Thread

If you've stated over & over that Hussey should be dropped, it must have been in code. I have said it. Eddie, Caesar and others have said it. You have defended him to the hilt. In fact, I recall during his cringingly poor Ashes series abroad you still remained adamant he be retained as he staggered from Test to Test, eventually finding a place that loved him at The Oval. Since then, you've sat in the crowd repeatedly raising a large cardboard sign with the scores from his past four innings in thick black texta. The one we had hung over the first tier balony with his previous 25 innings was ignored. Like a streaker at the cricket, it's as though the cameras refused to point in the direction of that banner!

He is there to stay now, and I can see you are quite smug in the knowledge that he will leave on his own terms. Barring any repeat of his previous form snarls, he will totter through to the Ashes. Then no doubt he will have his revenge, therefore purging his soul of the 2009 demons before he renounces his title and departs the arena.

Yes I agree the bowling is a concern. I don't think it is up to the standard of the batting, and has fallen away more markedly since the retirement of previously stated players. Having said that, West Indies batting is a lot more capable than it's bowling department.

We both know you won't be happy until Bing & Stu are back in the attack, and for the sake of settling the argument, I wouldn't mind seeing it. I've made no secret of my respect for Clark, and also think it's unfortunate he can't find a spot. I won't cry for Lee though. He had plenty of time to show what he's made of and more often than not he disappointed. Apart from a handful of short series and other spurts of pace & form, he has been just another trundler - like the current crop you bemoan.

North is not perfect, but he has played some significant innings in his short time. A couple of his middle-order mates have not been so prominent on occasions we have most needed them.
 
Re: Australian Test XI - Selection Thread

Most of the people on here and a lot of the media want Mike hussey dropped. But, they can no longer drop watson down the order because he has performed well in opener, and it doesnt seem logical to move him just as he was getting comfortable. So the question remains who comes in??

Bring in someone like cam White or george bailey and phil hughes is hard done by. bring phil hughes into no 4, a position which he is not suited to. I think the selectors are going to directly replace simon Katich with phil hughes when katich retires. But, in the meantime the selectors should bring in someone young - enter Usman Kawaja. A useful high to middle order batsmen, who has scored shield centuries. But the most important thing is that he 22 years old. Australian under 19 representative, its time the selectors took a risk on a younger player.
 
Re: Australian Test XI - Selection Thread

scooter22;380369 said:
But, they can no longer drop watson down the order because he has performed well in opener, and it doesnt seem logical to move him just as he was getting comfortable.
Click to expand...
See, I'm not sure I'd totally agree with that. I'd argue that Watson has performed well as a Test batsman, not necessarily an opener. While he's done reasonably well at the top of the order I still think he'd be better suited lower down.

scooter22;380369 said:
But, in the meantime the selectors should bring in someone young - enter Usman Kawaja. A useful high to middle order batsmen, who has scored shield centuries. But the most important thing is that he 22 years old. Australian under 19 representative, its time the selectors took a risk on a younger player.
Click to expand...
I like Khawaja a lot and definitely think he's a future Australian Test player depending on which way he goes, but let's slow down a little. He's still finding his feet at first class level.

I'd rather not throw him into the Test team when currently there's better options available. It could set his progress back significantly. I'd like to see him play at least a couple of seasons as a regular member of the Shield side first.

On a related note, why does everyone always act like Cameron White is some kind of old man? He's only just turned 26, FFS.
 
Re: Australian Test XI - Selection Thread

Sober Symonds, I am going to cease the arguement before I have to pull up some very old statements of mine.

Someone fill me in on Khawaja please. I haven't seen him play before
 
Re: Australian Test XI - Selection Thread

Fair enough Boris, I've made my point(s).

scooter22;380369 said:
Bring in someone like cam White or george bailey and phil hughes is hard done by. bring phil hughes into no 4, a position which he is not suited to. I think the selectors are going to directly replace simon Katich with phil hughes when katich retires. But, in the meantime the selectors should bring in someone young - enter Usman Kawaja. A useful high to middle order batsmen, who has scored shield centuries. But the most important thing is that he 22 years old. Australian under 19 representative, its time the selectors took a risk on a younger player.
Click to expand...

I think that would be an insult to Mike Hussey in a way. In his case, as with others, his batting was much better for having to wait for his chance at Test level after amassing a bulk of First Class runs. Caesar's right. They're better off honing their skills at Shield level for a couple of full seasons - ironing out wrinkles, having any emerging deficiencies worked over, etc.

It's different with bowlers. Pick them when they're young & aggressive, fit & firing. We've got that wrong a few times in the past.

Scooter, the selectors have indeed taken a risk on a younger player - and they obviously feel they got their fingers burnt!
 
Re: Australian Test XI - Selection Thread

With batsman, and most of the time bowlers too, I like to see a few good seasons lined up in a row to make sure they aren't going to be a one hit wonder. Experience for mine is the only thing that cannot be earnt through skill.
 
Re: Australian Test XI - Selection Thread

Boris;380445 said:
With batsman, and most of the time bowlers too, I like to see a few good seasons lined up in a row to make sure they aren't going to be a one hit wonder. Experience for mine is the only thing that cannot be earnt through skill.
Click to expand...

That's not a thought that I disagree with. My only issue is the physical barriers pace bowlers face. There's a lot to be said for letting the tearaways loose on the opposition before stress-related injuries take effect, rendering them less-potent than they once were. Cases in point are Shaun Tait & Brett Lee - got in early and made instant impact. On the other hand, the likes of Denis Hickey, Brad Williams and that Foster chap from WA (yes, the drug tainted one) are some who really could have shaken up the cricket world in the short time they were bowling fast & furious. I'm sure there are others who have been lethal for sadly too short a time.
 
Re: Australian Test XI - Selection Thread

Sober Symonds;380446 said:
That's not a thought that I disagree with. My only issue is the physical barriers pace bowlers face. There's a lot to be said for letting the tearaways loose on the opposition before stress-related injuries take effect, rendering them less-potent than they once were. Cases in point are Shaun Tait & Brett Lee - got in early and made instant impact. On the other hand, the likes of Denis Hickey, Brad Williams and that Foster chap from WA (yes, the drug tainted one) are some who really could have shaken up the cricket world in the short time they were bowling fast & furious. I'm sure there are others who have been lethal for sadly too short a time.
Click to expand...

In a way it does sound a bit wrong that you would use bowlers until they injure themselves :p haha

Another point I would like to make is that I like having certain players in certain positions. Like not having 4 line and length pace bowlers in a team, but a strike bowler that isn't that economical but can really explode, the really concentrated line and length bowler, the spin bowler and then another mixture of any of these, which I call the 'special' bowler; one that isn't really anything but gets the wickets reasonably economically. An example would be Gillespie, furious and a bit fast but bowled line and length and really tried everything. Included in there team also is an all rounder that is half decent and at least one part timer.

I can say the same about the batting line up as well. I have categories that I fit players into to try and make a balanced team. That way there aren't 5 batsman like Mike Hussey who scores very big very consistently, but at about a 40-50 strike rate, instead include batsman like Hayden that scores at 60% and can really dominate, and also an out and out attacker like Gilly, Symonds, Watson etc that can score a run a ball and really boost a score quickly.

The point I'm making is that we can't have the same bowlers doing the same things from both ends. Even if there are two superstar strike bowlers capable of doing the same things, would you put them both in the same team?
 
Re: Australian Test XI - Selection Thread

I hear on the TV Mohammed Yousef stating he is worried about his team's batting for the upcoming Test series in Australia.

I'm sorry Boris, but did we not argue at length over the likelihood Australia would be too strong for the Paks this time round? I'll be happy to hear you concede this will probably be the case if you care to back down on your early call that this is their time. It's all hypothetical of course, but if their captain doesn't think they can win, perhaps you should write to him explaining why they will!!!
 
Re: Australian Test XI - Selection Thread

W're scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of bowling stocks now. When your first string lineup isn't that crash-hot, losing all but one to injury plus all the first-choice backups is a pretty grim situation.

Even without Chanderpaul I'm starting to wonder if we have the capacity to take 20 wickets on a Perth road.
 
Re: Australian Test XI - Selection Thread

SS I never said the Pakistanis would beat Australia. I never said they would be an extremely difficult task. But arguably they are a better team than the Windies currently and they are playing as a fairly good unit now against the Aussies. I would like to think this series coming, in all optimism, will be more than three Tests similar to the first Test against the Windies. I'd like to think the Pakistanis still have the talents to be able to raise a couple of centuries here and there and spark maybe a small batting collapse. Something exciting.
 
Re: Australian Test XI - Selection Thread

Boris;374096 said:
Also remember the Pakistanis are coming up after them. They have to get it right against the Windies, no mucking around and chosing false sides. Get them in and settled for the battle they are likely to have against Pakistan...

... if you look at it from the Pakistani's point of view, this will be the best chance they have had to get one back on Australia in many, many years. At least they will have hope...

... If there is any time that Pakistan is going to win against the Australian's in the next ten years it is right now so they better snare the chance.
Click to expand...

In fairness, I should have directed my barb more towards LTD, as he was pushing their case even more forthrightly.

Sometimes a visiting captain's comments might be passed off as some kind of reverse psychology, but I really don't think Yousef is into playing mind games. He is acutely award of his team's shortcoming, and genuinely concerned about the sort of performances they might put in out here.

Even so, I think their bowling at least should be better quality than what the West Indies are capable of, and given suitable conditions could show some form. Their batting tends to fall away in chunks, often leaving just one or two to hold an innings together.

Will all due respect, if Australia were to even draw this series, there would have to be severe ramifications.
 
Re: Australian Test XI - Selection Thread

Pakistan's bowling attack is a lot more impressive than Australia's is at the moment.

Aamer is young but has shown a bit in his first couple of tests, Asif is widely considered to be one of the best young fast bowlers in the world, Umar Gul is the best exponent of reverse swing in the world, and Kaneria is always a handful, and will love bowling in Sydney.

Compare this to Johnson, Bollinger, McKay and Hauritz, only one of whom has proved themselves as a quality test match bowler, and Pakistan has easily takes the bowling honours. Even with Hilf and Siddle back in the Australians would break even at best.

Obviously the Pakistani batting list is very hit-and-miss at the moment, and may well turn out to be their undoing, but only a fool would suggest that the Paki's won't be competitive against the weakest Australian side in 20 years.
 
Re: Australian Test XI - Selection Thread

Even if the Pakistanis are more hopeless than they are, the point of the matter is this is the time to attack the Aussies. This is the only chance some teams will get in their lifetimes if the Australian's do what they have done in the past, settle a team in and then rise to number 1 again. Obviously they aren't going to be invincible again, well not likely anyway, and even though this is the most severe transistion period, they will get back up there. In five years time I don't think Pakistan, looking at their cricket now, are going to improve enough to beat the Aussies, so if they want to they better be putting in more than 150% to take the only chance they have.

The Pakistanis are similar to the opposite of the Windies, good bowling, bat batting as a generalisation. That though should more suit the Aussies with another generalisation of good batting, bad bowling to compensate.
 
Re: Australian Test XI - Selection Thread

Boris;380902 said:
Even if the Pakistanis are more hopeless than they are, the point of the matter is this is the time to attack the Aussies. This is the only chance some teams will get in their lifetimes if the Australian's do what they have done in the past, settle a team in and then rise to number 1 again. Obviously they aren't going to be invincible again, well not likely anyway, and even though this is the most severe transistion period, they will get back up there. In five years time I don't think Pakistan, looking at their cricket now, are going to improve enough to beat the Aussies, so if they want to they better be putting in more than 150% to take the only chance they have.

The Pakistanis are similar to the opposite of the Windies, good bowling, bat batting as a generalisation. That though should more suit the Aussies with another generalisation of good batting, bad bowling to compensate.
Click to expand...

Pakistan have two of the most exciting young prospects in world cricket at present.

Umar Akmal and Mohammad Aamer have the potential to be world-beaters in five years time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top