Test XI Selection Thread

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I watched an Interview with Smith today and he said what he could bring to Australia was some fun and relaxed banter in the field. hmmmm - I'm very happy he has been introduced into the team but is this just another continued culture problem that punter and pup have let bleed through this team. No more Valvoline Ads, no more tatts and no more fun on the field....lets get serious boys, England certainly have!
 
Can't see Beer playing tomorrow, not if the pitch is as green as what everyone is making it out to be. Not sure that a four-man pace attack will be any good though with the form they are in.

The one thing is Australia's favour will be the warmish weather, England won't be used to playing at a place that is so warm and will be hitting mid 30's by the end of the test.
 
Ljp86 said:
Can't see Beer playing tomorrow, not if the pitch is as green as what everyone is making it out to be. Not sure that a four-man pace attack will be any good though with the form they are in.

The one thing is Australia's favour will be the warmish weather, England won't be used to playing at a place that is so warm and will be hitting mid 30's by the end of the test.
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Lip, this happens every summer where the talk is that the wicket is going to be a good one for bowlers.

And every summer turns out to be a belter.
 
Beer not playing, I probably would've went with a spinner. Positive could be that Watson might not have to bowl as much, although it puts a bit of pressure on Smith' s bowling that he probably doesn't really need.
 
you know our battings in trouble when they throw Smith in as a replacement for North. I'm confused - if they want the batsman + spin option, why on earth wouldn't you pick Cameron White? Maybe his bowling is not right up there, but his batting has gone from strength to strength in the one dayers - he is an imposing figure on the field and one of the best slip fieldsman in the country.
 
Hughes played all over a straight ball,Ponting to a blinder and when you are out of luck not much you can do about it. Clarke was as soft as I have seen.No need to play at the delivery.Should get dropped next Test to show him that he is not untouchable.Smith looked out of his depth.In the end 268 was a pretty good effort considering where they could have been.Upto the bowlers today, but not holding my breath. On another note watching India last night...hilarious. Amazing what happens when you get a pitch with a bit of life.Weak as P***.
 
my God, Smith's worse than I thought - I think I counted 3 occasion when he should have been out. Totally out of his depth and this must seem like a real kick in the teeth for Cameron White (presuming they want to go with the batting all-rounder - otherwise Khawaja should be in). Australia will win this game, but there are still serious question marks about the middle order which is entirely propped up by Hussey at the moment. Also, looks like Ponting is likely to be out for the series - which must be a HUGE relief for the selectors, and probably Ponting himself - saving him the embarassment of a likely axeing after the series.
 
Agree about Smith. He looked terrible at times.It was a good win but Ponting & Clarke cannot make a run between them.If they get an early wicket it goes from 1 for to 3 for very quickly.Sooner or later Hussey will fail and we will not have a WACA pitch to bowl on.Clarke is so out of form it is beyond a joke.He is chasing deliveries he does not need to touch and then gets it into his head to be aggressive and he gets himself out.Hughes is out of sorts and should be dropped.

Marsh
Watson
Ponting
Hussey D
Hussey M
White
Haddin
Johnson
Siddle
Harris
Hauritz
Hilfenahaus 12th Man.
 
Hughes can't be dropped after one match. He has to be given a chance. Dave Hussey will never be picked because they are looking for a new generation to build the team for the future. Hussey, Ponting and Katich, will be gone soon, then Haddin, Harris soon after. They can't keep replacing old guys with old guys.
 
A bit hard on Smith, if we are to give Hughs a chance so should we give Smith a go. I do agree that as a NO6 he looks weak but at 7 or 8 he would be good. I still think he is a bowling allrounder and they need to work his bowling more. Cameron White is a horrid bowler and in the test arena will be soon found out as a batsman and will look no different to smith and hughs. For now leave the team and swap Beer for Siddle in Melbourne. The next test will be the moment of truth, the pitch will favour England so we won't want to have any passengers. This will be hard as we are carrying 3 & 4 at this time.
Just a note. NZ cricket signed a deal with the USA to help develop the game there and also have a financial interest in the development of a T20 league in the US. Good on them why are we not working like this.
 
I have warmed to Smith, even though that wasn't a very good Test for him. At the moment he seems a 'Jack of all trades, master of none'. He's done a bit of everything right, but not perfectly.

His second innings was a pretty good one. Tremlett came at him very hard and the battle he was in was quite big. Everyone was quite obviously giving him stick and he showed some maturity outside his years to stick through it and shut them up with a couple of good shots, one blistering pull shot that Tremlett couldn't believe after barraging him with short balls. He stuck to his guns and it paid off. Then he got out to a decent ball that perhaps his technique wasn't good enough to cover.

I think he's the Andrew Symonds replacement judging by the way they are talking him up. He's apparently a great guy in the change rooms, a breath of fresh air and is a tough guy out on the field who can give a bit with the bat, ball or in the field. Also looks like he can actually catch in the slips, which is something they need.

Seems like they are playing him as a part time spinner, though. He wasn't needed in either innings, but if he was a full time spinner he would have played regardless. Makes me wonder what the team will be at the MCG then, they will probably bring in a specialist spinner as well.
 
Not sold on Smith, he probably has the talent but you cant look at that second innings and call it convincing or even encouraging. He was a happy combination of ordinary and lucky. Tremlett came hard and smith avoided 90 per cent of the short balls and did so in unconventional and unconvincing ways. He looked genuinley incapable, bordering scared, when he got out.
Still he's young, has talent and deserves another go... unless he is in as a bowler in which case drop him and never pcik him again, otherwise it is just double standards.
 
It's only Day 1 and they have been beyond awful.

One team appears to want the Ashes quite a lot and it isn't Australia. Huss was due a fail, but it is pretty ghastly to see how bad it is when he finally does.
 
Now that the Ashes are lost, it is time to start planning for the future.Andrew Hilditch must now retire.Nielsen nust be replaced, and this jobs for the boys with Langer has to end.Cooley is moving in. Hughes is not up to opening at this point in time.Just because you are aggressive does not mean you open the batting. Ponting should get the next Test match and then retire. Clarke should be dropped as he is so badly out of form that it is not funny.He is averaging 17 from his last 10 innings.
Smith is just not good enough to be in the Test team as a specialist batting allrounder.Find another opener and get Watson back to where he belongs in the middle order.It is going to be a long road back but they need to start planning now. Who is skipper?
Watson or Hussey.
 
CLOCKER said:
Now that the Ashes are lost, it is time to start planning for the future.Andrew Hilditch must now retire.Nielsen nust be replaced, and this jobs for the boys with Langer has to end.Cooley is moving in. Hughes is not up to opening at this point in time.Just because you are aggressive does not mean you open the batting. Ponting should get the next Test match and then retire. Clarke should be dropped as he is so badly out of form that it is not funny.He is averaging 17 from his last 10 innings.
Smith is just not good enough to be in the Test team as a specialist batting allrounder.Find another opener and get Watson back to where he belongs in the middle order.It is going to be a long road back but they need to start planning now. Who is skipper?
Watson or Hussey.
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I have to agree with you, it is a long road back for us & most of the players you are talking about I agree.........except Ponting, I think he shouldve been put down to no.6 at least 6 months ago, hes still in our best 11.

You are right about Watson, hes doing an ok job though, but its pretty sad that we dont have anyone in the country who can open the batting thats better than Hughes.....:(
 
CLOCKER said:
Now that the Ashes are lost, it is time to start planning for the future.Andrew Hilditch must now retire.Nielsen nust be replaced, and this jobs for the boys with Langer has to end.Cooley is moving in. Hughes is not up to opening at this point in time.Just because you are aggressive does not mean you open the batting. Ponting should get the next Test match and then retire. Clarke should be dropped as he is so badly out of form that it is not funny.He is averaging 17 from his last 10 innings.
Smith is just not good enough to be in the Test team as a specialist batting allrounder.Find another opener and get Watson back to where he belongs in the middle order.It is going to be a long road back but they need to start planning now. Who is skipper?
Watson or Hussey.
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I think you've summed it up very well. Ponting and Clarke need to go, Hughes was a charity selection and Smith isn't up to it.

Time to start playing some kids and showing some faith in the younger guys who are doing well at Shield level.
 
Well there doesn't seem much to say, i have hailed both Hughs and Smith but they both seem unprepared for test cricket.Hughs in particular is in trouble, it was a bit stiff when he was dropped in the first place but the lessons he needed to learn with technique and patients seem to have avoided him. Smith is going to struggle in a team with no top order to speak of. Ponting must retire. He has let the team down as a no3 and now the captaincy seems to be too much. Surely he had great input to the trerrible decision to play four fast bowlers rather than a spinner. We can only hope that Smith can pull off a miracle with the ball but ponting does not seem to want to use him and he is not prepared.
Clarke, i have said for a couple of years now is shaping up as our next Kim Hughs. He clearly isn't captain material and his form is now a liability to the team. It is 10 innings now and if all was firing then we could carry him but we have no room for passangers at this time.
I suggest a more radical idea than i have had for a while, Give Warne the captains job for two years while a young player is groomed for the job. Forget the other oldies and select a young team with good leadership behind the scenes. Remember captain grumpy, well he was that for a reason he inherited a team as bad as the one we have now and to get them to realise what was needed to rebuild the winners character he had to be tough.
 
It might have been a terrible decision to play four quicks, but how can anyone say a spin bowler would have been any better?

We DON'T HAVE quality spin bowlers.

Punter's problem is that he doesn't have the cattle. Johnson is unreliable, brilliant when on song, but that isn't very often and his temperament is about as repeatable as his action, Hilfy isn't a wicket-taker and Sids is still learning his trade. Harris is prone to injuries.

And lets look at the batsmen. Punter has been average for about 4 years now, 3 out of 4 years he has averaged around 40 or less. Clarke is in poor nick, Watson isn't really an opener and Hughes looks out of his depth against decent bowling. Haddin has a great eye, but is reckless - his scoring runs depends on him missing the ball a fair bit while scoring reasonably quickly.

We just don't have the cattle, not in bowling or batting.
 
I don't fully agree Beeswax. I think we do have a young bowling attack that is going to get there given time. Johnson though is not a long term prospect, as you say far to unreliable. Why we seem to have got to this point again is a question for the youth development team. Maybe older players need to move on out of shield cricket and give younger players a go earlier instead of holding out and holding up the development for the youth.
Right now leadership and and a clear plan seem to be missing, it is not simple after the period we have just had of complete dominance, but they need to bite the bullet and establish a young team.
 
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