Test XI Selection Thread

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Mugshot said:
Good shout. Problem is that the selectors keep going back to the guys who are not performing and changing their own criteria time and again too. Some players not picked because of age/future of the team, then other players who are past their prime or carrying too much on the waist make it in. Its really baffling at the moment.
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True but the worst thing they could do is just carry on with the same players and same management, pretending like nothing's wrong. I just find it baffling that ODI captain can't make the Test side! I don't know what they have against Bailey, at least give him a shot.
 
Bailey is actually just the T20 captain :)

I would like to see him get a shot at some stage, been a solid FC performer for a long time, a RH bat would suit the middle order and if he happens to do well his leadership experience could be pretty handy.
 
Mugshot said:
Nice to see Strauss talking about the Ashes, but he is saying Australia are better than people think...the thing is I think Australia have great players and dont think bad of them...its just the current set up hindering the team. Heres the article - Aussies better than people think
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Well he has a point. In the end the SA series last summer came down to one horrid session in Perth and an injury in Adelaide. The recent tour of India is probably not quite as bad as it seems considering the lack of subcontinent experience that took the tour. In the end our issues are leadership both in management, selection and on the field. It would appear that almost everyone agrees that we have the cattle, we just don't seem to have the formulae.
 
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-24/ashes-team-prof3a-test/4648798?section=sport

Well the team is out and wait for it........yes that's right a giant step backwards. Now i know i am some what out of step but come on if this is not a case of Clarky's mates over sound and future planning i don't know what is. About the only progressive selection is Rogers and he ain't no spring chicken. I pray that i will be eating my words come the Ashes but somehow i seriously doubt it. The bowling attach does have potential, but you cannot win without some runs.

THE TEAM
Clarke - Captain premier batsman and central control freak. failing as a leader.
Haddin - Recalled to be vice-captain. are they for real?:D
Bird - shows potential but will they bother to play him???
Falkner - I do actually like this guy but for an England test series i am unsure. He is no Alderman or Botham
Harris - If his fitness holds out he could be a genuine spearhead.
Hughes - I believe in this guy but his performances just don't do it. Last chance garage.
Khawaja - Another player on the edge despite his being treated pretty poorly in the team.
Lyon - One can only hope that clarke doesn't stuff him around at the first sign of trouble.
Pattinson - About the only real weapon we have. Hope he isn't over used and breakdown
Rogers - Finally gets another chance but i suppose he will have to wait till the series is lost and England are on top
Siddle - Work horse but no penetration.
Starc - A great one day bowler, will help us back to the ODI top spot
Wade - What now? to be the No6, just don't see him being one of our best 6 but is our best keeper.
Warner - Another of the massive potential but lack of consistency group.
Watson - Well what do you say, looking pretty sad. Has to do it or he will be history as he is clearly out with captain wonderful.
 
My team, sorry if its a bit late in the thread...

1. Cowan (decent tech, people can bat around him)
2. Warner (Can change a match off 50 balls, wicked fielder)
3. Hughes or Usman
4. Rogers (form in England)
5. Clarke (He'll have a wicked ashes)
6. Watson (can bowl as well)
7. Haddin or Wade
8. Lyon
9. Siddle
10. Harris
11. Pattinson
 
nairbe said:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-24/ashes-team-prof3a-test/4648798?section=sport

Well the team is out and wait for it........yes that's right a giant step backwards. Now i know i am some what out of step but come on if this is not a case of Clarky's mates over sound and future planning i don't know what is. About the only progressive selection is Rogers and he ain't no spring chicken. I pray that i will be eating my words come the Ashes but somehow i seriously doubt it. The bowling attach does have potential, but you cannot win without some runs.

THE TEAM
Clarke - Captain premier batsman and central control freak. failing as a leader.
Haddin - Recalled to be vice-captain. are they for real?:D
Bird - shows potential but will they bother to play him???
Falkner - I do actually like this guy but for an England test series i am unsure. He is no Alderman or Botham
Harris - If his fitness holds out he could be a genuine spearhead.
Hughes - I believe in this guy but his performances just don't do it. Last chance garage.
Khawaja - Another player on the edge despite his being treated pretty poorly in the team.
Lyon - One can only hope that clarke doesn't stuff him around at the first sign of trouble.
Pattinson - About the only real weapon we have. Hope he isn't over used and breakdown
Rogers - Finally gets another chance but i suppose he will have to wait till the series is lost and England are on top
Siddle - Work horse but no penetration.
Starc - A great one day bowler, will help us back to the ODI top spot
Wade - What now? to be the No6, just don't see him being one of our best 6 but is our best keeper.
Warner - Another of the massive potential but lack of consistency group.
Watson - Well what do you say, looking pretty sad. Has to do it or he will be history as he is clearly out with captain wonderful.
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Funny as an article came out saying the selectors have finally got it right - but I feel Haddin is totally a wrong decision like you say. Harris I think is a good shout should he be fully fit for the series. Personally the article gets it wrong as the selectors are just playing it safe and most of the chosen team are not up to the task for the Ashes...thats just my humble opinion.
 
Mugshot said:
Funny as an article came out saying the selectors have finally got it right - but I feel Haddin is totally a wrong decision like you say. Harris I think is a good shout should he be fully fit for the series. Personally the article gets it wrong as the selectors are just playing it safe and most of the chosen team are not up to the task for the Ashes...thats just my humble opinion.
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But who is up to the task? Hiding to nothing whoever you pick. Rogers is about giving Clarke someone with loads of experience in English conditions as you can bet Watson won't be much use in that department. Haddin is about giving Clarke some security in terms of leadership and seniority. Clarke is the important batsman for us, he needs to feel comfortable with the captaincy and the team. If he doesn't fire, we are ****ed.
 
Interesting side but who else do we really have to pick from? There's no-one at home who's really tearing the house down in terms of making runs at the moment, very few players had good Shield seasons.

Bowling line-up looks good though, we should give England a run for their money with the ball, it's a just a matter of who'll score the runs.
 
Beeswax said:
But who is up to the task? Hiding to nothing whoever you pick. Rogers is about giving Clarke someone with loads of experience in English conditions as you can bet Watson won't be much use in that department. Haddin is about giving Clarke some security in terms of leadership and seniority. Clarke is the important batsman for us, he needs to feel comfortable with the captaincy and the team. If he doesn't fire, we are ****ed.
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What you say is spot on. The point is that Clarke is now insecure and this is a desperate attempt to sure up some support. Haddin is plain dopey. Rogers probably not a bad move so long as they play him. So what order do you put them in? There are three openers and another that wants to be, no number 3 or 4 and our best hiding at 5. Confusion over 6 where they seem to play silly allrounder games and then fear with the selectors every time a bowler is pressured. I just don't see a bating order there.
 
Beeswax said:
But who is up to the task? Hiding to nothing whoever you pick. Rogers is about giving Clarke someone with loads of experience in English conditions as you can bet Watson won't be much use in that department. Haddin is about giving Clarke some security in terms of leadership and seniority. Clarke is the important batsman for us, he needs to feel comfortable with the captaincy and the team. If he doesn't fire, we are ****ed.
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I suppose thats the problem, there has not been any blooding in of younger players to have much of a pool of players to choose from. Clarke may be an important batsman, but he is no leader in my view. Its a difficult one to call as it could be that they picked the best squad available to them, I just feel that it lacks a cohesive and well rounded team for the ashes..no middle batsmen as Nairbe said.
 
Mugshot said:
I suppose thats the problem, there has not been any blooding in of younger players to have much of a pool of players to choose from. Clarke may be an important batsman, but he is no leader in my view. Its a difficult one to call as it could be that they picked the best squad available to them, I just feel that it lacks a cohesive and well rounded team for the ashes..no middle batsmen as Nairbe said.
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No blooding in of younger players? There has been plenty of that since 2009, just that not many of them have been up to much so far.

David Warner is 26, Phil Hughes is 23, Usman Khawaja is 25, Moises is 25, Smith is 24, Maxwell (god forbid) is 23, not to mention the bowlers who are a reasonably young bunch. They have tried to leaven the youngsters with experienced older players, desperately hoping that someone would pull a Hussey, like Shaun Marsh, Marcus North and now Rogers, but to no avail so far. Ed Cowan is being stuck with due to him being well-liked by the people that matter and domestic batsmen putting stuff all pressure on the players already selected. Any idea that they haven't tried out young players is wrong. They haven't necessarily given some of them enough time to settle in but the chances have been there.
 
Beeswax said:
No blooding in of younger players? There has been plenty of that since 2009, just that not many of them have been up to much so far.

David Warner is 26, Phil Hughes is 23, Usman Khawaja is 25, Moises is 25, Smith is 24, Maxwell (god forbid) is 23, not to mention the bowlers who are a reasonably young bunch. They have tried to leaven the youngsters with experienced older players, desperately hoping that someone would pull a Hussey, like Shaun Marsh, Marcus North and now Rogers, but to no avail so far. Ed Cowan is being stuck with due to him being well-liked by the people that matter and domestic batsmen putting stuff all pressure on the players already selected. Any idea that they haven't tried out young players is wrong. They haven't necessarily given some of them enough time to settle in but the chances have been there.
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Overall the team is young and with the bowling attack it really is a bit of patients while we wait for them to get a bit older and less inclined to get injured as the body matures. I see a great attach in two years but right now the injury list changes to quickly for anyone to gain rhythm. Our batting is as you say lacking someone to take their chances. I still see the issues around to many openers trying to play the middle order and this unhealthy obsession about an all rounder. They need to select some genuine middle order batsmen. No one may have put up there hand in the shield comp but i still believe a genuine middle and lower order batsman is better than a list of openers. Cowan and Warner have not lit up the world but they have slowly developed a partnership and this should be allowed to develop further. Beside this there just is nothing other than Clarke, they are all openers.
 
I still don't see Warner as a long-term successful opener. Cowan is a maybe. As for the middle-order, I still think Australia should stick with Hughes and Khawaja...but it's probably too late to give them their confidence back. I just think the way the selectors handled both players was wrong ie. instead of giving them game after game (like Warner and Cowan), they chopped and changed them in and out constantly. How is that developing players? Hughes has scored runs although he struggled in India against spin...he's still scored more runs than Warner (at a guess).

Australia has certainly tried to develop players in the Baggy green. I just think they've done it in the wrong way, with the wrong players. All I see in the Ashes line-up is, if Clarke doesn't have a blinder then Australia is screwed.
 
Even if Clarke has a blinder, Aussies are stuffed as he'll need plenty of support and he's unlikely to get it unless Rogers converts seamlessly to test cricket. Watto's 50s won't cut it, not that has been many of them in the past 2 years, nor will Cowan's regular contributions of 30s or 40s.
 
Beeswax said:
Even if Clarke has a blinder, Aussies are stuffed as he'll need plenty of support and he's unlikely to get it unless Rogers converts seamlessly to test cricket. Watto's 50s won't cut it, not that has been many of them in the past 2 years, nor will Cowan's regular contributions of 30s or 40s.
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We shall see, shan't we? If NZ give England another humbling then anything's possible in the Ashes. :p
 
Think the selectors picked the best squad available. Very glad to see Rogers. The amount of lefties is a bit of a concern though. Swann loves hitting them on the pads or finding the outside edge of the cricket bat. Haddin a bonus too
 
Cricket Bat said:
Think the selectors picked the best squad available. Very glad to see Rogers. The amount of lefties is a bit of a concern though. Swann loves hitting them on the pads or finding the outside edge of the cricket bat. Haddin a bonus too
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Witch planet did you fall from. Haddin is a divisive selection the will cause descension amongst an already divided team. Rogers may be useful but the rest is lacking vision. None of the junior players has any record of note in Test cricket and the over selection of openers and all rounders weakens a team that lacks leadership.
 
For what it's worth, I think that Haddin is a pretty good selection. You'll recall he had a pretty good Ashes series in 10/11 when it was him and the Huss saving face for Australia time after time. He is a very capable number 7 when playing well, but more importantly he keeps a tidy wicket - more so than Wade of late in my opinion. On top of it all he is a right hand bat, which is certainly worth something facing a team with an offie of G. Swann's quality.
Rogers of course is a great selection - the man is a county legend. He has a sensational FC record, and obviously is at a point in his career where he knows his own game inside out. He adds weight of runs, leadership and English experience to a batting lineup severely lacking all three. I like Haddin for the same reasons.

I think these two can perform a real role in adding backbone to an Aussie batting order that has great potential that has gone largely unrealised for too long. Who else can play the supporting role Hussey did for Clarke in recent times?

My XI:
Cowan
Rogers
Hughes
Khawaja
Clarke (c)
Warner
Haddin (wk, vc)
Pattinson
Harris
Starc
Lyon

Twelfth man: Faulkner

Rogers and Cowan would make for a solid opening partnership. Hughes to stay at 3 for now, he looked pretty good against Sri Lanka, and I believe has played some county cricket of late. Much has been said about Khawaja, but it is time for him to get a proper go. Clarke at 5 obviously. That's where he wants to bat, so don't mess with it I reckon. Warner could be an absolute force at 6. He can win a game in half a session when he turns on. Importantly though, he is becoming more and more of a test batsman, and is a gun fieldsman. Haddin over Wade as outlined above.
Siddle, as hard as he works, lacks the penetration and swing of Patto, Starc, Harris and Bird, so I wouldn't have him in the ideal starting XI, but he is a great guy to be able to call on over the ten tests. Lyon as the incumbent tweeker.
Faulkner just missing out, but he will bring a fair bit with both bat and ball when he does get a run. Bird also just on the out. Watson to come in should Hughes (or some else) fail. Wade could play as a specialist bat (or batting allrounder lol) as well.

I'm sure there will be plenty of disagreement, but this is the best I personally can do with the squad selected.
 
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