Anyone for cricket?

[MadAsHell 4,209]

We are history .

Watson fails again .

Clarke on his own .

Wade batting above his abilities.

Hussey left a big hole.

Completely screwed.

0-4 minimum and Zero hope for the ashes.

They need to start picking the right teams.

The one thing we've got right at the moment is our pace bowling and Clarke & Warner in the batting line up, the rest need addessing.

Spin bowling:

Get Fawad Ahmed's citizenship through ASAP so he can be ready for the Ashes, I reckon he can be our spinner for 3-5 years which gives us time. During that period we need to get the likes of Ashton Agar, John Holland, Adam Zampa & James Muirhead into some type of boarding school spinning academy where they only get to come out during the summer to play for their states. In the mean time we get the likes of Shane Warne, Stuart MacGill, Richie Beneaud, Tim May, Ashley Mallet, Greg Matthews and even Alan Border to tutor these kids.

Keeper:

I think we should stick by Wade. There's not a lot of other options. I think going back to Haddin is a backwards step to a 35 year old who wasn't performing when he last played. Wade may not be our best gloveman, but he is our best keeper/batsman and we can use all the batting help we can get at the moment. I believe he has the right work ethic to improve his glovework to a top standard!

Batting:

Probably our most urgent area that needs addressing to nail down a solid top 5. Clarke & Warner are our most safe and I believe Watson could fall into that category if he played as an openner where his best form has been. This would mean his bowling should be reduced to happening only occasionally which I think would suit him. I just don't believe that Ed Cowan is up to it. 1 century in 15 tests isn't a great strike rate, Hodge was dropped after a double century in 5 tests! And I'm concerned about Hughes, they needed to shield him against RSA, he looks out of his depth in India. What are England going to do to him in 10 tests? It's probably time to give Usman Khawaja our most technically correct batsman an extended run at 3 and I'd like to see George Bailey given a shot at 4. I know he's only averaged 25 in Shield cricket this summer but he's been in great form in the international one day games and we saw Dave Warner get picked on his shorter format form. Another option if the selectors wanted to keep Watson at 4 would be Chris Rogers as an openner. He's had a great summer and could still offer something in the short term. Going forward I think the likes of Jo Burns, Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson etc need to be encouraged and be invested in.

Fast bowlers:

No issue here, in fact I think we have enough depth in this department that we could comfortably field 3 attacks of 3 quality fast bowlers. Ausralia: Pattinson, Siddle, Cummins. Australia A: Harris, Bird, Starc. Australia 3rd XI: Hazlewood, Hilfenhaus, Johnson

All Rounder:

Even with Watson giving up bowling (short term) I think we have a bit of depth here. Moises Henriques equiped himself very well in the first test and we've got Glenn Maxwell over there also. Ontop of that there's Andrew McDonald who's very strong in Shield cricket as well as Dan Christian ans Steve Smith if he ever gets back to bowling. Coming through there's also the impressive young Mitch Marsh and although his early forms been poor I know Greg Chappell hasn't given up hope on the young Alex Keath.

[H_T 3,042]

I think your joke-o-meter needs adjusting H_T

lol. I was going to say if you want to see more of 0/260.....

Adjusted.

[Macca 16,741]

They need to start picking the right teams.

The one thing we've got right at the moment is our pace bowling and Clarke & Warner in the batting line up, the rest need addessing.

Spin bowling:

Get Fawad Ahmed's citizenship through ASAP so he can be ready for the Ashes, I reckon he can be our spinner for 3-5 years which gives us time. During that period we need to get the likes of Ashton Agar, John Holland, Adam Zampa & James Muirhead into some type of boarding school spinning academy where they only get to come out during the summer to play for their states. In the mean time we get the likes of Shane Warne, Stuart MacGill, Richie Beneaud, Tim May, Ashley Mallet, Greg Matthews and even Alan Border to tutor these kids.

Keeper:

I think we should stick by Wade. There's not a lot of other options. I think going back to Haddin is a backwards step to a 35 year old who wasn't performing when he last played. Wade may not be our best gloveman, but he is our best keeper/batsman and we can use all the batting help we can get at the moment. I believe he has the right work ethic to improve his glovework to a top standard!

Batting:

Probably our most urgent area that needs addressing to nail down a solid top 5. Clarke & Warner are our most safe and I believe Watson could fall into that category if he played as an openner where his best form has been. This would mean his bowling should be reduced to happening only occasionally which I think would suit him. I just don't believe that Ed Cowan is up to it. 1 century in 15 tests isn't a great strike rate, Hodge was dropped after a double century in 5 tests! And I'm concerned about Hughes, they needed to shield him against RSA, he looks out of his depth in India. What are England going to do to him in 10 tests? It's probably time to give Usman Khawaja our most technically correct batsman an extended run at 3 and I'd like to see George Bailey given a shot at 4. I know he's only averaged 25 in Shield cricket this summer but he's been in great form in the international one day games and we saw Dave Warner get picked on his shorter format form. Another option if the selectors wanted to keep Watson at 4 would be Chris Rogers as an openner. He's had a great summer and could still offer something in the short term. Going forward I think the likes of Jo Burns, Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson etc need to be encouraged and be invested in.

Fast bowlers:

No issue here, in fact I think we have enough depth in this department that we could comfortably field 3 attacks of 3 quality fast bowlers. Ausralia: Pattinson, Siddle, Cummins. Australia A: Harris, Bird, Starc. Australia 3rd XI: Hazlewood, Hilfenhaus, Johnson

All Rounder:

Even with Watson giving up bowling (short term) I think we have a bit of depth here. Moises Henriques equiped himself very well in the first test and we've got Glenn Maxwell over there also. Ontop of that there's Andrew McDonald who's very strong in Shield cricket as well as Dan Christian ans Steve Smith if he ever gets back to bowling. Coming through there's also the impressive young Mitch Marsh and although his early forms been poor I know Greg Chappell hasn't given up hope on the young Alex Keath.

Good post, TD. You've put a lot of thought into it and there are a lot of ideas there that make sense.

I reckon our 'future team' is where our best side lies. We need to keep giving our young players opportunities and hope they turn into stars. Give them a chance when they're young.

We have good prospects in the fast bowling dept but we need to unearth a star spinner (Ahmed?) Leg spin is where we've traditionally been strong. Our own wickets don't favour finger spin as a general rule.

Wade is a reasonable keeper/batsman though I still wouldn't rule out Tim Paine going forward. The chances are that Paine will get an opportunity at some stage. I like Wade but we should always be aiming at having our 'best' players in the team.

It's our batting which is our main problem. Good young batsmen with excellent technique and patience are needed. You mentioned a few in your post and we need to bite the bullet and give a few of these young blokes a go. We've done it with our quicks and unearthed some excellent prospects. Sometimes greater responsibility and a higher standard can bring the best out of a cricketer (Clarke and Warne spring to mind)

Our top order in India are really floundering. A good top order batsman should be able to play pace and spin very well. Clarke is our only batsman who can do that. The others can do it occasionally. If Watson bowls then he's a valuable member (although Henriques, Maxwell or possibly Mitchell Marsh can claim the all rounders spot) Warner can be a match winner but he worries me when he's facing spin.

Edited March 3, 2013 by Macca

[titan_uranus 24,926]

Can't see how dropping Lyon helps anyone except India. For one, Lyon loses confidence. For another, Doherty is terrible. Poor move, IMO.

Batting is still very poor. Cowan surely is running out of chances, Warner is very hit-and-miss, Hughes and Watson don't inspire confidence, and we've taken two all-rounders with us, shortening the depth.

[Little Richard 6,219]

Can't see how dropping Lyon helps anyone except India. For one, Lyon loses confidence. For another, Doherty is terrible. Poor move, IMO.

Batting is still very poor. Cowan surely is running out of chances, Warner is very hit-and-miss, Hughes and Watson don't inspire confidence, and we've taken two all-rounders with us, shortening the depth.

Absolutely agree, I thought he must have been injured! What a poor move.

Can't buy a wicket at the moment, and wow Pujara looks a very good player.

[titan_uranus 24,926]

I didn't see a ball bowled yesterday, but I can imagine what happened. The pitch was flat, Siddle and Pattinson bowled their hearts out but didn't extract any movement, rendering them virtually useless, Doherty was economical, which is his speciality, but bowled maybe 2 threatening deliveries all day, whilst Maxwell tried to be attacking but had no consistency and was attacked by Vijay and Pujara.

We got nowhere by dropping Lyon, and now we're in a worse situation than before. Doherty is not a Test bowler, Maxwell is not close to a Test all-rounder, and in India we need much better than that.

Can't buy a wicket at the moment, and wow Pujara looks a very good player.

Thanks .

[MadAsHell 4,209]

Where's Ray Bright and Greg Matthews when you need them!

[H_T 3,042]

I didn't see a ball bowled yesterday, but I can imagine what happened. The pitch was flat, Siddle and Pattinson bowled their hearts out but didn't extract any movement, rendering them virtually useless, Doherty was economical, which is his speciality, but bowled maybe 2 threatening deliveries all day, whilst Maxwell tried to be attacking but had no consistency and was attacked by Vijay and Pujara.

We got nowhere by dropping Lyon, and now we're in a worse situation than before. Doherty is not a Test bowler, Maxwell is not close to a Test all-rounder, and in India we need much better than that.

Thanks .

Agree.

Where to from here?

Put Lyon back in straight away for the 3rd, despite a knock to his confidence?

As for the top order, I would imagine Usman is getting a little closer to selection.

[Macca 16,741]

I didn't see a ball bowled yesterday, but I can imagine what happened. The pitch was flat, Siddle and Pattinson bowled their hearts out but didn't extract any movement, rendering them virtually useless, Doherty was economical, which is his speciality, but bowled maybe 2 threatening deliveries all day, whilst Maxwell tried to be attacking but had no consistency and was attacked by Vijay and Pujara.

We got nowhere by dropping Lyon, and now we're in a worse situation than before. Doherty is not a Test bowler, Maxwell is not close to a Test all-rounder, and in India we need much better than that.

Thanks .

You just about nailed it. Any chance of the Lotto numbers?

[Little Richard 6,219]

This calls for drastic action, bring back Tait.

[Macca 16,741]

This calls for drastic action, bring back Tait.

Ha ha!

How sad is this - I actually looked up the world record 2nd wicket partnership last night ! It's set at 576 runs (Jayasuriya and Mahanama)

Highest partnership for each wicket

[MadAsHell 4,209]

Sadly I don't even think we got our squad that wrong.

I posted awhile back that the only squad selections I would have made differently would have been Haddin (reserve keeper & specialist batsman) and O'Keefe instead of Cowan, Johnson, Smith & Henriques. And thank god we had Henriques in that first test.

If things don't drastically improve over the next couple of tests there could be some serious questions to be answered.

[Macca 16,741]

Sadly I don't even think we got our squad that wrong.

I posted awhile back that the only squad selections I would have made differently would have been Haddin (reserve keeper & specialist batsman) and O'Keefe instead of Cowan, Johnson, Smith & Henriques. And thank god we had Henriques in that first test.

If things don't drastically improve over the next couple of tests there could be some serious questions to be answered.

The brutal truth is we don't have enough good/great players ...

Now only Clarke is world class. Patto and Cummins could be, but not sure on anyone else.

I don't reckon this Indian side are that good either. They can't beat England or South Africa and they were terrible when they last toured here. (losing 0-4)

[Little Richard 6,219]

Doherty picks up 3 junk time wickets, typical. He'll probably be rewarded for it too.

[Macca 16,741]

Doherty picks up 3 junk time wickets, typical. He'll probably be rewarded for it too.

Maxwell bowled ok as the back-up spinner but batting him at no.8 is far too low for a bloke who has batted as high as no.4 in 1st class cricket. They should have played Lyon and if they wanted to play Maxwell as well, then one of the top order had to go to make room. They didn't bite the bullet and tried to be too cute.

Doherty is not a big turner of the ball and doesn't bowl with a great deal of guile or flight. Ravi Shastri pointed out yesterday that Xavier doesn't get side on enough before and during his delivery stride. He made mention that his right shoulder is pointed towards fine leg instead of 1st slip whilst in his delivery motion. Ravi's conclusion was that Doherty wasn't putting enough body into turning the ball. It was a very good pick up and it does make you wonder. He's still young enough to fix this fault but maybe he's not even aware of it.

Edited March 4, 2013 by Macca

[45HG 1,539]

How long until Clarke moves up the order?

[titan_uranus 24,926]

How long until Clarke moves up the order?

He shouldn't do it. He's batting brilliantly at 5, keep him there.

We wouldn't be worried about our best batsman being at 5 if we didn't have a terrible top 4. The answer is to fix the top 4. None of Warner, Cowan, Hughes or Watson have shown long-term consistency, nor the required technique or ability to score runs, to be a proper Test batsman. They can't all stay.

[45HG 1,539]

I suppose we see things differently.

I believe that moving out country's best bat into the top four is the only real way to strengthen it.

Dreading the Ashes!

[Macca 16,741]

I suppose we see things differently.

I believe that moving out country's best bat into the top four is the only real way to strengthen it.

Dreading the Ashes!

England would be looking at our top order right now and trying to figure a way to play Swann and Panesar in the same team. They could possibly get away with batting Broad and Swann at 7 and 8. Our top order looks all at sea against spin. Watson can only justify his spot if he bowls and is best suited as an opening batsman. Cowan and Hughes don't look to be good enough right now and Warner seems to have a real weakness against spin bowling.

Moving Clarke isn't going to solve our batting woes. They could move him to no.4 for the last 2 Tests in India but I'd favour him going back to no.5 for the Ashes. Our overall batting is sub par and we need to address the issue as soon as possible.

Edited March 4, 2013 by Macca

[MadAsHell 4,209]

How long until Clarke moves up the order?

He shouldn't do it. He's batting brilliantly at 5, keep him there.

We wouldn't be worried about our best batsman being at 5 if we didn't have a terrible top 4. The answer is to fix the top 4. None of Warner, Cowan, Hughes or Watson have shown long-term consistency, nor the required technique or ability to score runs, to be a proper Test batsman. They can't all stay.

I suppose we see things differently.

I believe that moving out country's best bat into the top four is the only real way to strengthen it.

Dreading the Ashes!

England would be looking at our top order right now and trying to figure a way to play Swann and Panesar in the same team. They could possibly get away with batting Broad and Swann at 7 and 8. Our top order looks all at sea against spin. Watson can only justify his spot if he bowls and is best suited as an opening batsman. Cowan and Hughes don't look to be good enough right now and Warner seems to have a real weakness against spin bowling.

Moving Clarke isn't going to solve our batting woes. They could move him to no.4 for the last 2 Tests in India but I'd favour him going back to no.5 for the Ashes. Our overall batting is sub par and we need to address the issue as soon as possible.

Two possible solutions that I can think of. First would be:

Watson goes back to openning the batting meaning he would only bolw very rarely as a 6th bowling option, meaning we playa Maxwell, Henriques or Mitch Marsh at 7. Warner and Watson open (I think Warner is safe as he provides our batting with some x factor), Usman Khawaja gets given an extended run at 3, the whole 10 Ashes tests to settle into the spot and George Bailey comes in at 4. His ODI form has been very good and Warner got picked on the back of his short format form, Bailey might just be a guy that plays better at the highest level.

Gives us:

Warner

Watson

Khawaja

Bailey

Clarke

Wade

Menriques or M. Marsh or Maxwell

Or Watson stays at 4 but he has to start bowling and being our all rounder again. Rogers comes back from the wilderness to join Warner at the top of the order. Khawaja gets given the same gig at 3 and Bailey comes in at 6.

Rogers

Warner

Khawaja

Watson

Clarke

Bailey

Wade

Not sure what people would prefer out of those two. But I see them as our best options.

[Little Richard 6,219]

How long until Clarke moves up the order?

If Clarke goes to 3, it'll be like my under 16 side where the tail started at about 4.

[H_T 3,042]

He shouldn't do it. He's batting brilliantly at 5, keep him there.

We wouldn't be worried about our best batsman being at 5 if we didn't have a terrible top 4. The answer is to fix the top 4. None of Warner, Cowan, Hughes or Watson have shown long-term consistency, nor the required technique or ability to score runs, to be a proper Test batsman. They can't all stay.

I suppose we see things differently.

I believe that moving out country's best bat into the top four is the only real way to strengthen it.

Dreading the Ashes!

So am I. I want a contest! And I want 5 days at Old Trafford. Not 3.

I still agree with 45, he has to go up IMO. Whilst he is batting well at 5, he can do the same at 4 or 3.

I'd move him up to 4.

My current Twelve for the Ashes.

Cowan

Warner

Watson

Clarke

Khawaja

Maxwell

Henriques

Wade

Starc

Siddle

Pattinson

Lyon

The selectors have made a rod for their own back IMO. They shielded Hughes from Sth Africa, JI admitted as much when he said they prefer Hughes play against Sri Lanka as a preparation for India, England. They'd rather Hughes gain confidence and form against a softly Sri Lanka on the hard flat decks of Australia, rather than the pace and torment of the South African bowlers.

If they were fair dinkum, they should have wheeled him out against Steyn, Philander and Morkel - if they had England in mind for Hughes. IMO Khawaja has better technique than Hughes does. I still think (like 45) Clarke being the premier batsman of the team needs to move up, Khawaja at 5 for me.

The top 3 can occupy the crease, they get starts but don't seem to be getting on in their innings. Warner and Watson need to value their wickets more. They do score relatively quick, just needs more concentration. Lazy at times. Warner getting bowled around his legs is the perfect example.

[MadAsHell 4,209]

Big changes needed on and off the field for the Ashes, might be to late to salavage anything in India.

16 man squad that I'd be looking for to send for the Ashes would be:

Chris Rogers

David Warner

Usman Khawaja

Shane Watson (All rounder, you need to bowl Shane)

Michael Clarke

George Bailey

Matthew Wade

Peter Siddle

James Pattinson

Mitchell Strac

Fawad Ahmed

Jackson Bird (reserve fast bowler)

Alex Doolan (reserve batsman)

Brad Haddin (reserve keeper and batsman)

Moises Henriques (reserve all rounder)

Nathan Lyon (reserve spin bowler)

This testagainst India is turning into a nightmare. We've turned into New Zealand of the late 80's when the only two players they had were Martin Crowe and Richard Hadlee (Michael Clarke & James Pattinson). Big help is needed!

[45HG 1,539]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/623459.html -

Wow!

[45HG 1,539]

Here we go.