Lyon career best 7/94 off 23 overs and he will be on a hat trick for the 2nd innings.

India's lead just 10 runs on first innings.

Hopefully the Aussies can dig deep in the second innings and salvage something from the series by preventing India taking a 4-0 clean sweep.

Lyon 7/94 off 23 overs and he will be on a hat trick for the 2nd innings.

India's lead just 10 runs on first innings.

Hopefully the Aussies can dig deep in the second innings and salvage something from the series by preventing India taking a 4-0 clean sweep.

So how do we bat in this innings?

Do we go out there and try and smack as many as we can, before the pitch gets us?

Maxwell opening! Here we go!

Edited March 24, 201312 yr by Macca

So how do we bat in this innings?

Do we go out there and try and smack as many as we can, before the pitch gets us?

Maxwell opening! Here we go!

Play straight for a start!

Maxwell outsmarting himself to a regulation off spinner - played all round it being cute.

Whilst its difficult batting, keeping it simple might pay dividends, anything risky could see you heading to the pavilion before you can say "maybe I shouldn't have played inside the line"...

Play straight for a start!

Maxwell outsmarting himself to a regulation off spinner - played all round it being cute.

Whilst its difficult batting, keeping it simple might pay dividends, anything risky could see you heading to the pavilion before you can say "maybe I shouldn't have played inside the line"...

All the same, it's tough going for the batsmen out there. The ball is turning big time and is often keeping low or jumping off a length. Even the best players of spin are going to struggle in these conditions. We need someone to take the long handle - maybe Johnson?

Thinking ahead, it's quite possible that Lyon will open the bowling. Maxwell could be on early as well.

Personally this match is a who-gives-a-[censored] anyway as we have lost the series and there is little to be gained from winning this match anyway.

Really? I disagree completely - after how we've played the first three Tests, to turn it around and get some competitiveness, and/or a win, would be great for the players, as well as the coaches, and will help curb the Indian team's arrogance. No one would have thought we'd be close to them this match, so to prove them wrong and to get a bit of confidence/form would be good.

A win on this pitch with no Clarke could boost confidence. Not losing 4-0 is pretty big, too. But you're right, it won't change a great deal.

Will the Haus play in the Ashes?

Geez, if injuries go our way we could have a very strong bowling line up to take to England.

I think we'll get fairly outplayed in England for the most (although, 2009 was much closer that it seemed IMO) but I think the return series here will be almost dead level - we need to find at least two quality bats in that time, however.

Hilfenhaus has to be about 4 places back. Surely he's behind Pattinson, Siddle, Starc, probably Bird, Johnson and Cummins too.

Pity we're frittering away our bowlers' good work with more insipid batting.

Opening with Maxwell = attempt to prevent backlash for picking him in the first place. He's crap. Shouldn't play for us again in the near future.

Watson and Warner are living on credits long, long used up. I don't want to see them in the first Ashes Test (I know they'll be there, but undeservedly).

Our bowlers haven't been great this series, but our batting has been worse (as per usual). We need refreshment of the top 6 for England. Marsh, Doolan, Rogers, Burns, Maddinson, White, McDonald, I don't care who. We can't keep playing Warner, Watson, Hughes and Smith as four of our top 6/7.

Edit: Heard an interesting fact today. Apparently, from three Tests each, Nathan Lyon has faced more balls batting than Shane Watson. Don't know what the actual figures are though.

Edited March 24, 201312 yr by titan_uranus

Maxwell opened the batting and opened the bowling. When was the last time that happened?

And when was the last time we opened with 2 spinners? Have we ever done it?

Maybe Watson for the 1st question but opening with 2 spinners is a toughie. A wild guess would be O'Reilly and Grimmett.

It's looking like a 4 nil clean sweep now (barring a massive batting collapse)

Edited March 24, 201312 yr by Macca

Johnson bowling rubbish, seen this before

There's been some strange goings on, that's for sure. A month long training camp to help with team bonding could help fix things. (a training camp doesn't necessarily have to be a hard slog) Trouble is, many of our available players will be otherwise occupied in the IPL. Straight after that, the 'Champions Trophy' will be held in June (in England) There literally isn't any time for many of our players to draw breath. Not enough time to freshen up.

The England players don't have the same problem as many or most of them aren't playing in the IPL. Our players have a whole host of distractions to deal with. There is a huge change going on in the sport as a whole and I'm not sure how it can be addressed. The money on offer is enormous (in t20)

Lyon picks up a career best 7/94 ... bowled beautifully.

Look, our main target is to get to England in as good a shape as we can be.

Once we started to see those cattle tracks over there it wasn't going to help us in anyway, but may infact do us great damage.

It looks to me like the new frontier has arrived into crickets selection processes, re the mental games between selectors & players, & the leadership vacuum has IMO caused some frictions, which I think they've tried to arrest.

But as they say it takes 2 to argue. wrong is invariably on both sides.

but at least some fight has returned, even if its on an unplayable track.

They have to unite now & none have broken down, cross fingers Siddle stays fit.

# IPL... I think its no coincidence that we have had problems since the 20/20 etc. I don't watch it or listen to it. the subcontinent has done a lot of damage to the game we knew.

its official, siddle now australia's number 2 batsman

no challengers on the horizon either

urgent pleas sent to bobby simpson

its official, siddle now australia's number 2 batsman

no challengers on the horizon either

urgent pleas sent to bobby simpson

Time for AB to come onboard & do a Simpson.

Mattie Wade has the happy knack of escaping criticism.
It's no surprise when he drops a catch or misses a stumping, since he fumbles so often in the normal run of play.
If you watch him closely, you'll see his head jerk upwards when the ball bounces, unlike top class keepers, whose heads remain still.
He's a good no.7 or 8 batsman at test level , with a terrifically flexible game(attack or defence).
I haven't seen enough of Paine, Hartley or (can't remember the NSW 2nd keeper behind Haddiin......ex Victorian.....bats well too....how old is he.?)
We need a better keeper in England.

Just thought of the NSW keeper.....Peter Neville. Went OK as a batsman when Haddin returned to the side, too. And what a great slip fielder!

Edited March 31, 201312 yr by Jumping Jack Clennett

How about young Jordan Silk? It's a tad early, but he's now in his third first class match (for Tasmania) and already has two centuries in his belt including one in the final. Ripping start to a first class career if nothing else.

In better news at least England are on the brink of loosing their test series against New Zealand at tea on Day 5.

New Zealand 1st Innings 443

P. Fulton 136 S. Finn 6/125

England 1st Innings 204

M. Prior 73 T. Boult 6/68

New Zealand 2nd Innings 6/241dec

P. Fulton 110 M. Panesar 2/53

England 2nd innings 7/237

I. Bell 75 K. Williamson 2/36

New Zealand managed to pick up Ian Bell in the last over before tea.

3 wickets needed in the final session for a historic win with only Prior and the tail (minus Finn nightwatchman) left.

Come on the black caps, now my 2nd team and one who sadly seem to have a better future and better batting line up then Australia right now!

Edited March 26, 201312 yr by Tall Defence

How about young Jordan Silk? It's a tad early, but he's now in his third first class match (for Tasmania) and already has two centuries in his belt including one in the final. Ripping start to a first class career if nothing else.

In better news at least England are on the brink of loosing their test series against New Zealand at tea on Day 5.

New Zealand 1st Innings 443

P. Fulton 136 S. Finn 6/125

England 1st Innings 204

M. Prior 73 T. Boult 6/68

New Zealand 2nd Innings 6/241dec

P. Fulton 110 M. Panesar 2/53

England 2nd innings 7/237

I. Bell 75 K. Williamson 2/36

New Zealand managed to pick up Ian Bell in the last over before tea.

3 wickets needed in the final session for a historic win with only Prior and the tail (minus Finn nightwatchman) left.

Come on the black caps, now my 2nd team and one who sadly seem to have a better future and better batting line up then Australia right now!

Agree on Silk, Nasher - a great start.

PS. All the Best XI's are complete if you want to take a look, they're all keenly awaiting the judge's assessment.

Oh, and go the Black Caps! Great batting by Fulton.

Getting tense in Auckland now, 15 overs remain and England still have 3 wickets in hand. Broad's faced 45 deliveries without scoring!

Kane Williamson picks up Broad and Anderson in 3 deliveries.

Monty and Prior to try and survive the last 19 deliveries!

One over remaining. Boult to Panesar!

England held on for a draw with Matt Prior doing a Faf Du Plessis.

New Zealand 1st Innings 443

P. Fulton 136 S. Finn 6/125

England 1st Innings 204

M. Prior 73 T. Boult 6/68

New Zealand 2nd Innings 6/241dec

P. Fulton 110 M. Panesar 2/53

England 2nd Innings 9/315

M. Prior 110* K. Williamson 4/44

Shattering for New Zealand.

One must ask should New Zealand have declared a little earlier? Only 4 sides have ever chased down more then 400 to win and the record is 418. McCullum set England 481. Perhaps if only 420-450 were set then that may have been enough time for one final wicket???

Great test match, New Zealand finally have more than one or two bowlers at a time which look dangerous. Boult and Southee could be a great opening partnership in the future.

Looking towards the Ashes, this is my preferred squad...

M Clarke

S Watson*

E Cowan

D Warner

P Hughes

M Wade

T Paine

U Khawaja

J Faulkner

N Lyon

J Pattinson

P Siddle

F Ahmed

G Maxwell / M Henriques - one of and I'd lean towards Henriques as I could see his seamers being useful in the English conditions.

P Cummins / J Bird - preferably Bird, subject to fitness (both)

R Harris

A real smokey for me could be Chadd Sayers of South Australia. Is 25 and has 59 wickets from his 12 shield matches. Not the quickest and I haven't seen a whole lot of him but he moves it in the air and off the seam which could be valuable on the English wickets.

*I'm not convinced that Watson will provide much for the team if he isn't bowling. If he can't bowl personally someone like Rogers or Bailey would be much preferred.

Edited March 27, 201312 yr by Django

Looking towards the Ashes, this is my preferred squad...

M Clarke

S Watson*

E Cowan

D Warner

P Hughes

M Wade

T Paine

U Khawaja

J Faulkner

N Lyon

J Pattinson

P Siddle

F Ahmed

G Maxwell / M Henriques - one of and I'd lean towards Henriques as I could see his seamers being useful in the English conditions.

P Cummins / J Bird - preferably Bird, subject to fitness (both)

R Harris

A real smokey for me could be Chadd Sayers of South Australia. Is 25 and has 59 wickets from his 12 shield matches. Not the quickest and I haven't seen a whole lot of him but he moves it in the air and off the seam which could be valuable on the English wickets.

*I'm not convinced that Watson will provide much for the team if he isn't bowling. If he can't bowl personally someone like Rogers or Bailey would be much preferred.

Good squad there Django and covers all bases.

It will be interesting to see what way the selectors go considering Micky Arthur made the comment that there wasn't much outside of the Indian squad that would come into the team.

Faulkner's an interesting one, if he could improve his batting he'd be a very good all rounder I think, I just hope his bowling doesn't follow a similar path to Nathan Bracken in being very effective in ODI cricket but ineffective in Test matches.

Matthew Wade I think if he's to survive needs to make more runs more often. He needs to keep his average around the 40 mark, because if he's only going to average around 30 you may as well go for the best gloveman in the country which is probably Paine who you have in your squad or Hartley.

Don't know a lot about Sayers so I can't really comment, but those numbers are impressive.

Take the Indian squad: Warner, Cowan, Hughes, Clarke, Watson, Smith, Khawaja, Wade, Haddin, Henriques, Maxwell, Doherty, Lyon, Siddle, Starc, Pattinson, Johnson.

I cut from that squad Khawaja, Watson, Haddin, Henriques, Maxwell, Doherty and Johnson.

Henriques, Maxwell and Doherty drop themselves. Khawaja isn't good enough, and I don't think ever will be good enough. He struggled against swing bowling when he last played Test cricket, continually pushing outside off without covering the line, so I can't see how England will suit him. Watson doesn't add to the side. He doesn't score enough runs to hold his spot as a batsman, and even if he bowls, he still doesn't score enough runs to be in the top 6. Time to cut our losses, find a real batsman, and move on. Johnson is just too far back in the queue for a fast-bowling spot (provided we have a full choice of players). His form in England also requires him to be injury-cover at best. Haddin didn't do anything to disgrace himself, but I feel we need to move on with our keepers.

To that squad, then, I add Jackson Bird, Pat Cummins, Shaun Marsh, George Bailey, Chris Rogers, Tim Paine and Fawad Ahmed/Jon Holland.

Bird, for mine, starts the first Test in the Ashes as the third pace option behind Siddle and Pattinson. Starc is inconsistent and doesn't swing it as regularly as Bird does. It's line ball though, but Bird's on the plane regardless. Cummins also heads over as a back-up paceman, but to me he needs to show form for Australia A in the lead-up series before he edges into the top three pacemen. Handy back-up, though.

In terms of batsmen, Shaun Marsh is more than good enough to be a Test cricketer. He was in a terrible mental state in 2011/2012, which saw him capitulate over our summer. He's been reprimanded and disciplined for being a loose cannon, but since he's returned, his form has been great, and much better than his 'rivals' for the batting spots. Mainly, though, he's actually a batsman, unlike the attempted all-rounders we've been trying to use. Bailey can't do much more before getting selected, and it's a good idea to get someone in there who can lead if Clarke can't be on the field (especially with Watson and Haddin staying in Australia). Chris Rogers has a proven record in England, averaged 50 this Shield season with three 100s, and deserves to be back-up. Tim Paine is a better batsman than Haddin, and would have been our first-choice keeper if it wasn't for his hand injury. He deserves to be around the squad and learning, rather than wasting away in Australia. Fawad Ahmed gets to be the back-up spinner, but doesn't play unless Lyon gets injured (can't imagine any pitch in England warranting two spinners). If he is ineligible, Jon Holland hopefully has healed by then, and gets the spot. Stay away from Doherty and Maxwell.

If Cummins and Bird aren't fit, Ryan Harris is next, and then it's a toss up between reinstating Johnson, or Ben Hilfenhaus. Or Josh Hazlewood.

Warner stays, but with Rogers in the squad, he has to make runs early. We shouldn't persist with him if his tendency to flash outside off with no technique continues to reap him sub-20 scores. Hughes stays, but moves down the order, to take the pressure off him batting at 3. Smith also stays, to my chagrin, because we need to reward players who perform and show application, and, as much as it pains me to say it, he did this in India. He doesn't bowl as anything other than a part-timer, though.

My XI for the first Test:

Cowan

Warner

Marsh

Clarke

Hughes

Smith

Wade

Pattinson

Siddle

Bird

Lyon

Looking towards the Ashes, this is my preferred squad...

M Clarke

S Watson*

E Cowan

D Warner

P Hughes

M Wade

T Paine

U Khawaja

J Faulkner

N Lyon

J Pattinson

P Siddle

F Ahmed

G Maxwell / M Henriques - one of and I'd lean towards Henriques as I could see his seamers being useful in the English conditions.

P Cummins / J Bird - preferably Bird, subject to fitness (both)

R Harris

A real smokey for me could be Chadd Sayers of South Australia. Is 25 and has 59 wickets from his 12 shield matches. Not the quickest and I haven't seen a whole lot of him but he moves it in the air and off the seam which could be valuable on the English wickets.

*I'm not convinced that Watson will provide much for the team if he isn't bowling. If he can't bowl personally someone like Rogers or Bailey would be much preferred.

No stark Django?

Interesting about this Chadd Sayers, I think that type of bowler is a must control & moving thru the air & off the track.

Jesse Ryder not well at all.

Feel sorry for him.

Even if he is from Eastern Tassy.