Can't see Clarke getting moved from no.5 now (unless under extraordinary circumstances) . Reckon the Tasmanian, Alex Doolan will come in and bat at no.3 with Watson moving to 4 . Or Doolan will bat at 4 and Watson stays at 3 . The other 4 batsmen are doing enough in their spots . An article about the possible selection of Doolan appeared a couple of days ago . You can go to this link to read the story .

Agree Macca, Clarke stays at 5 imo.

Looks better there.

I am tempted to go for Khawaja at 3. Looks steady.

4 is a possibility for Watson. He needs runs. Cant bowl because of lack of fitness.

Bellerive will be hard to bat on.

Tempted to have 4 quicks given the bowler friendly surface.

Siddle, Hilf, Starc and Johnson for mine.

I would prefer to have Starc to Johnson. Johnson is just too hot and cold and I wont want to risk another Ashes contest with him in either. That goes for Hughes as well.

Lyon really disappointed in the last test. Needs to do well in MEL and SYD. Not sure what the viable options are for England if he doesnt.

I'm maintaining the rage - Michael Clarke should bat 3 from here on, starting against the Lankans.

Can't see Clarke getting moved from no.5 now (unless under extraordinary circumstances) . Reckon the Tasmanian, Alex Doolan will come in and bat at no.3 with Watson moving to 4 . Or Doolan will bat at 4 and Watson stays at 3 . The other 4 batsmen are doing enough in their spots . An article about the possible selection of Doolan appeared a couple of days ago . You can go to this link to read the story .

I thought at the start of this summer that Clarke should bat at 3 or at least no 4, however cleary for one reason or another he doesn't seem to want to move which is odd. Doolan is a possability, however I'm reluctant to play someone who has a first class batting average under 40. Last person we picked to be at no 3 with a first class average under 40 was Quiney and look how that went.

Agree Macca, Clarke stays at 5 imo.

Looks better there.

I am tempted to go for Khawaja at 3. Looks steady.

4 is a possibility for Watson. He needs runs. Cant bowl because of lack of fitness.

Bellerive will be hard to bat on.

Tempted to have 4 quicks given the bowler friendly surface.

Siddle, Hilf, Starc and Johnson for mine.

I would prefer to have Starc to Johnson. Johnson is just too hot and cold and I wont want to risk another Ashes contest with him in either. That goes for Hughes as well.

Lyon really disappointed in the last test. Needs to do well in MEL and SYD. Not sure what the viable options are for England if he doesnt.

Khawaja I think is probably the best prospect at number 3. Another option is playing Hughes as an openner and moving Cowan down to number 3. I say that because Hughes has made more runs than anyone else so probably deserves the call up before anyone else.

Lyon did have an ordinary test, however Perth's always a tough place for the spinners, even Warne struggled there compared to other venues. As you siad though where else do we go if Lyon struggles? There's the injury prone John Holland, or if you ask me there's a young leg spinner for St Kilda who's yet to play a first class match yet who looks the goods by the name of James Muirhead. In his last district match he bowled 21 overs and took 7/26 and then on the weekend in a 20/Twenty match he bowled 4 overs and took 2/11. He's one certainly worth keeping an eye on. The other option, and one that I think is worth looking at is taking a leaf out of the West Indies of the 80's/90's book and playing 4 quicks and an all round spinner. Pattinson, Cummins, Siddle, Hilfenhaus (Ambrose, Walsh, Holding & Marshall) & either Glenn Maxwell or Steven Smith (Viv Richards/Carl Hooper). With our brittle batting line up I don't think either of Maxwell or Smith could do much worse then others are doing.

Guys (& or girls),

It's unfortunate that the previous BEST XI thread created a couple of years ago has disappeared for some unknown reason. I would have liked to have used it as a reference, but it looks as though we'll have to start afresh. Have been contemplating doing another Best XI (Test) for the cricket tragics here. The most we can have is 8 players so if you're interested let us know in this thread please. We'd ideally like frequent visitors to this thread who are keen on having a go at this. So that the Draft doesn't take too long. However, I understand work and other committments make it hard to visit every now and then, plus we have all Summer......

Once we have the 'eight players' locked away I'll create the thread.

For those who haven't played before it's like a Draft. I'll get eight names and eight numbers, draw them out and that will be the draft order. Each subsequent round the order will reverse. (For equalisation purposes).

I think the last time we had : - 6 Bats, 1Wk, 4 Bowlers as a template. So, we'll use that again.

Why eight players ? Because it amounts to 88 players worldwide, which is equivalent to 8 international teams and it gets difficult if we have any more players. ie. 9 players would require a 99 player pool and we'd be scraping the barrel for players.

So register here and we'll get the ball rolling eventually...

I'm prepared to also source an independant judge - and if I can't get one I'll be the judge (non player) - if you like to analyse the final teams (via criteria yet to be determined) to determine which team they think is the best team.

Just a bit of fun...

What is the reward?.... Bragging rights.

H_T

Entrants to date: -

Tall Defence

Edited December 4, 201212 yr by H_T
Update

Sounds pretty good to me HT.

I'm in.

I'll run in to bowl again.

Surely he cant be serious?? Warnie to make a test comeback? Just heard he wont rule it out. Looks fit enough. If he did, has he still got it?

Watch this space I guess.

On a completely different note and in view of the Ponting retirement, the failure of any fresh batting talent to emerge in recent years, the abundance of injuries to our pace bowlers and the lack of class spinners available, my question is this:

Who would you rather be today:

Mickey Arthur or

Mark Neeld?

On a completely different note and in view of the Ponting retirement, the failure of any fresh batting talent to emerge in recent years, the abundance of injuries to our pace bowlers and the lack of class spinners available, my question is this:

Who would you rather be today:

Mickey Arthur or

Mark Neeld?

Mark Neeld for sure.

With the changes that have been made, and in particular the talent comin through, you cam see where the improvement's going to come.

For Mickey Arthur however the depth that we once had seems to have gone. Here's what I reckon our best Under 30's team who are all yet to debut would look like.

Peter Handscomb

Nic Maddinson

Joe Burns

Alex Doolan

Callum Ferguson

Mitchell Marsh

Glenn Maxwell

Peter Neville

Nathan Coulter-Nile

Josh Hazlewood

Alaister McDermott

If you ask me, the talents just not there that we once had.

Surely he cant be serious?? Warnie to make a test comeback? Just heard he wont rule it out. Looks fit enough. If he did, has he still got it?

Watch this space I guess.

Doubt it will happen, just some publicity before the Big Bash.

Sadly I reckon he'd still be our best bowler.

Surely he cant be serious?? Warnie to make a test comeback? Just heard he wont rule it out. Looks fit enough. If he did, has he still got it?

Watch this space I guess.

I believe Clarrie Grimmet played tests into his late forties .

Dutchy (Bob)Holland made his debut at 41 I think .

If anyone can-SKW can .

Guys (& or girls),

It's unfortunate that the previous BEST XI thread created a couple of years ago has disappeared for some unknown reason. I would have liked to have used it as a reference, but it looks as though we'll have to start afresh. Have been contemplating doing another Best XI (Test) for the cricket tragics here. The most we can have is 8 players so if you're interested let us know in this thread please. We'd ideally like frequent visitors to this thread who are keen on having a go at this. So that the Draft doesn't take too long. However, I understand work and other committments make it hard to visit every now and then, plus we have all Summer......

Once we have the 'eight players' locked away I'll create the thread.

For those who haven't played before it's like a Draft. I'll get eight names and eight numbers, draw them out and that will be the draft order. Each subsequent round the order will reverse. (For equalisation purposes).

I think the last time we had : - 6 Bats, 1Wk, 4 Bowlers as a template. So, we'll use that again.

Why eight players ? Because it amounts to 88 players worldwide, which is equivalent to 8 international teams and it gets difficult if we have any more players. ie. 9 players would require a 99 player pool and we'd be scraping the barrel for players.

So register here and we'll get the ball rolling eventually...

I'm prepared to also source an independant judge - and if I can't get one I'll be the judge (non player) - if you like to analyse the final teams (via criteria yet to be determined) to determine which team they think is the best team.

Just a bit of fun...

What is the reward?.... Bragging rights.

H_T

Entrants to date: -

Tall Defence

45HG16

Any more want to sign up?

WJ?

RR?

Rogue?

AxisofBob?

Deevoted?

Biff?

Nasher?

titanuranus?

Pick me, pick me.

Any more want to sign up?

WJ?

RR?

Rogue?

AxisofBob?

Deevoted?

Biff?

Nasher?

titanuranus?

I'll pass HT,not sure I can commit to giving it 100%

Thanks for the offer.

Guys (& or girls),

It's unfortunate that the previous BEST XI thread created a couple of years ago has disappeared for some unknown reason. I would have liked to have used it as a reference, but it looks as though we'll have to start afresh. Have been contemplating doing another Best XI (Test) for the cricket tragics here. The most we can have is 8 players so if you're interested let us know in this thread please. We'd ideally like frequent visitors to this thread who are keen on having a go at this. So that the Draft doesn't take too long. However, I understand work and other committments make it hard to visit every now and then, plus we have all Summer......

Once we have the 'eight players' locked away I'll create the thread.

For those who haven't played before it's like a Draft. I'll get eight names and eight numbers, draw them out and that will be the draft order. Each subsequent round the order will reverse. (For equalisation purposes).

I think the last time we had : - 6 Bats, 1Wk, 4 Bowlers as a template. So, we'll use that again.

Why eight players ? Because it amounts to 88 players worldwide, which is equivalent to 8 international teams and it gets difficult if we have any more players. ie. 9 players would require a 99 player pool and we'd be scraping the barrel for players.

So register here and we'll get the ball rolling eventually...

I'm prepared to also source an independant judge - and if I can't get one I'll be the judge (non player) - if you like to analyse the final teams (via criteria yet to be determined) to determine which team they think is the best team.

Just a bit of fun...

What is the reward?.... Bragging rights.

H_T

Entrants to date: -

Tall Defence

45HG16

Rogue

Spots filling up. How about it?

Nasher ?

Axis of Bob ?

Rhino Richards ?

titan_uranus ?

WJ ?

??

HT, you should get in on the action!

The independent judge part is of little importance IMO; if we don't have one we can all debate which team is better come the end of the game (which we'll do anyway, right?)

Ok, Rogue.

Entrants to date: -

Tall Defence

45HG16

Rogue

H_T

Spots filling up. How about it?

Nasher ?

Axis of Bob ?

Rhino Richards ?

titan_uranus ?

WJ ?

??

OK-I dont understand but I'm in .

The amount of trouble I've gotten into in life because of this motto you wouldn't believe .

My browsing time is too sporadic sorry. I tend to hold these things up.

Also, I can't really be bothered.

Count me in .

My browsing time is too sporadic sorry. I tend to hold these things up.

Also, I can't really be bothered.

Likewise with me. Good luck with it, HT.

Update:

Ok, Rogue.


Entrants to date: -

Tall Defence
45HG16
Rogue
H_T

Macca

Biffen


Spots filling up. How about it?


Axis of Bob ?
titan_uranus ?
WJ ?

??

Nasher, RR if you change your mind, let us know..

OK-I dont understand but I'm in .

The amount of trouble I've gotten into in life because of this motto you wouldn't believe .

See post on previous page. There will be more detail on the draft when we've locked and loaded our 8.

Whilst we're looking for 2 more...... how is the publicity on Warne and his fanning of a possible Test comeback? Bit of a pipedream, but he's still going on about it.

Must be growing tired of ol' Liz and her safety pin dress...

Whilst we're looking for 2 more...... how is the publicity on Warne and his fanning of a possible Test comeback? Bit of a pipedream, but he's still going on about it.

Must be growing tired of ol' Liz and her safety pin dress...

After his effort last friday night with 0/41 from 2 overs and a simple dropped catch I reckon he might shelve any thought there may have been of that happening.

Still wouldn't suprise me if he came out in his next match and took 4/10, but it was tough seeing him like that.

I love Warnie, but he went out on such a great note I'd hate to see him do a Plugger, come back and be a shell of what he used to be.

I was there on Boxing Day 2006 when he bowled Strauss through the gate to be the first man to take 700 wickets in what was his second last test and my last chance to see the great man play. I'll always have that memory and I'd hate to see it ruined.

Edit: Spelling

Edited December 10, 201212 yr by Tall Defence