Anyone for cricket?

[H_T 3,049]

What about the Vic spin bowler? How soon can he get his Australian citizenship?

[Macca 17,080]

What about the Vic spin bowler? How soon can he get his Australian citizenship?

asap ! And then get him on a big bird - straight to India

[Macca 17,080]

Watto opens the batting ...

And they open with 2 'offies' . Ball is turning big time - good luck Aussies

[Macca 17,080]

Tough batting conditions now for our blokes. We may as well try and smack a few.

Trying to survive against these 3 spinners on this track is darn near impossible.

[H_T 3,049]

Tough batting conditions now for our blokes. We may as well try and smack a few.

Trying to survive against these 3 spinners on this track is darn near impossible.

Agree. Must say though, there's a few in the dressing room that can take a leaf out of Henriques approach at the crease. Great debut.

India will have to bat again now.

[H_T 3,049]

75 overs gone in the innings and Ishant Sharma takes the ball for the first time this innings....

Edit: Henriques brings up his 50 with a six over long on.

[Macca 17,080]

Agree. Must say though, there's a few in the dressing room that can take a leaf out of Henriques approach at the crease. Great debut.

India will have to bat again now.

Very handy late pick up for your 'best eleven' team HT

He's shown a lot of fight and has a reasonably good technique. I like him as a cricketer. We'll need that extra seamer in England. Impressive debut and looks to have a bright future.

[H_T 3,049]

Very handy late pick up for your 'best eleven' team HT

He's shown a lot of fight and has a reasonably good technique. I like him as a cricketer. We'll need that extra seamer in England. Impressive debut and looks to have a bright future.

Hopefully Nasher is watching

[MadAsHell 4,217]

This now brings the question of what changes (if any) do we make for the next test.

Do we go with the two spinners approach and play both Doherty & Lyon, even though Lyon took 3 wickets he did take a pasting, what way do you go?

Should Pattinson be rested due to his history of injuries, I don't think we can afford to given he was our only bowler to look like taking a wicket.

I really think Bird should play, I think his line and length/keep it tight bowling is needed on these pitches.

Hughes looked all at sea in this match, he really doesn't seem to have a clue against spin. Do we drop him for Khawaja after just 1 test?

My way Macca clearly didn't work of going with the pace barrage. Siddle & Strac didn't support Pattinson well and left to much up to him when Jimmy showed that the quicks can take wickets on that surface. So I think for the remaining 3 tests we should go with the two spinners approach that England used to great effect. Lets get Doherty in for the last 3 tests and he and Lyon can have a 3 test bowl off to see who will be Fawad Ahmed's understudy for the Ashes.

CHANGES:

IN: Bird, Doherty

OUT: Siddle, Starc

Pattinson and Bird can take the new ball, Pattinson can be our main man, Bird to bowl line & length, build pressure and support Pattto. Henriques gives us the 3rd seam option and then Lyon & Doherty spin twins.

I'd have Hughes on notice for this test. If he fails as equally bad I'd bring Khawaja in for the 3rd test. Usman will need some cricket under his belt before the Ashes. You wouldn't want Hughes failing in all 4 tests, then to be replaced be Khawaja for the Ashes.

As for the pace bowling rotation, I would rest Pattinson for the 3rd test when that comes around. Lets not kid ourselves that he'll be able to play all 4 tests. Bring Siddle back in for the 3rd test and Siddle & Bird can then effectively have a bowl off to see who'll support Pattinson for the final test.

[H_T 3,049]

Henriques and Lyon got through to stumps with a lead of 40. Henriques 75*. Good concentration by the two with a last wicket stand of 57.

India well and truly home unless there's a miracle on day 5.

[Macca 17,080]

This now brings the question of what changes (if any) do we make for the next test.

Do we go with the two spinners approach and play both Doherty & Lyon, even though Lyon took 3 wickets he did take a pasting, what way do you go?

Should Pattinson be rested due to his history of injuries, I don't think we can afford to given he was our only bowler to look like taking a wicket.

I really think Bird should play, I think his line and length/keep it tight bowling is needed on these pitches.

Hughes looked all at sea in this match, he really doesn't seem to have a clue against spin. Do we drop him for Khawaja after just 1 test?

My way Macca clearly didn't work of going with the pace barrage. Siddle & Strac didn't support Pattinson well and left to much up to him when Jimmy showed that the quicks can take wickets on that surface. So I think for the remaining 3 tests we should go with the two spinners approach that England used to great effect. Lets get Doherty in for the last 3 tests and he and Lyon can have a 3 test bowl off to see who will be Fawad Ahmed's understudy for the Ashes.

CHANGES:

IN: Bird, Doherty

OUT: Siddle, Starc

Pattinson and Bird can take the new ball, Pattinson can be our main man, Bird to bowl line & length, build pressure and support Pattto. Henriques gives us the 3rd seam option and then Lyon & Doherty spin twins.

I'd have Hughes on notice for this test. If he fails as equally bad I'd bring Khawaja in for the 3rd test. Usman will need some cricket under his belt before the Ashes. You wouldn't want Hughes failing in all 4 tests, then to be replaced be Khawaja for the Ashes.

As for the pace bowling rotation, I would rest Pattinson for the 3rd test when that comes around. Lets not kid ourselves that he'll be able to play all 4 tests. Bring Siddle back in for the 3rd test and Siddle & Bird can then effectively have a bowl off to see who'll support Pattinson for the final test.

Well, there's always a chance of an 'unseasonal' monsoon, TD. We may just escape yet.

What we do know is that in the next Test, we'll probably be presented with another spinning track that is devoid of grass. Reality has set in for me. India are just so hard to beat at home. Ojha is waiting in the wings for them whilst we've got Xavier.

This is where rotations can get tricky now that we're 1-0 down (barring a miracle). We really have to win the next Test. Patto has to stay. Siddle and Stark could be rested which would allow Doherty and Johnson or Bird to come in.

I'd also bring in Maxwell in place of one of the batsman. None of our top order looked particularly comfortable although Warner was the best performed. We need as many bowling options as possible and Maxwell provides another badly needed spinning option. Khawaja has claims as well. His selection wouldn't surprise.

It's difficult to hold your ground over there - it's now or never in a lot of ways. In this Test our batting and bowling hasn't been up to scratch.

Edited February 25, 2013 by Macca

[MadAsHell 4,217]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-australia-2013/content/story/606383.html

Oh great, just what we need! If we're to send over a replacement we may as well make it another spinner, I say Stephen O'Keefe, why Doherty was picked over O'Keefe in the first place makes no sense to me. Or we should send over Haddin as he's a good player of spin and can play as a specialist batsman, bat at number 3 possibly?

[Little Richard 6,265]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-australia-2013/content/story/606383.html

Oh great, just what we need! If we're to send over a replacement we may as well make it another spinner, I say Stephen O'Keefe, why Doherty was picked over O'Keefe in the first place makes no sense to me. Or we should send over Haddin as he's a good player of spin and can play as a specialist batsman, bat at number 3 possibly?

Sportsbet were paying $1.03 odds that Bird would be in some kind of injury treatment this year.

[MadAsHell 4,217]

All things considered we probably did well to only loose by 8 wickets considering where we were late yesterday.

A few concerns of course. Only 1 wicket between Siddle & Starc for the whole match. Nathan Lyon ended with match figures of 4/244 @ 61 off 52.3 overs, economy rate of 4.67! Hughes looks in a lot of trouble on those piches and Cowan, Watson & Wade didn't do anything to overly impress. Bird heading home with an injured back also doesn't help things as I initially wanted him in the team for the 2nd test.

Clarke, Henriques & Pattinson can all hold their heads high with very good performances.

Just the one change for the next test at this point I think and that's Doherty in for Starc.

I think if we were to loose the 2nd test just as badly then you could expect to see wholesale changes, for example Khawaja in for Hughes and one of Maxwell or Smith in for Cowan or Watson depending on what they produce in this next test. Obviously the fast man rotation will come into effect by the time the 3rd test roles around. Certainly a lot of homework for the Aussies to do here.

[Macca 17,080]

All things considered we probably did well to only loose by 8 wickets considering where we were late yesterday.

A few concerns of course. Only 1 wicket between Siddle & Starc for the whole match. Nathan Lyon ended with match figures of 4/244 @ 61 off 52.3 overs, economy rate of 4.67! Hughes looks in a lot of trouble on those piches and Cowan, Watson & Wade didn't do anything to overly impress. Bird heading home with an injured back also doesn't help things as I initially wanted him in the team for the 2nd test.

Clarke, Henriques & Pattinson can all hold their heads high with very good performances.

Just the one change for the next test at this point I think and that's Doherty in for Starc.

I think if we were to loose the 2nd test just as badly then you could expect to see wholesale changes, for example Khawaja in for Hughes and one of Maxwell or Smith in for Cowan or Watson depending on what they produce in this next test. Obviously the fast man rotation will come into effect by the time the 3rd test roles around. Certainly a lot of homework for the Aussies to do here.

I agree with a lot of your summation TD, but I'd bite the bullet and make a few changes now. After looking at things overnight I reckon that we have to do something with the top order. Khawaja has a good technique to handle spin and I'd have him in. Also would find a spot for Maxwell, mainly because he gives the team another spinning option.

Henriques had a terrific debut and even after one Test I reckon he could bat higher on the list. He didn't seem to be in any trouble at all and Gavaskar and Shastri gave him a good rap. I reckon we've found a cricketer there.

Doherty is probably a certainty and Johnson might come in as well. Can't see them making 4 changes but maybe 3 (?) We have to assume that there will be a result in the next Test and we don't want to be 2 - 0 down.

[MadAsHell 4,217]

I agree with a lot of your summation TD, but I'd bite the bullet and make a few changes now. After looking at things overnight I reckon that we have to do something with the top order. Khawaja has a good technique to handle spin and I'd have him in. Also would find a spot for Maxwell, mainly because he gives the team another spinning option.

Henriques had a terrific debut and even after one Test I reckon he could bat higher on the list. He didn't seem to be in any trouble at all and Gavaskar and Shastri gave him a good rap. I reckon we've found a cricketer there.

Doherty is probably a certainty and Johnson might come in as well. Can't see them making 4 changes but maybe 3 (?) We have to assume that there will be a result in the next Test and we don't want to be 2 - 0 down.

Could be onto something there Macca.

I guess if they were to look at those players we might see changes like

IN: Doherty, Khawaja, Maxwell

OUT: Cowan, Hughes, Starc

batting order:

Warner

Watson

Khawaja

Henriques

Clarke

Wade

Maxwell

Siddle

Pattinson

Doherty

Lyon

Gives us three seam bowlers, three spinners and 2 part time spinners. Could be the right formula for the dust bowls of India.

[Macca 17,080]

Could be onto something there Macca.

I guess if they were to look at those players we might see changes like

IN: Doherty, Khawaja, Maxwell

OUT: Cowan, Hughes, Starc

batting order:

Warner

Watson

Khawaja

Henriques

Clarke

Wade

Maxwell

Siddle

Pattinson

Doherty

Lyon

Gives us three seam bowlers, three spinners and 2 part time spinners. Could be the right formula for the dust bowls of India.

Yeah, a bit like our 'best eleven' teams TD . Lots of options

I heard today that Bird is flying home after sustaining a back injury - bad luck for the bloke and lets hope it's nothing major. Any news on his replacement (if any)? Surely they'll send another spinner over there. If Beer, Holland or O'Keefe are fit then we should send one of them over there - 'quick smart'.

Like the make up of that eleven. Moises could hold down the no.4 for now - very impressive young cricketer. He'll most probably be facing spin when he goes in to bat anyway. The other option is for Clarke to go up to no.4 for these Tests only. Henriques could bat at no.5 if that happens. Watson is best suited to opening.

[MadAsHell 4,217]

Yeah, a bit like our 'best eleven' teams TD . Lots of options

I heard today that Bird is flying home after sustaining a back injury - bad luck for the bloke and lets hope it's nothing major. Any news on his replacement (if any)? Surely they'll send another spinner over there. If Beer, Holland or O'Keefe are fit then we should send one of them over there - 'quick smart'.

Like the make up of that eleven. Moises could hold down the no.4 for now - very impressive young cricketer. He'll most probably be facing spin when he goes in to bat anyway. The other option is for Clarke to go up to no.4 for these Tests only. Henriques could bat at no.5 if that happens. Watson is best suited to opening.

No news on a replacement as of yet, but I agree they should get O'Keefe out there quick smart, but for some reason the selectors have a line through his name like Brad Hodge.

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/spinning-out-the-blame-20130225-2f22t.html

Either way they need to come up with some answers come saturday. I'm still counting down the days till Fawad Ahmed's citizenship comes through and we have a decent leggie again!

[Rogue 585]

A pretty disappointing result, but India is a tough place to tour.

I'm heartened to see Henriques do well, but let's not jump the gun - he's one test in.

It'll be very interesting to see what happens with selection, and I'll also be keen to see how much this tour impacts on selection for the Ashes etc given the conditions are so different.

[Macca 17,080]

No news on a replacement as of yet, but I agree they should get O'Keefe out there quick smart, but for some reason the selectors have a line through his name like Brad Hodge.

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/spinning-out-the-blame-20130225-2f22t.html

Either way they need to come up with some answers come saturday. I'm still counting down the days till Fawad Ahmed's citizenship comes through and we have a decent leggie again!

In that article O'Keefe is described as a 'Chirpy, confident lad not afraid to speak his mind' . What's happened to Australian cricket when that's somehow a problem?! I thought that attitude was a bit of a pre-requisite

I've seen him bowl in some of the limited overs stuff and he looks a bit of a cricketer. Anyway, we'll find out soon enough.

A pretty disappointing result, but India is a tough place to tour.

I'm heartened to see Henriques do well, but let's not jump the gun - he's one test in.

It'll be very interesting to see what happens with selection, and I'll also be keen to see how much this tour impacts on selection for the Ashes etc given the conditions are so different.

Good point Rogue, for some of the batsmen, time in the middle is very important. We're quite an inexperienced side when you look at it. I reckon a tour of India could toughen a few of the players up. It's hard yakka.

Still got a bit of time for Lyon and I see him as our best off spinning option. He'll have learnt a lot from the 1st Test and hopefully bowls better in the 2nd Test.

[Rogue 585]

On India, it was nice to see Tendulkar make some runs after being so very subpar for so long (hi, H_T). Dhoni also cracked his sixth century in 116 innings. How much of the result was India being pretty good, and how much was it us being pretty poor? I didn't watch any of the game.

[titan_uranus 25,050]

Standard problems in India. Batsmen can't play spin (over the summer England's batsmen had no trouble whatsoever with Ashwin, Harbhajan or Jadeja, only Ojha troubled them), bowlers struggled to take wickets. Yes, we played pacemen, but does anyone honestly think Xavier Doherty is any better, despite being a spinner, than Starc? Of course he isn't. The raw fact is, we don't have any decent spinners, and our pacemen aren't good enough to pick up all the slack. England dominated India's weak batting line up because they had Swann and Panesar. Lyon isn't half as good as either of them. Doherty isn't half as good as Lyon.

We're going to struggle if Pattinson, Siddle and Starc can't take 8 wickets, to go with Lyon's 2 he'll generally get. But more importantly, we're going to struggle if we can't bat against their spinners.

[H_T 3,049]

On India, it was nice to see Tendulkar make some runs after being so very subpar for so long (hi, H_T). Dhoni also cracked his sixth century in 116 innings. How much of the result was India being pretty good, and how much was it us being pretty poor? I didn't watch any of the game

You should have seen Moises bat Rogue. Impressive given the conditions and position.

Yes, Tendulkar was his usually damaging self. Apparently scored some runs in the lead up too.

[MadAsHell 4,217]

In that article O'Keefe is described as a 'Chirpy, confident lad not afraid to speak his mind' . What's happened to Australian cricket when that's somehow a problem?! I thought that attitude was a bit of a pre-requisite

I've seen him bowl in some of the limited overs stuff and he looks a bit of a cricketer. Anyway, we'll find out soon enough.

Good point Rogue, for some of the batsmen, time in the middle is very important. We're quite an inexperienced side when you look at it. I reckon a tour of India could toughen a few of the players up. It's hard yakka.

Still got a bit of time for Lyon and I see him as our best off spinning option. He'll have learnt a lot from the 1st Test and hopefully bowls better in the 2nd Test.

I know what you mean Macca. You have to wonder if we had this selection panel 20-25 years ago would guys like Merv Hughes or Shane Warne ever of got a game???

Let's just pick the best people avaialable. Unless O'Keefe actively dislikes Clarke and co and is plotting to bring him down from the inside then I don't see how having our best performed domestic spinner over there can make the team any worse...

On India, it was nice to see Tendulkar make some runs after being so very subpar for so long (hi, H_T). Dhoni also cracked his sixth century in 116 innings. How much of the result was India being pretty good, and how much was it us being pretty poor? I didn't watch any of the game.

I think it was mainly India was very good and partially due to us being below par.

Ashwin took 12 wickets for the match and Dhoni played an innings out of his skin! We had India 7 down when scores were level during their first innings, if we could have restricted their lead to about 50 we would have been right in the game.

Siddle & Starc were well below par and some of our batsmen played some loose shots to get out so I don't think it's anything we can't bounce back from with the right team selection and right application.

Standard problems in India. Batsmen can't play spin (over the summer England's batsmen had no trouble whatsoever with Ashwin, Harbhajan or Jadeja, only Ojha troubled them), bowlers struggled to take wickets. Yes, we played pacemen, but does anyone honestly think Xavier Doherty is any better, despite being a spinner, than Starc? Of course he isn't. The raw fact is, we don't have any decent spinners, and our pacemen aren't good enough to pick up all the slack. England dominated India's weak batting line up because they had Swann and Panesar. Lyon isn't half as good as either of them. Doherty isn't half as good as Lyon.

We're going to struggle if Pattinson, Siddle and Starc can't take 8 wickets, to go with Lyon's 2 he'll generally get. But more importantly, we're going to struggle if we can't bat against their spinners.

You're not wrong Titan, I don't think playing Doherty instead of Starc would have been the difference, however having said that there's no denying that Starc underperformed bowling 25 wicketless overs and seemed to be bowling to short on that wicket.

Can't disagree that Lyon & Doherty are no Swann & Panesar, but if the conditions are favourable to them and our quicks (apart from Pattinson) were given first crack and delivered squat then on all accounts Doherty should be given a crack. I've said it several times now, but I can't wait until Fawad Ahmed is eligable to play, I think he'll solve a lot of our problems for a few years at least while hopefully one of Zampa, Agar or Muirhead develop.

But you're main point is valid, unless we can bat against their spinners then we're going to struggle. One of the reasons why Phil Hughes is probably right in the firing line. I think the Aussie batsmen need to go old school and not worry about pushing 4 runs an over and not be affraid to go along at 2.5 - 3 runs an over. Make the spinner bowl to them, wait for the bad ball and just get a solid defence going. Against Ashwin in particular!

[Macca 17,080]

There's talk that they might rest Pattinson. In such a vital Test?

Second Test selection has Australian cricket in a spin