titan_uranus

If Cook's crapping it up, one of Bell or Morgan will be put in at 3. Remember, England needs only to draw the series to retain the Ashes. Making changes like that will only happen if the series looks loseable. Perfect timing from my man McDonald. I still maintain he is good enough for Test cricket. With this batting form he may hopefully put even more pressure on the selectors, and force his way into the top 6. The other option is to return to how we played in South Africa, which was where we played McDonald at 8 and didn't play Hauritz. Certainly Smith should miss out on the squad now. If we're picking a back up allrounder McDonald's the man. If we want a back up batsman then it's McDonald or an actual batsman. If we're picking a spin bowler it's Doherty, not Smith.

Certainly not. He will bat at 6, which is where he's batted since returning to the side. Trott's done well at 3. The pressure is still on Cook without a replacement opener (though they have Davies in the squad, he's a keeper but I think he opens when he bats). Morgan can come in for Cook, as I think Trott would be OK as an opener.

Terrible Shield game for Cameron White. 1 and 7. We're 4/50, a lead of 165. With a batting line up consisting of Watson, Hughes, Khawaja, Clarke, Jaques and Haddin the lead's going to have to be 250+. Down to Quiney, McDonald and Wade to rescue us.

In their previous Test Flintoff wasn't playing. So he came back, Cook moved from 3 to open, Bell moved from 6 to 3 and Flintoff went in at 6.

White making 1 doesn't help his causes. Hussey's century is good considering the talent of the bowlers he's facing (Stuart Clark, Mitch Starc, Mark Cameron, Shane Watson, Nathan Hauritz) but I highly doubt the selectors will consider him at all.

I don't get why Smith is 'on the cusp'. Cusp of which position? Spinner? Doherty spins it more, would be more accurate, and probably deserves a spot based on Shield form more than Smith. Batting? White, Ferguson and/or Khawaja could all bat better than Smith could. All-rounder? Maybe, but I still think with Watson in the side our number 6 should be primarily a batsman. Agree that Doherty should be there instead of O'Keefe.

Should have been the Phantom! Seriously, he took 5 wickets and changed the face of the game. Only period where ball dominated bat. And he increased his batting average, with a fantastic score of 3 not out!

Katich and Bollinger aren't fit for the Sheffield Shield match vs Victoria, so they've only got the game next week to prove their fitness before Brisbane. Hopefully they can get up. On Saturday the 15-man squad for the first Test will be announced. This is how I'd do it: Watson Katich Ponting Clarke White North Haddin Johnson Hilfenhaus Bollinger Siddle _________ Doherty Khawaja/Ferguson Hughes George/McKay/Starc I play White instead of Hussey with Hussey not even making the squad. His form is just not good enough and we need to make the change before he costs us a Test or two. North gets in on the back of scoring a century in his last Test and Sheffield Shield game. Of course he could fail miserably in any other game he plays before Brisbane but I think he'll get the nod. Khawaja is the batsman who gets in the squad as back up should North misfire. Lineball call between him and Ferguson. Hughes is another reserve bat, largely because of Katich's fitness. I'd prefer to see Doherty instead of Hauritz, or worse, Smith, but we'll have to see how he and Hauritz go in the Shield between now and then. I think Doherty is better but he didn't make the Australia A side so I don't think he'll be in the mix and I expect Hauritz to be there instead. I'd start with four pacemen at the Gabba, the ODI the other day, and the Shield game last week, showed that the pitch is undoubtedly made for seamers. I'd start with Johnson, Hilfenhaus, Siddle and Bollinger, but with Bollinger's fitness a query, another pacemen will have to be in the squad. Should be the best performer of George, McKay and Starc (I don't know if SA play anything before Saturday, which doesn't help George). Right now I'd pick Starc for some freshness. He looks really good.

I know! Epic bowling from the Phantom! Pity VVS decided to put in another second innings rearguard vigil. Now 6/82. But at least all three results are still possible.

20 year old left armer from NSW (surprise). He's quite impressive. Bowls a good line and length, got some good bounce out of the pitch too (but it is a good seamer's wicket). Meanwhile Kyle Williamson makes a century on debut in India. What a boring game. 850+ runs in 4 days with only 16 wickets falling. Don't forget one of the teams is NZ. Boredom to the max. But well done to Vettori for getting 4000 runs to go with his 300 wickets. Brilliant.

I like the move to drop Hauritz for Doherty. The claim was that Hauritz needed to get out there and bowl before the Ashes. That clearly pales in importance to playing a decent spinner. Doherty's taken a back seat though, it's the McKay and Starc show. Starc looks OK actually. Bowls a good line, gets bounce and seam movement, and is only 20.

Something to lighten the mood: England's struggling badly against WA. 6/116. It's their full Test line up as well. At least we're losing to international sides!

That's what most would say, but given he made a century in his last Test, and a century in his last Shield match I would say he'll stay. Not what I'd do, but these selectors are predictable. If it was me I'd drop at least one of North and Hussey, probably Hussey, for Cameron White, and I'd consider dropping the other for Usman Khawaja. In terms of bowling I'd play Doherty in the next ODI, hope he takes some more wickets, then play him in Brisbane instead of Hauritz. Even if Hauritz starts in Brisbane I'm tipping by Sydney Doherty will be in the side. I also wonder if Johnson will survive the entire series. He is really struggling, across all formats, for line and length.

I honestly don't believe this: Doherty's been dropped for Hauritz. Selectors aren't doing themselves any favours.

No more full tours from South Africa to Australia (and vice versa) until 2021: http://www.cricinfo.com/southafrica/content/current/story/485443.html They want to host Tests on Boxing Day and the first week of January just like us. We said we wouldn't tour them at those times, because that would mean no Boxing Day or New Year's Test here, so in retaliation they said they won't tour here. Means that we will play them once a year or so, but it won't ever be a full tour. So they might come here for some Tests, but no ODIs, or we might go there for some ODIs, etc.. Changes the landscape a bit here too. I mean, we can't have England and India every second year playing the Boxing Day and New Year's Tests. We'll be seeing more of Sri Lanka (a good thing if you ask me), Pakistan, NZ, and the Windies (that isn't such a good thing the way those three sides are going).

What a comeback! I left home at 8/107, I return to read they won the game. Unbelievable. All else aside, Xavier Doherty showed he's a better bowler than Hauritz. Yes, it's a ODI, not a Test. But he turned the ball. Actually turned it. Bowled Sangakkara, one of the world's best, with a ball he ripped from outside off to hit leg. Hauritz just can't turn it. Let's hope the selectors do the right thing and keep Doherty in the ODI side over Hauritz, and hopefully he keeps turning it and taking wickets.

Sheffield Shield: Hussey makes a golden duck, North makes 10. Meanwhile Khawaja makes 60 and Ferguson makes a fluent century.

First outright loss at the MCG in three years. Pretty disappointing all round. Quiney batted well though. Edit: Hussey, North and Johnson all playing for WA. That's a quarter of our Test line up. I wonder how they'll go? Also, another observation: Doherty > Hauritz. Well, maybe not, but he's at least as good as him, and is probably the second best spinner in the country at the moment.

Yeah, Pattinson turned the game a bit. But getting 280-odd runs on this fourth day pitch will be a challenge, especially with no White. We are blessed with talent nonetheless though. I mean, McKay and Hastings aren't in the side atm. Who makes way for them? Siddle bowled brilliantly yesterday, Pattinson keeps taking wickets, and Wright is the golden arm. Personally I'd drop McGain and bowl Hussey more (and White too when he comes back), allowing for the luxury of four pacemen.

Vics in a spot of bother now. We've conceded first innings points already, now we're 253 runs behind and Tasmania still has 4 wickets in hand. Still, we're missing White, McKay and Hastings, and Rogers isn't fully fit either. News today that Bollinger is struggling to be fit for Brisbane. Meanwhile Siddle's current figures are 14-7-24-3. Given that I highly doubt Peter George will hold his spot, I can see us starting with Johnson, Hilfenhaus and Siddle, and IMO that's a very strong line up. Edit: Ryan Harris is another possibility but IMO Siddle is much, much better than Harris and his work in last year's Ashes should get him the spot.

Vics not going so well at the moment. 4/136 after Tasmania's 326. After we had them at 3/20 this hasn't been the way things looked like going.

I said it before, it's mind-boggling to consider the riches of talent we have in the wicket keeping department. Paine has proven himself at both Test and ODI level, and we know Haddin is the incumbent. After that we have Ronchi, Manou, Wade and Hartley, all who are capable with the bat, and all of whom who have National experience (though Hartley's was just on a Tour game in England). I highly doubt any other country has wicketkeeping talent hiding away in its Domestic competition like we do. IMO Haddin starts the Ashes, but if he doesn't perform Paine is there to relieve him.

It's odd how Hussey struggles so much in Test cricket yet when he pulls the colours on he dominates. He really does inspire confidence when he's at the ODI crease, like he used to in Test cricket. I can't quite work out how he's fallen so far away in Test cricket yet can still be the best ODI batsman going around. Oh no, what a disaster. Maybe you will have to watch some Test cricket instead?

On the flipside, all we have between now and the Brisbane Test is some ODIs and a T20 against India and Sri Lanka. Hardly the ideal preparation over the next six weeks. England have three warm up games (vs WA, SA and Australia A). Hence the idea of getting them all to play one Shield game as warm up.

Pretty fair summary. Hauritz is the no. 1 spinner but shouldn't be a certainty for Brisbane. How utterly embarrassing. 4-0 in a 5 game series. Bangladesh is now no longer the worst ODI side...they're the equal worst side, with the Windies!