MadAsHell

Link to poll about who people would like to see in the Test Team for the GABBA test. http://demonland.com/forums/index.php?/topic/34763-who-would-you-like-to-see-at-3-5-6-7/

I've gone with Cosgrove at 3, Klinger at 5, McDonald at 6 & Paine at 7. Cosgrove for the fact he's made more then 8000 FC runs and has 22 FC 100's so he has the experience (29 years old) and runs on the board to hold down the number 3 role. Can accelerate or hold down his end when the situation calls for it. Michael Klinger at 5 just ahead of Maddinson due to his great recent form over in County Cricket at the moment averaging over 50 this season. Has leadership experience and is a very good fielder. Andrew McDonald at 6. Averages just under 40 with the bat at FC level and under 30 with the ball at the same level. Is experienced and reliable and was unlucky to be dropped back a few years ago. Tim Paine at 7 as keeper. Played very well in the 4 tests he did play and has had a horrible run with injury since. Is a leader and very good gloveman. Only averages 30 odd at FC level, but if he can produce the same at Tets level then he'll be doing just as well as both Haddin and Wade have done at Tets level. Paine is better with the gloves then those two also. Other peoples thoughts?

The big question is obviously our batting for the home summer and how we can fix things? While Rogers and Warner look to be settled into the two top spots and Clarke at 4, every other slot is open for takers IMO. I thought I'd conduct a poll to see who everyone thinks is the best fit for different spots. For the number 3 role I've included batsmen who play in the top order or open for their states. Number 5 I've included batsmen who bat from 3 down for their states or batsmen who open but have shown an ability to bat anywhere. Number 6 I've listed all rounders. Number 7 is the keeper.

Fawad Ahmed named in the Australian ODI squad for the England tour! http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2013/content/current/story/662475.html Well done to the man, although I must say I'm a bit suprised as I think he's much more suited to the long form of the game compared to the shorter formats as his recent stats suggest, only 2 wickets in his lat 5 ODD matches compared to 15 wickets in his last 3 FC games. His economy rate is reasonably high in the ODD game also at just over 5, although that's not overly suprising for a leg spinner. I guess the selectors probably see this as an opportunity to have a look at him at the highest level before our summer. Pitty it's not in his best format of the game... Also congrats to Josh Hazlewood who's been named in the ODI squad. A fine young bowler in the Glenn McGrath mould. If he, Cummins & Pattinson can ever get over their injury concerns I can see those forming out trifecta of seam bowlers with Hazlewood to bowl into the breeze. And yes, I do rate Hazlewood ahead of Strac who also has a lot of talent.

Now now Tony Abbott and the Liberal party are a fantastic option. Just in the last few days we've seen Tony Abbott describe one of his female candidates and another former MP (both female) as having sex appeal. Hmmm.. Wonder how many of his Male MP's he says that about? What was Julia Gillard said about you Tony? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0LFKwfvvNY Reckon she might have been on the money. We've finally seen the Liberal party announce how they're going to cost promises and exactly what their policies are... Oh wait no we haven't... But we have heard a lot about their plan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVuoEiD8dMo Yeah, that fills me with a lot of confidence. And the best bit now is Tony Abbott challenging Kevin Rudd to preference the Greens last like he's instructing his MP'S to do. http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/kevin-rudd-follows-tony-abbott-in-ruling-out-deals-to-form-government-20130814-2rv6c.html Yeah ok Tony, how about you worry who you're party preference last and let Labor worry about who they preference last. Oh wait, that's why. Because if the Liberal party get in and while the Greens have power of the senate then their first promise of scrapping the carbon tax/trading scheme will be broke because the Greens will bloke it. very clever Tony! Oh but of course he won't also preference Bob Katter part or the Clive Palmer party under Labor like he will the Greens because they're completely different. Yes Clive Plamer, the man who thought Doug Hawkins would be a good candidate, wants to build a replica of the Titanic and locked supporters out of half empty stadiums for Gold Coast FC matches. Yeah that's a guy who shows good judgement. Sadly I think there's a very good chance that the Liberal Party will form government, but I certainly wont be voting for my local candidate, thankfully I live in a safe Labor seat. We'll just have our own version of George W Bush, the GST will rise to about 20%, the Australian Navy will be asked to engage in acts of piracy and attempt to turn assylum seeker boats around (they're entitled to seek assylum by boat under international law by the way), we'll have another children overboard or tampa situation and cause an international incident. The rich will get richer while the poor get worse off as we see money taken out of education and health and we see further privatisation. But end of the day everyones entitled to vote and support who they want and so they should. I just hope that when we see the next change of government occur, it's when the Liberal Party have someone who's a bit less of embarrassing as their leader. As one of his own daughters once said of Abbbott. He's just a dorky church looser!

If true then the odds of Daniel Cross and possibly Adam Cooney coming across as free agents would be decent you'd think!

In fact to give you an indication of how quickly things change, I've already changed my mind and I would go with McDonald. So my XI for the GABBA would be. Chris Rogers http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/7388.html David Warner http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/219889.html Mark Cosgrove http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/4818.html Michael Clarke* http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/4578.html Michael Klinger http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/6161.html Andrew McDonald http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/6553.html +Tim Paine http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/7252.html James Pattinson http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/272465.html Peter Siddle http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/7898.html Ryan Harris http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/5779.html Nathan Lyon http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/272279.html I don't overly care about the calls from the British press about a Dad's Army XI that this would be. I reckon it would probably be our current most in form XI and balanced team at that. We'd still have 6 players under 30, only 2 under 26 granted. But it gives us 5 genuine bowling options, a part time spinner (Warner) a part time medium pacer (Cosgrove) and if Clarke ever gets back to bowling we'll have another part time spinner. Klinger improves our fielding and he and Paine also bring some leadership into the XI. We could then have an Australia A team that focuses on youth, such as: Nic Maddinson* Jordan Silk Phil Hughes (He's still very young) Joe Burns +Peter Handscomb Glenn Maxwell James Faulkner Mitchell Starc Pat Cummins Adam Zampa Josh Hazlewood Now there's a bit of talent in that XI that's worth getting excited about.

Not a bad idea there Macca about getting Australia A to play some more games. They don't have any coming up after their current triangular One Day series vs South Africa A & India A but I could be mistaken. Not a bad idea that any young batsmen brought into the side should bat at 5 or 6 at first and leave the dreaded number 3 spot to either an experience FC cricketer eg Cosgrove, Doolan, Klinger. I think Roger and Warner pick themselves as openners for our series and Clarke likewise at 4. The keeper at number 7 is pretty straight forward also, whether you were to stick with Haddin or as I would, go with Tim Paine who I think it's time for. That leaves 3, 5 & 6 up for grabs. For me Cosgrove is the obvious choice at number 3 given he's one of the only batsmen we have who averages over 40 at first class level. Is experienced with over 8000 FC runs and more then 100 FC matches and has managed 22 FC 100's and 49 FC 50's along the way. His part time medium pace (40 FC wickets) could be handy also ala Nathan Astle type. Number 5 is a tougher one. Nic Maddinson is clearly the most talented and in form young batsman we have going around at the moment and he also bowls some handy left arm orthodox. However he is a natural opening batsman which makes me think it may be best to wait until an openers spot opens up, or if Cosgrove fails Rogers could move down to 3 (bated there often in County cricket) allowing Maddinson to slot into his natural position. Joe Burns another promising young batsman is in the middle of a bit of a form dip so you'd probably like to see him make some runs in the Shield before he pushes his case. Alex Doolan is another that I and others have mentioned as he had a very good Shield season last year despite his career FC average of 38. However in his last 10 FC innings he has only been averaging about 32 so it may be better to wait to pick him until he's in better form. This leads me to the player that I think is currently the best fit. Michael Klinger. This guys a brilliant fieldsman (might help balance out the addition of Cosgrove who's fielding is iffy), is very experienced. Is a leader at South Australia is is currently in very good form averaging over 50 in this years County season. Finally at number 6 is where we need an all rounder or batsman who's more then handy with the ball IMO. Gone are the days of Warne and McGrath who we could rely on the rip through the opposition with the help of two other bowlers (Gillespie, Lee, Kasporwicz, Fleming etc). We need a genuine 5th bowling option to help take 20 wickets. James Faulkner who I'd love to see in this role needs to improve his batting as he's still averaging a tick under 30 with the bat at FC level, same as Mitch Marsh who's an interesting prospect. With Watson on the nose this leaves us IMO with the likes of Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Moises Henriques and Andrew McDonald. Maxwell as we know divides opinion and at this stage is obviously more suited to the shorter formats of the game and he'd be the first from that list that I'd discard. Moises Henriques for me falls into the same category as Faulkner & Marsh. Although Henriques does average over 30 with the bat, it's only just over and ideally you want some who averages at worst in the high 30's or into the 40's with the bat to play as your all rounder. He had an encouraging test debut Henriques but his batting was found wanting in his other 2 tests in India. This leaves us with McDonald and Smith. McDonald is probably the more genuine all rounder with a FC batting average of just under 40 and bowling average of 28.64 compared to Smith who has a FC batting average of just over 41 but his bowling average is about 54.5, 46.5 in tests. Smith has age on his side while McDonald has experience. At this stage I'd be sticking with Smith as I think runs are our main need at the moment and he does still provide handy bowling. Smith has shown some signs of improvement with two impressive 50's in this series, but he'd be the most under pressure for mine in the XI I listed. A poor batting display at The Oval could be enough for me to prefer McDonald, but as we speak currently I'd be going with Smith.

That's exactly it isn't it Macca, who knows? Maddinson's certainly making a strong case for himself, but at the same time I don;t want him or Burns (our two best prospects IMO) thrown to the wolves and would be happy to see them demand a spot by making a mountain of runs in the next Shield season. Rogers being picked under the old school style of selection (making a heap of runs at FC level first, same as Hussey) seems to have worked, so I'd be happy enough to see it applied for the return leg. My XI for the First Test at The GABBA Chris Rogers David Warner Mark Cosgrove http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/4818.html (Has 22 FC 100's and has consistently been one of the Shields leading run getters over the last 5 years) Michael Clarke* Alex Doolan http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/233648.html (coming off a great Shield season) or Micahel Klinger http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/records/batting/most_runs_career.html?id=7906;type=tournament (from this years Division 2 County Season with Klinger coming 4th in leading run scorers) Steve Smith (happy for him to be given a little bit more time and can play as the all rounder) +Tim Paine (He's a leader and has plenty of years ahead of him. Now is the time for him to come in and provide some new leadership. Would make him Vice Captain once he's cemented his spot) James Pattinson Peter Siddle Ryan Harris Nathan Lyon Three quicks, one spinner, one spinning all rounder (if you can call Smith that), two part time spinners in Clarke & Warner, some part time medium pace with Cosgrove and depending on which one of Doolan or Klinger you went with, you get a back up keeper in Doolan in case anything happened to Paine mid-test or a brilliant fieldsman and leader in Klinger. That's the way I'd be going anyway. Would love to see Faulkner as the all rounder but his batting isn't there yet.. Not to bat at 6 anyway.

Sorry Rhino didn't mean for it to sound like I was blaming those 4 for the loss, just that runs from the tail in the 2nd innings went some way towards the loss. You're right though that's it's the top 7's job to get the runs, not the lower order, but every run out of them sure does help. Usually love your work Macca, but please no Shaun Marsh! The guy can barely make a run at first class level and he's alreafy about 30. If we're going to pick someone with an average like that at least make it someone young with some improvement in the. Marsh is a very good ODI & T20 player, but that's where it ends for me.

Been out of action for the last few days sorry everyone with a bad case of the cold, probably from all these late nights! haha. What a horrible result, from 0/109 to be all out for 224 with another horrible batting display is a very poor performance indeed. We got a few stiff lbw calls on that last day where we got some 50/50 ones go against our batsmen where as the 50/50 call on the last day involving Bresnan when he was only on 12 went their way and he ended up making 45. A big factor in this match was the bottom 4 of each team in the 2nd dig. We saw Bresnan, Broad, Swann & Anderson compile 88 runs between them in their 2nd innings compared to Siddle, Harris, Lyon & Bird making 43. That's 45 runs of the eventual 74 run deficit right there. With the series now lost I'd look at making 4 changes for this last test with an eye to the future and also to get an idea of which players to persist with heading into our summer. First of all our two main quicks Siddle & Harris should be rested from the Oval. No use playing them in a dead rubber at the risk of them picking up an injury after long campaigns and potentially ruling them out of our series. Watto I'd leave out as it seems likely he wont be able to bowl and I think we can all agree that he doesn't make enough runs to justify selection as a batsman. And finally I'd leave Haddin out as he hasn't really delivered. He's made 2 50's in 8 innings and while his keepings been ok I wouldn't say it's been anything phenominal. And he was very ordinary at Lords. So I'd bring in Wade, Faulkner, Starc & Agar for the final test at The Oval where the ball always spins. C. Rogers D. Warner U. Khawaja M. Clarke* S. Smith +M. Wade J. Faulkner A. Agar M. Starc N. Lyon J. Bird 12th man Phil Hughes Big test match for Khawaja as if he doesn't produce here one Nic Maddinson could be pushing for his spot come the GABBA test. Steve Smith also needs to take the bull by the horns and start to produce some consistent cricket, as he's shown a bit but nowhere near enough to secure his position. Clarke & Rogers pick themselves and it was good to see Warner make some 2nd innings runs. Matthew Wade gets another opportunity to show he's improved his glove work and confirm what we already know in that he's a much better batsman then Haddin. And James Faulkner gets an opportunity at 7 as the all rounder who'll bowl first change. He has a lot of promise this kid and I reckon has a bright future. He's already a very good bowler and his batting is improving significantly. Mitchell Starc given an opportunity to lead an inexperienced attack with the new ball and Jackson Bird to bowl into the breeze. Gives these two a chance to stake their claim for the 3rd seamers spot for the GABBA test ahead of James Pattinson or Pat Cummins. Nathan Lyon rightfully retains his spot after a very good test match and Ashton Agar to come back into the XI to play spin twin to Nathan Lyon, having one spinner to spin the ball into the right handers and the other to spin it away from them. A very inexperienced XI that will likely loose but I think would also answer a lot of important questions that need to be raised before our summer. Other peoples thoughts?

Stumps Day 2 after bad light stops play. England 238 A. Cook 51 J. Trott 49 K. Pietersen 26 N. Lyon 4/42 (20) J. Bird 2/58 (22) R. Harris 2/70 (19) Australia 5/222 C. Rogers 101* S. Watson 68 S. Smith 17 S. Broad 4/48 (20) T. Bresnan 1/60 (16.4) J. Trott 0/10 (3) Great innings by Rogers, a traditional test match innings where he let the good balls go and punished the bad ones. Well done to Shane Watson also who batted very well for his 68. Only 16 behind now and if we can get a lead of up to about 100 on this difficult batting wicket we should be very hard to beat. Rogers to carry his bat!

Well done Chris Rogers on your maiden test century in extremely testing batting conditions when most have struggled! Now to make sure you're still there when we reach 300!

Tea Day 2 England 238 A. Cook 51 J. Trott 49 K. Pietersen 26 N. Lyon 4/42 (20) J. Bird 2/58 (22) R. Harris 2/70 (19) Australia 4/148 C. Rogers 71* S. Watson 37* S. Smith 17 S. Broad 3/40 (14) T. Bresnan 1/37 (10) G. Swann 0/9 (5) Tough cricket out there but good to see Rogers and Watson hanging tough. Suprised England didn't bowl Swann at Watson more early? We've got their lead down to under 100 now. If we can be about level with the loss of no more then 7 wickets at stumps then we're looking in a reasonable position. Fingers crossed Rogers can break his 100 duck and Watson break his trott of scores under 50 after tea!

Lunch Day 2 England 238 A. Cook 51 J. Trott 49 K. Pietersen 26 N. Lyon 4/42 (20) J. Bird 2/58 (22) R. Harris 2/70 (19) Australia 3/75 C. Rogers 41* S. Smith 17* M. Clarke 6 S. Broad 3/23 (7) G. Swann 0/8 (3) T. Bresnan 0/13 (3) Interesting session and Broad was bowling really well while the other bowlers don't look quite as threatening. A bit of luck for Rogers which is nice and both he and Smith are looking reasonable at the crease. 300 has to be our goal now given the early wickets. Clarke's was a very poor shot I must say and poor old Khawaja has posted another poor score and another innings passes without Warner getting to 50... Lets hope we can have a wicketless session coming up and put some pressure on England.

You're right about Lyon, very impressive performance on a pitch that wasn't turning a heap, but as you say did seem slow and the batsmen struggled to time. With all our batsmen outside of Clarke needing runs to justify their positions I'm hoping they'll seize this opportunity to out us in a dominant position and put as well clear of the 320 you mentioned which as you said would be a decent total on this wicket.

Haha, very good RR, I like it! In my defence I did say fingers crossed, not that he would or even that I thought he would. My formal position on Maxwell is that he's a seriously talented cricketer with all of bat, ball and in the field. Of those three areas I think batting is his weakness due to consistency, but that can be improved over time. You're right that he looked well out of his depth over in India and it's clearly to early for him right now. But I would put him in the same field with James Faulkner and Mitch Marsh as talented all rounders who could become decent players if they're able to improve certain aspects of their games. Marsh & Faulkner being an ability to make more runs and Maxwell needs to improve his technique/temperment and also tighten up his bowling some what. Personally after Watson I reckon the next best all rounder in the country at this stage would be Andrew McDonald so I can't see Maxwell getting a call up anytime soon. But as you say, if he's able to prove himself in different conditions over time with more then just the occasional 50 or 100 off a handful of deliveries or seldom bag of wickets on turning tracks only then he could be a player. He's in the maybe pile of players for mine as far as having a test career goes, but I do see a decent career in the ODI & T20 formats

Stumps on Day 1 England 9/238 A. Cook 51 J. Trott 49 K. Pietersen 26 N. Lyon 4/42 (20) R. Harris 2/70 (19) S. Watson 1/21 (13) Shame we leaked a few runs at the end of the day but all and all a great day for the Aussies and especially Nathan Lyon. It looks a pretty flat wicket. So fingers crossed we can knock them over early tomorrow and then go out there and make 400-500 and really apply some pressure!

Add Bell to his list of scalps Macca! What a bizzare shot to play first over after tea???

Tea on Day 1 England 4/155 A. Cook 51 J. Trott 49 K. Pietersen 26 N. Lyon 2/28 (7) S. Watson 1/20 (10) J. Bird 1/31 (16) Very good sessions there as this seems a very flat and very slow pitch and I reckon it will be hard work for the bowlers all day every day. Pitch made for a draw.... If we can get Bell early after Tea we'll be in a great position to try and knock them over for under 250. Come on Aussies!

When David Warner burst onto the scene just over 4 years ago in a T20 match against RSA I think Test match cricket would have been the furthest thing from peoples minds, yet here we are all this time later and one could argue that after Clarke, Warner's our 2nd best batsman in the test side. I'm certainly not saying that Maxwell will make it or will be the next big thing in Test cricket. But fact of the matter is that's he's still only 24. He has a better First Class batting average then Shaun Marsh who several people still think has some type of a future in our Test side and only has 5 less First class hundreds despite being 6 years Marsh's junior. Also one of those hundreds that Maxwell almost never scores at First Class level happened in the last week of July this year http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/630760.html. Maxwell also has a better First Class bowling average then Nathan Lyon who is currently in our test side bowling the same off breaks. Maxwell's batting was shown up over in India, but then again, Michael Clarke aside, who batting in that tour wasn't shown up over there? They were all horrible. He also showed an ability to take regular wickets in India with the ball with a strike rate of just over 35. His economy was high, but if he's taking a wicket every 6 overs then one cancels the other out. As I said, not saying that Maxwell will make it. But to say that the guy could become a very good player is no more speculative then saying Joe Burns or Josh Hazlewood is going to make it. Agree Biffen, I'm a big fan of Bird. Early days in this test but I reckon England are already playing for the draw in this test to secure the series with a 2-0 lead with 1 test to go. Lunch Day 1 England 1/57 A. Cook 21* J. Root 16 J. Trott 13* S. Watson 1/8 (7) J. Bird 0/15 (8) P. Siddle 0/15 (5) Glad to see Watson listed at 6, his scores can almost be accepted if he's batting down there and taking wickets also.

Not wrong there 45. Here's the match report. http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/current/story/660507.html Went from 8/152 to 8/298 and then a double wicket maiden from Coulter-Nile in the 2nd last over got Australia A over the line against India A who were playing some good players in Rohit Sharma, Raina and Pujara. Maxwell also took a wicket to go with his century. I tell you what, if he can do what David Warner's done (to an extent he has anyway) and learn to adjust his aggresive batting into test form. He could become our genuine spinning all rounder allowing us to play 4 quicks if we wanted? He's a serious talent Maxwell. Fingers crossed he can become our next Doug Walters...

Reckon there's a big chance Bird could come in for Harris as the last and only time Harris has played 3 tests in a row before he broke down, so they may decide to rest Harris given it's back ti back tests and then bring Rhino back for The Oval for whoever's the least impressive of Starc or Bird. Faulkner I'm not sure if he'll get a run in England, but if Watson keep failing to produce Faulkner could come in for Watson for our summer and bat in the middle order. Think you're right about England resting a bowler Macca, and I wouldn't be suprised if it's Anderson. He looked really tired and not his usual self at Old Trafford and now they've retained the Ashes they may rest him. All of Onions, Tremlett & Panesar have been around the squad so they have options. Would love to see them bring Finn back, but doubt that will happen. I agree Rhino that the selectors haven't been kind to Lyon with the way they keep chopping and changing him around the XI. How you can take 9 wickets one test and then be dropped for the next is a head scratcher, whether you were playing on a dust bowl in India or not. And then to drop Agar after his 2nd test when yes he had an ordinary game, but he bowled well and took 2 (should have been 3) wickets on debut at Trent Bridge is equally as odd. The selectors need to decide what they want, a wicket taking spinner or a defensive spinner and stick to that, do they want someone who spins the ball into the right handers or away from them? Bottom line is, when our summer starts I just hope they pick a spinner and give them the 5 tests and then assess their performance from there.