MadAsHell

Just turned 35 late last year. As Rogue said, he's probably past his best and hasn't had the best 12 months but still a very solid player. Will be interesting to see how he goes in their series against South Africa which is about to start shortly.

Round 5, Pick 38 Younis Khan (Pakistan) http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/43652.html Was optimistic but didn't think he'd last this long. Test average over 50 so I'm going to consider him a steal at this late a pick.

Squad for India named. http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/heat-on-lyon-after-test-squad-named-20130131-2dmc2.html Personally I think a 17 man sqaud is a bit overkill. Don;t really see much upside with Smith and Henriques and I think Haddin's very stiff, personaly I would of taken Haddin as the reserve keeper but play him as a specialist batsman with the amount of experience we've lost. I would of just gone with a 15 man squad being: Warner, Watson, Hughes, Haddin, Clarke, Wade, O'Keefe, Siddle, Pattinson, Lyon, Bird Khawaja, Maxwell, Doherty, Starc

FB: Garland, Frawley, Strauss HB: Watts, T. McDonald, Toumpas As far as Strauss and Toumpas are concerned, I name them with no confidence. I expect Nicholson, Jetta and Terlich to all be pushing hard and competing for those spots, and let's also not forget Dunn and Joel MacDonald. Sellar and Gillies also provide good depth back there leaving poor old Troy Davis well down the pecking order. He may have more shot of getting a game up forward!

HF: Howe, Dawes, Trengove FF: Pedersen, Clark, Byrnes Howe to play the high roaming half forward role to rotate through the midfield. Dawes to lead up from half forward and provide the valuable link when we're bringing the ball out of the back half. Trengove to play the important defensive forward role. Make players like Maxwell and Fisher accountable, and if they're not, hurt them on the score board. Pedersen to rotate from a 3rd tall and into the ruck, possibly even down back when called for. A real swing man. Clark to stay close to goal as our monster forwward where he's most dangerous. Byrnes to be at the feet of Clark and Pedersen and swoop on the crumbs. Also expect to see both Blease and Davey running through there at different times aswell as Fitzpatrick early on if Clark has problems with his injury.

Pretty sure from H_T's opening post that it has to be from the 8 main nations, so Bangladesh & Zimbabwe are out. Unless of course you can use them in substitute of a 2nd player from one of the 8 nations??? Again a question for H_T I guess.

I was considering Vettori at Pick 22, came down to a choice between he and Ashwin for mine. Only went for Ashwin because with Vettori injured so much you probably start to forget of just how good he is.

Might call for a decision from H_T or a vote? He's certainly best XI and his exit was self imposed. I think he's suppose to return for the upcoming series against England. http://www.espncricinfo.com/new-zealand-v-england-2013/content/story/601784.html

The suspense is killing me Biffen.......

Equally well put Macca. End of the day, you're right, it's here and it's not going anywhere, so people may as well get used to it. I just hope they get the balance right with it so that the game can continue to grow without selling it's soul so to speak. Only time will tell I guess.

Macca did it to me with his pick before mine at 22 and you've done it to me again with this one H_T. Haha. Round 4, Pick 27 Virender Sehwag (India) http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/player/35263.html To good a player to ignore and with Alastair Cook it gives me a pretty good openning combination. Also this is my 2nd pick from India, so I'm now done with them.

You make some very good points Macca, and to a degree I agree with a lot of what you say. While Twenty/20 is easily my least liked form of the game, I do agree that there is a place for it, I just don't like the overkill that is Twenty/20. I'll attempt to go into more detail. 1. As I've mentioned, playing a T20 game on Australia Day in Sydney instead of a Test or ODI in Adelaide which has always been the case for as long as I've been following cricket which is over 20 years now. Cricket is our national day, and what better option on Australia Day is there, then to spend (a very large portion of the day) with the cricket on while having a few beers, bbq, hottest 100 on while watching the cricket, it's at the stage when it's part of the day and T20 really just takes what's been apart of Australia Day away as far as I'm concerned. 2. Twenty/20 World Cups every 2 years! Has anyone ever heard of another sport having a World Cup every 2 years???? You'd barely have been finished celebrating your victory before you're defending your World title again. If they really want a T20 competition like this every 2 years, thenhave the World Cup every 4 and have them bring it into the Commonwealth Games and make it an Under 23's competition, similar to Soccer in the Olympics. This way we at least get to see some new faces come onto the scene and our top players get a rest, which not many of them do anymore. Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh are all part of the Commonwealth anyway. Zimbabwe have been kicked out, but no loss there and the West Indies could compete as Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobego, Barbados etc and we could still even allow Scotland, Canada, Kenya to compete etc... 3. The Big Bash becoming franchised based was a big mistake for mine, the crowds were better when it was state based. Personally I don't think franchises work for Cricket, especially in this country because there's to much history. Again a better idea I reckon could have been making a team based out of Canberra or something and filling it with imports and players the States didn't want on their main list. That way you still could have had the big names while not destroying the State based competition. 4. While I have no evidence to back this up, I wonder if the ICC's love affair with Twnenty/20 Cricket, the IPL and Champions league keeping all nations busy for the full 12 months of the year, is part of the reason holding a nation like Ireland back from gaining full test and ODI status. If there was ever a country that deserved this recognition based on results (especially when you compare them to Zimbabwe and Bangladesh) then it's Ireland. I've watched them closely at two World Cup's now and I can honestly say it'd be tough to find another country that plays with as much passion and commitment then the Irish. This is a country that really wants it. In those World Cups I've seen them beat Pakistan, Bangladesh, chase down over 300 to beat England and also draw with Zimbabwe. They've also given South Africa and the West Indies some trouble. Yet still no invitation into First Class cricket, and I can't help that feel that if all the time the top nations are now being forced to put towards Twenty/20 cricket that Ireland very well may have had the opportunity to play more cricket against top nations and be the 11th International Test nation by now. So I think they just need to re-look at how they present Twenty/20 cricket. It's fantastic that it gets more people through ght gates and interested in cricket, and if it helps them break into the USA market then that can only be a good thing. I just hope they it doesn't get to a stage where instead of the Boxing Day Test we have the Boxing Day Twenty/20 match.

Here here WJ. As long as I've ever known, the cricket's belonged at Adelaide on Australia Day, whether that be a day of a test match or a One Day game. On of my favourite things to do the last few years on Australia Day is listen to the hottest 100 with the cricket on mute with a lot of beers and a bunch of mates. T20 just doesn't work on Australia Day, especially at a stadium that has no right to host international cricket.

Well palyed Macca, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking of the exact same player with this very pick..... Round 3, Pick 22 Ravichandran Ashwin (India) http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/player/26421.html As mentioned earlier, the pool of quality spinners is pretty low so thought I should still strike while there's something there. Also of note, 22 players down and still no love for New Zealand yet.....

Sorry H_T, bad joke lost in the text translation, one of those one's that works better verbally. Not meaning the guys ability, rather the nation that 45 said and being suck with an Alviro or Robin Petersen rather then Kevin as obviously intended. I didn't word what I meant very well.

Close to the biggest draft blunder since Luke Molan!

Not that I think they'd do it, but instead of the selectors having a rotation policy throughout all three forms of the game, I'd much rather see them have a policy of rotating their fast bowling attack from one form of the game to another, so your 3 quicks who play test cricket get their rest during the ODI's and 20/20's, ODI bolwers rest during the tests and 20/20's and you can use the 20/20's for your really young developing bowlers. While introduce a rule for the batsmen and keeper that they can only play two forms of the game so their forced to rest at some point during the summer. For example an ideal (fully fit) XI that I'd love to see in each form of the game starting in India would look something like. TEST XI ODI XI Twenty/20 XI D. Warner D. Warner A. Finch S. Watson S. Watson S. Marsh P. Hughes M. Clarke T. Paine D. Hussey D. Hussey B. Rohrer M. Clarke G. Bailey G. Maxwell G. Maxwell M. Wade G. Bailey M. Wade M. Marsh M. Marsh P. Siddle R. Harris M. Johnson J. Pattinson C. McKay P. Cummins N. Lyon M. Starc X. Doherty J. Bird X. Doherty J. Hazelwood Obviously injuries and form would mean that changes to teams would need to be made at certain times, however this way everyone would be getting rests at certain times, the fast bowlers especially. And injury prone players would be getting looked after such as Harris and Cummins who's bodies we know are no longer and not yet up to getting through a test match.

Looks like everyone may be taking a similar approach with 1 batsman and 1 bowler in their first 2 picks. Apart from Biffen who may be building a really strong batting line up first???

Thanks for the clarification. I thought we might not get to pick our 2nd player from a nation until Round 9. Cheers.

Round 2, Pick 11 Morne Morkel. (RSA) http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/46538.html H_T I thought you'd already used your South African pick in round 1 or have I misread the structure? Edit: Player bio

Sorry for my delay everyone. Round 1, Pick 6. Alastair Cook (England) http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/11728.html Edit: Player bio

I share your concerns about Watson and Cowan RR, where are they both at and how long do we carry them for? Clarke, Hussey and Warner are the only automatic selections for mine in the batting order. If Hughes continues to bat like the way he did yesterday, then he'd be able to make it also, but then what? If Watson is only going to average 30 odd then he has to bat at 6 and bowl more. Batting 4, 3 or openning is just to high. Then we have to find someone else to either open or bat at 3. Cowan's there at the moment, our only other options for mine would be Khawaja, Joe Burns, Rob Quiney, Alex Doolan or Callum Ferguson. Problems I have with Quiney, Doolan and Ferguson is that they all average under 40 at first class level. Whatever the answer is, I just hope someone stands up to demand a spot and soon!

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

Doubt it will happen, just some publicity before the Big Bash. Sadly I reckon he'd still be our best bowler.

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.