MadAsHell

Yes, finally got my way Macca. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big wrap for Hazlewood, but just feel that Siddle's control with the ball is something that's been lacking. No doubt Hazlewood will provide that control eventually, but Siddle's there already. Given we're going to have a very inexperienced batting line up, I figure an experienced bowling line up could be the way to go forward. Johnson, Siddle, Lyon & one of Pattinson or Cummins for me. Starc to become a regular once Johnson's time is up, which likely won't be to far away. Think he's said himself that he's got Lillee's wicket tally in his sights, and once that's achieved it could be it.

Nice to see some old school batting from the Australian's so far tonight. I feel like I've gone back in time to 1992 and it's Mark Taylor & David Boon opening the batting!

C. Dawes to Brisbane S. Martin to Bulldogs N. Hrovat to Demons J. Toumpas to Crows T. Lynch to Demons J. Howe, J. Grimes & Pick 6 to Gold Coast H. Bennell, D. Gorringe & late pick to Demons Sign M. Suckling as URFA Trade in S. Grimley on the cheap Upgrade A. Vandenberg & J. Harmes Allow C. Garland to walk as Free Agent (use the cap space) Delist: M. Jamar, J. McKenzie, R. Bail, V. Michie, A. Riley 2016 - MELBOURNE 22 FB: Dunn, T. McDonald, Jetta HB: Lumumba, Frost, Suckling C: Bennell, N. Jones, Tyson HF: Vandenberg, Hogan, Kent FF: Lynch, Grimley, Garlett FOLL: Gawn, Vince, Viney INT: Brayshaw, Petracca, Salem, Watts 2016 - CASEY 22 FB: ?*, O. McDonald, Terlich HB: Cross, Fitzpatrick, White* C: M. Jones, Neal-Bullen, Newton HF: Trengove, Pedersen, Hunt FF: ?*, King*, Kennedy-Harris FOLL: Spencer, ?, Hrovat INT: Gorringe, Harmes, Stretch, ? * Equals rookie Gives us two live picks at the National Draft, plus the two rookie upgrades and then two picks at the rookie draft. I'd be giving 1 year contract extentions to Cross, Pedersen, Hunt, Fitzpatrick and the two rookies King & White. Couple that with M. Jones, Terlich OOC at the end of 2016, we'll have plenty more players available for the chop in 12 months time also.

While I agree about his handling/involvement re the Katich situation I couldn't disagree more with you Biffen. Like him or not, Clarke will go down as one of Australia's all time great batsmen. * He's made triple & double centuries. 28 Centuries in total. * Batting average just shy of 50. * Captained winning tours of South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and the West Indies * Captained a 5-0 Ashes whitewash victory. * Was a member of our 2004 winning touring party of India. * Has taken over 30 Test wickets. He's played some great innings along the way. Made two personal favourites being his debut ton v India in Bangalore in 2004. Coming in at a difficult time with us 4/140 odd batting first on a turner. Then two great partnerships, first with Katich and then with Gilchrist on his way to 151 saw us make a big total and go on to win that series. I remember the ball turning sideways with Anil Kumble bowling round the wicket and Clarke just dancing down to hit him straight back over his head for 6. Knew he was going to be something special from then, His other great innings IMO was his 27th ton v South Africa in the 3rd & final test of the 2014 tour in Cape Town. Series locked at 1-1 and Clarke in f form slump, he was on the end of one of the more brutal work overs I've ever witnessed by Morne Morkel. Got hit multiple times and alegedly received a fractured shoulder as a result. However he got through it and went on to make a brilliant ton and set up was was a memorable win. If you haven't witnessed it, you should! And that's only a sample! Him loosing the captaincy was always coming and rightly so, as sweeping changes should be made following this embarrasment! But I thought Clarke should stay on and bat at number 5 to provide some support for Smith/Warner going forward. I hope he does well at The Oval, and given the series is lost I actually hope all he, Haddin, Watson & Rogers all play (Rogers obviously will) and can bow out together with a win.. As for an XI going forward. I like the look of something like: Cameron Bancroft David Warner (vc) Joe Burns Steve Smith* Peter Handscomb Mitch Marsh +Tim Ludeman Mitchell Johnson Mitchell Starc/James Pattinson/Pat Cummins Peter Siddle Nathan Lyon *Bancroft is very young and has shown a lot of promise in the recent Shield season. He also recently made a patient 133 v India A in Chennai off about 295 balls I believe, so he can grind out an innings on difficult wickets. *Burns I think has the right balance of attack and defence to bat at number 3. It's why I'd probably favour him to giving the nod to Khawaja. *Handscomb I'm a big fan of. Very good player of spin and improving against pace. Was the leading run scorer in Shield cricket after the first 4 rounds until injury struck. Came back and batted well, but just not in quite the same form. Also made a 91 v India A. He can also keep, which would be handy for slecting a touring squad not having to worry about back up keepers. *While Mitch Marsh I think should be the main all rounder, I think that number 6 spot should become somewhat rotatable if we end up playing on raging turners, and this is where I think the Big Show Glenn Maxwell could find his niche. He could become a overseas tour player only just about in India, UAE, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh. He's also a very good player of spin bowling which could be handy. *For the keeper, I think it's time we went old school and just picked the best gloveman. After Nevill's scratchy glove skills and Haddin's drop of Root in the first test possibly being a series defining moment, I think we should just focus during this rebuilding phase of just having a keeper who takes every chance that comes his way and any runs he makes being a bonus. So this is where Ludeman comes into the picture for me. *Siddle should come into the XI once more IMO with the retirement of Harris. His control and experience will be valuable not just for the team, but especially Johnson. I don't think Mitch could be as effective during this series as his fellow bowlers (although not as bad as the batsmen) leaked to many runs due to lack of control. This is where Siddle should come into his own. *Final quick bowlers spot I'd give to whoever was in form/fit between Starc, Pattinson & Cummins. At the moment that would obviously be Starc. Other players to keep an eye on would be Usman Khawaja, Nic Maddinson, Jordan Silk & Travis Head as far as batsmen go. Marcus Stoinis would be the next seam bowling all rounder I'd be looking to after Mitch Marsh. Sam Whiteman is a distant future keeper to watch, similar to Ashton Agar as a spin bowler. While the likes of Josh Hazlewood & Nathan Coulter-Nile are by no means forgotten. When Suddle's time is up Hazlewood would be an obvious replacement. Sad series and a sad end for not just Pup, but several other Aussie players. After The Oval I don't expect to see and of Clarke, Watson, Haddin, Rogers, Voges, Shaun Marsh or Fawad Ahmed near an Aussie Test XI again.

Another collapse. 4 wickets in 20 minutes! Rogers going to hard at a swinging ball just outside off stump, Warner playing a stupid cross bat shot, Marsh waving his bat outside the line of 6th/7th stump as usual & Smith having no regard for the situation. Would have hoped we'd learnt from the 1st Innings & Edgbaston, but obviously not!

And now Rogers is out!

Showing some fight so far today. Lets see how long it lasts....

If it is, then they've got no respect for themselves or the baggy green!

Well the Ashes defence is as good as over. Already more then 200 behind after Day 1 and England still have 6 wickets in hand. This has been a more meek performance then anything i can ever remember England dishing up during their horrendous era of the late 80's to early 2000's. Heads will roll no doubt and i think it's time we did away of this obsession of picking batsmen to debut in their mid 30's. It's time we unearthed some young batting talent. I also think it's time to go back to Siddle with Harris having retired. Hazlewood & Starc control has been left wanting this series, so Siddle's experience will be key. I also think it's time to take the captaincy off Clarke and give it to Smith. Lets just tell Clarke to bat at 5 and concentrate on making runs. I also think as far as the keeper goes that we should go old school and just pick the best gloveman. I like Nevill, but during this rebuild i think we should focus on a keeper who takes all opportunities rather then runs. So for The Oval I'd drop Shaun Marsh and Voges as neither are the future. I'd also drop Hazlewood and Starc as i think they're both spent and have struggled for consistency. And i'd also drop Nevill. Bring in Watson and Haddin to join Rogers in a farewell game, Mitch Marsh to get more cricket into him. The long awaited return of Cummins and old reliable Siddle. After the Ashes I can see a rough XI of: Khawaja Warner (vc) Smith* Handscomb Clarke M. Marsh +Hartley or Ludeman Johnson Siddle Cummins, Hazlewood, Pattinson or Starc Lyon But that will be one for the selectors.

I agree our batting depth has been an issue for awhile. I think it's time that we identified some youngsters with good technique and give them 15-20 Tests before making a call on them. Two batsmen who spring to mind are Usman Khawaja & Peter Handscomb. Khawaja because of technique and Handscomb his ability to play against spin. There's a two test series v Bangladesh before our home summer. I'd be happy to see them partenr Khawaja with Warner at the top of the order and Handscomb bat at 4 and give them the series plus the home summer and then some. We all know how much Steve Waugh & Matthew Hayden struggled early in their careers.

In relation to not being able to bowl the ball in the right spot.

Been calling all week that Siddle should have played here. When we loose this test and series, the selectors are going to have to go back to the drawing board and make a decision on how they want to build this team going forward. Need to start to take the same approach with selection that the side did in the late 80's to build that era of dominance.

Good to see both Starc & Hazlewood spray at least one each in the first two overs!

Outside our ODI loss to Bangladesh in Cardiff in 2005 this is the most putrid thing I've ever seen from our Cricket team. The only way to save face is to pull off a remarkable come back in this match. But I don't see the match winners there.

Crucial test match starts tonight. And from what i'm hearing a lot of the changes we've discussed (S. Marsh for Voges, Clarke to 5 & Siddle for Hazlewood) are setto occur. Come on Aussies, lets win the toss, bat and get 400 on the board!

I know your a Haddin fan Macca and I have no doubt that the likely plan coming into this series was for it to be Haddin's swan song. But now that the change has been made when it did for the 2nd Test (no matter what the reasons for the change were) and Nevill did a decent job, it's hard to mount a case to go back to Haddin now. Haddin was huge for us when he came back into the XI for the 10 Ashes Tests of 2013/14, but since then he has played 12 Tests averaging 15.24 with the bat which is boosted with 4 not out scores. He's had 21 innings, only passing 22 on two occasions with 1 fifty and has managed 3 ducks. And the even more alarming thing was that his glove work at Cardiff was poor, which included dropping Root on 0 which could well have been a game/series changer. Given Nevill's had two scores of 45+ in his three innings and his glove work hasn't been any worse, I can't see them going back, but I'm not a selector. As for Siddle being yesterday's man, coming into this series I agreed with you 100%. However our bowlers are struggling to build any type of pressure and their consistency is off. This is where Siddle with his experience, line & length could be very useful. It would be a hard call either way as to who to leave out though. As we know, Starc can bowl some unplayable deliveries, however he's going at more then 4 an over for the series @ over 30 (average) and has only taken 5 wickets in the last 2 Test. While although Hazlewood's the leading wicket taker in the series, there just seems to be something off about him. Maybe as Grazman suggested, he's just had the wrong fields set, and that could be all he needs. So yes, there's grounds for Siddle to come in IMO, but there's equal argument for no change to that department, as we have taken 60/60 possible wickets. But I think S. March in for Voges with S. Marsh to bat at 4 and Clarke at 5 is something we all think is a good idea. And as for Nevill/Haddin, I'd be sticking with Nevill and hopefully Mitch Marsh can find some form with the bat. His bowling is pretty handy for mine.

Couldn't have said it any better myself grazman.

Agree with pretty much everything you say there TU. It is amazing that we're going to be down 1-2, I guess the only heartening thing to take away from what the first three tests has shown us is that the matches seem to be on our batsmen. Our bowling, although inconsistent, is good enough to deal with England's brittle batting, so it just comes down to how our batsmen can perform. So as yo said, Siddle in for one of Starc or Hazlewood to help provide some control and build more pressure. Shaun Marsh in for Voges, hopefully allowing Clarke to drop down the order. At least Nevill looks more likely to score some runs at 7 then what Haddin was.

Having said the above, the stats of the series so far actually suggest otherwise. Before the start of England's second innings, so far this series Starc has taken 11 wickets @ 31.55 with an economy rate of 4.08. On the other hand, Hazlewood's stats are much more respectable with 13 wickets @ 22.62 and an economy rate of 3.63. Selectors will have 5 days to ponder I guess.

Clarke puts a regulation catch off Bell down. Can this match get any worse....

He's been below par Mitchell Starc, I don't think anyone can dispute that. But the delivery that he just bowled to dismiss Cook is the reason why he's probably beyond being dropped and Hazlewood's the guy who may struggle to hold his spot.

Some good news for Australia at least: http://www.news.com.au/sport/cricket/the-ashes-2015-england-blow-as-jimmy-anderson-to-miss-trent-bridge-doubtful-for-the-oval/story-fndpt0dy-1227465403232

I need to pull myself up here. I have made multiple references to Edgbaston 1981, when in fact i was referring to Headingly 1981. My apologies.

Agreed. Cameron Bancroft Joe Burns Peter Handscomb Nic Maddinson & Marcus Stoinis These are five youg batsmen who are all potential players that will get chances over the coming years. I'm a really big fan of Handscomb, and Bancroft has also had a good year.

I'm hoping that if i keep saying Edgbaston 1981 enough times that Nevill & Starc can summon Botham & Willis like performances, get us about 150 in front and then roll England. I'm dreaming i know! Well i think Voges has played his last test and both Starc & Hazlewood will be in the gun due to their inconsistent bowling with Siddle to come in and potentially Cummins also? Will also be interesting to hear the latest on Anderson's side strain.