MadAsHell

You're right Macca, and we have a game on our hands, Faulkner in at 3! Reckon Clarke will play it as it comes a bit. We'll probably bat for a minimum of 15, maximum of 25 overs. Which will give us anywhere from 40-50 overs to bowl at them. Obviously the more overs we have the better chance we have of taking 10 wickets, but we'll need to make sure we set them a reasonable run rate chase and don;t just hand them a victory. We'll probably be looking for a run rate chase of min 4.5 runs an over to 5.5 runs an over, so it will be dictated by the rate we can score at. The question will be how will England respond. Knowing Cook they'll shut up shop to begin with which is poor IMO. I mean Warner and Watson hot a few boundaries and after 7 overs he had men back on the ropes on either side. So, so negative!

Spot on about Faulkner's game. He's certainly one to watch for the future and with our injury concerns with our quicks he's a handy player to have available. I don't expect to see him at the GABBA but time will tell I guess.

Change of innings. Australia 9/492 dec S. Watson 176 S. Smith 138* R. Harris 33 J. Anderson 4/95 (29.5) G. Swann 2/95 (33) C. Woakes 1/96 (24) England 377 J. Root 68 K. Pietersen 50 M. Prior 47 J. Faulkner 4/51 (19.4) M. Starc 3/92 (33) R. Harris 2/64 (28) 115 in front and by dismissing England for 377 we ensure England haven't made 400 in an innings for the whole series while we've done it twice! Now for the Aussies to go out there and bat for 15 overs, declare and set England a target off 50 overs. If Warner and Watson tee off and we go at 8 runs an over T20 style and make 120 off the 15 overs, that would set England 236 off 50 overs. Game on and they'll be given plenty if they don't even attempt the chase.

And since saying that he's dropped an absolute sitter! And I'm also disapointed to see England haven't declared yet. Will need to take these next 2 wickets quick as this time will have to come out of our 20 overs...

And back onto the topic of team selection for the GABBA I found an interesting comment in this article from Malcom Conn: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/cricket/while-there-have-been-good-signs-australia-have-fallen-short-when-it-mattered-writes-malcolm-conn/story-fni2usfi-1226703539707 'There will be changes for the summer. Keep an eye on Adam Voges.' You wouldn't have thought Conn would just name Voges willy nilly. Could we see him at 5 and Smith at 6 which I think suits Smith better for the GABBA? Wouldn't be totally against Voges. Also bowls some handy part time left arm spin.

77 overs left in the day. I'm still hoping my vision of this match comes true and England declare after 3 more overs after lunch. We then bat a 20 over innings and set England a target to win off 50 overs? Hadn't realised he'd been that good with the gloves. Safe as houses for the GABBA.

Lunch Day 5 Australia 9/492 S. Watson 176 S. Smith 138* R. Harris 33 J. Anderson 4/95 (29.5) G. Swann 2/95 (33) C. Woakes 1/96 (24) England 7/350 J. Root 68 K. Pietersen 50 I. Bell 45 M. Starc 3/92 (33) R. Harris 2/64 (28) J. Faulkner 1/40 (16)

Stumps Day 4 Australia 9/492 S. Watson 176 S. Smith 138* R. Harris 33 J. Anderson 4/95 (29.5) G. Swann 2/95 (33) C. Woakes 1/96 (24) England 4/247 J. Root 68 K. Pietersen 50 J. Trott 40 M. Starc 2/60 (26) N. Lyon 1/41 (26) R. Harris 1/41 (23) Rain and negative cricket from England have ruined what was looking a good test for Australia. England going at 2.12 runs an over but still stating they were looking to win the test is an absolute joke! It's why they'll never be as good as we used to be back in the Days of Taylor & Waugh as captain and the positive cricket they had us playing no matter the position we were in. Only way we could push for a result from here would be with a gentlemen's agreement with the English. 98 overs will be expected for the day to help make up for some time. First 24 overs for England to bat to avoid the follow on. Say they go at a normal rate of about 3 an over would take them up to about 320 and about 170 behind. England declare, take the 2 overs off for change over and there would be 72 overs remaining. Australia go out and bat for 20 overs at a rate of 4-5 an over taking our lead to somewhere in the ball park of 250-270. Australia declare, take the 2 overs off for change over and there would be 50 overs remaining. End of the match could then become like a ODI as England need 250-270 to win off 50 overs. In the spirit of the contest don't bowl any of our bowlers for more then 10 overs each and play it old school by not having anymore then 2 fielders outside where the circled area would be for the first 15 overs. Won't happen, but it would be great for the spectators and great for test cricket!

And in other news, another Australian fast bowler is injured! http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2013/content/story/664283.html For the GABBA test the 3 seamers will probably be Harris, Siddle & Starc as there won't be any others fit available! And you know it's only a matter of time before Harris goes again....

Haha, not wrong Macca, he's certainly proved me wrong and good on him I say! He was out of my XI also, as was Smith! You make some good points re: Faullner RR and I can see where you're coming from. I think what it will come down to with Faulkner, apart from his performances obviously is what they decide to do with Watson? Obviosuly Watto hasn't bowled yet in this test. So going forward will the selectors now look to play Watson as a specialist batsman only at number 3 and instruct Clarke only to bowl him as a partnership breaker for no more then about 6-10 overs an innings, for example Steve Waugh's medium pacers in the 2nd half of his career. If that is the case then there may be a potential spot for an all rounder still in Faulkner. This would require him to average at least around 35 with the bat though you'd think and the same would be required of Haddin or whoever the keeper is at number 6. If would also require to top 5 to be averaging over 40 each like the good old days to still give you a solid batting line up. If this isn't the case and they still wish Watto to play as an all rounder while batting at 3 then I agree, the side does look unbalanced and you'd like to see them get another specialist batsman in so they and Smith can hold down 5 and 6, whether that's Maddinson or whoever? As for the state of the match a good days play by the Aussies and at least it now looks extremely unlikely that we'll loose 4-0. Sorry Beefy Botham! Well done to both Watto and Smith who before this match I said were playing for their careers and I expected to both be playing their final tests. Fingers crossed we can knock England over for under 320 by stumps day 3, go out and make a quick 250 and set them 420 in 4 sessions and then push for victory. Back onto England however, pretty ordinary I say that Kerrigan wasn't even given the opportunity to come out on Day 2 and attempt to bounce back from the previous day. Even if he was only given 1 or 2 overs and if he still looked ordinary then drag him. The guys been picked as a specialist bowler and to not even get a chance to redeem himself was pretty ordinary I thought, but that's just me.

Stumps Day 1 Australia 4/307 S. Watson 176 S. Smith 66* C. Rogers 23 J. Anderson 2/52 (18) G. Swann 1/71 (30) S. Broad 1/73 (19) Great day for the Aussies, especially Watson & Smith who were playing for their careers heading into this test. You'd think they've assured themselves spots for the GABBA test now and Watson has scored the dreaded number 3 role for some time. The only other question that would need answering is will we keep playing Faulkner and just have Watto as a specialist batsman. Or will Faulkner make way after this test for a batsman down the order and Watto play as the all rounder at 3? But a great knock from him, especially given the heavy hit he copped from Broad. A fine innings from Smith also and a crucial gritty 23 from Rogersd off 100 deliveries to blunt the new ball. With Rogers falling to Swann once more however, I wonder if in the time between this test and the GABBA whether he should do a Matty Hayden and develop a sweep shot to make sure he doesn't get tied down by Swann and can rotate the strike a bit more like Hayden did against Harbajan all those years ago? As for England young Kerrigan looked right out of his depth. I think Woakes will be an ok player and I can understand why they've played him, just under other circumstances they would have played Monty ahead of Kerrigan if not for the bouncer incident and their team balance wouldn't of looked so bad. The Oval always spins, but I thik that was the worst bowling I've seen from a debutant since Scott Muller made his test debut.

Faulkner to debut and Watson to bat at 3 as the batting reshuffling continues! http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2013/content/current/story/663717.html Looks like Khawaja, Hughes and Cowan will be out of the XI for some time if Watson has scored a role as a specialist batsman ahead of them given his current form. Probably a good thing. You'd think this test will be last chance for both Watson & Smith to impress. I'm looking forward to watching Faulkner play, I have high hopes for this guy. If he and Haddin can get a combined batting average of around 70-75, then they could hold down the number 6 and 7 slots. If not we'll be a batsman short and a hard call will need to be made on one of them at some point. He's a very good bowler though which will be a real plus!

We now have the Robson rule! http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/current/story/662815.html Great news, and it means we may get to see promising players Sam Robson, Sam Hain and the experienced Phil Jacques & Michael Hogan back playing Shield cricket which can only be a good thing for our FC comp. Amazing really, if Robson has a decent start to the Shield season he could find himself playing for a Country he wasn't even allowed to play First Class cricket in within 3 and a half months.

Very well put RR and I can't really argue with any of your points. Change is needed in a few other areas before the keepers spot. I guess it will just be a case of do they look to making a sweep of changes all at once or stagger them at areas of what's needed most urgently.

Very glad to see CA being pro-active in trying to lure Robson home http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/returning-robson-a-grand-plan-20130815-2rzlv.html This guy along with Nic Maddinson & Jordan Silk could be the future of our top 3 putting an end to the disapointment of Phil Hughes and Usman Khawaja. Here's his stats: http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/272485.html

While his keeping has improved since the time he was dropped after our home series v India a couple of years ago, his work with the gloves still has some question marks on it for me. In between some of those great catches he lets a lot of byes go as we saw at Lords. As for his work with the bat he's averaging under 30 for the series and outside those two 50's he hasn't done anything with the bat and has been one of the middle wickets to fall in our batting collapses when we've needed players to stand up. First Innings at Trent Bridge, 2nd Innings at Durham and also lost his wicket at a crucial time in the 1st Innings at Durham when we needed him to see out the first 5 overs of the morning before England took the new ball so our tail was protected and we could have pushed for a bigger 1st Innings lead. Haddin isn't getting any younger, his batting isn't strong enough to demand a spot and he isn't the best gloveman in the country either. While I'm keen for Wade to be given a shot for this final test, I'd be looking at Paine long term come the time of the GABBA test. The one thing on our side is that we haven't lost a Test at the GABBA since the 1980's I think it is and England haven't won at the WACA since God knows how long. They're 2 of the first 3 tests if I believe? If we can get some rain at Adelaide (Englands record is good there, and it's a good wicket for the offspindder, Swann) then by the time Boxing Day comes around we could be 1-0 or 2-0 up if things fall our way? That's what I'm hoping for anyway Macca.

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/

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.

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!