MadAsHell

Great 50 Phil Hughes, arguably one of your best innings! Now only 9 runs behind.

50 on debut, well done Ashton Agar! Reckon we've uncovered our very own Daniel Vettori! And well done Phil Hughes on your innings so far to. A very sensible and restrained innings that was needed at the time, unlike Brad Haddin's effort.....

They're called the GABBA & the WACA. Probably the two bounciest pitches in the world, there's a reason we almost never loose at either venue, no other teams can cope with the extra bounce.

Hughes & Agar 50 run partnership 50 run partnership for the final wicket and reduced England's lead to under 50 with Agar leading the charge! Well done boys! Lets now get a first innings lead! If Agar gets 50 I wonder if he'll be the first ever number 11 debutant to make a 50 on debut?

Agar smacks Graeme Swan over long off for six as he and Hughes try to rescue the innings!

A batsman, a batsman, my kingdom for a batsman!

Not wrong about our strong tail AOB. Agar, Siddle, Pattinson & Starc are all very capable with the bat, you could throw a blanket over them actually as far as who comes in from 8-11. Long term with the likes of Agar, Pattinson & Starc who are all still very young being so capable with the bat, it means after our home Ashes series that we could go old school with the keeper position again and pick the best gloveman available, which is probably Chris Hartley, however with a first class batting average of just over 30 seems destined to never get a look in as we all expect keepers to average 40+ these days. Haddin's been a good servant, however his glovework isn't that crash hot (neither was Wade's), and was dropped when his batting went off and was replaced by Wade who I have no doubt the selectors hoped would be a keeper that could average about 40, however he's found the going tough also. If we develop the worlds strongest batting tail, then we could just focus on the best gloveman around. Doesn't matter if he bats 7, 8 or 9 and look to crack down on any byes, dropped catches or missed stumpings that we ay otherwise see occasionally with an inferior gloveman.

Interesting article from Malcom Conn. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/brittle-aussie-batting-line-up-would-benefit-more-from-michael-clarke-dropping-back-to-five/story-e6frf7jo-1226677431551 Probably makes sense. If we moved Watto back to openning because that's where he plays his best, maybe Clarke should stay at 5? 2nd Innings with Hughes at 4 followed by Clarke & Smith? And he's probably righ about Cowan. I'd probably give him the first 2 tests, but if he fails Khawaja should probably come into calculations at number 3. Other options from outside the squad are probably Doolan, Burns and Ferguson.

Stumps Day 1 England 215 J. Trott 48 J. Bairstow 37 J. Root 30 P. Siddle 5/50 (14) J. Pattinson 3/69 (17) M. Starc 2/54 (17) Australia 4/75 S. Smith 38* C. Rogers 16 S. Watson 13 J. Anderson 2/25 (10) S. Finn 2/37 (8) Well not a good start for Cowan in his number 3 role with a golden and Clarke getting a globe also at 4. Pretty even you'd have to say and all in all I'm reasonably happy with where we're at. We've probably got the strongest tail of all time with all of Siddle, Starc, Pattinson & Agar more then capable with the bat. Fingers crossed we can manage to get to lead of at least 50 runs for a bit of a psychological edge. If we can leave ourselves chasing an amount under 300 I reckon we're a real shot! Big first session of Day 2 coming up!

Tea Day 1 England 6/185 J. Trott 48 J. Bairstow 32* J. Root 30 P. Siddle 5/50 (14) J. Pattinson 1/51 (13) Great sessions by Australia and especially Siddle there taking all of our 4 wickets. Fingers crossed we can knock Bairstow over early in the next session and bowl England out for under 250. That's it for me for the night, decided I'll only go the full night on friday & saturday nights. Hopefully I'll hear good news when I turn SEN on in the morning.

Siddle again! Gets Bell and that's 4 of our 5 wickets. To think this guy nearly didn't play in this test... Edit: Make that 5 of our 6 and that's Prior gone! England 6 down for less then 200 before tea, lets roll them for under 250 Aussies. Siddle for 8!

Siddle you little ripper! two wickets in the first hour after lunch, Pietersen & Trott. Thanks god we didn't play Bird!!!

Also thought I'd mention that I feel for Nathan Lyon. His form in the warm ups was solid and he did reasonably well over in India. Could still possibly play a role this series if Agar struggles or as a 2nd spinner at The Oval which does spin a bit.

Lunch Day 1 England 2/98 J. Trott 37* J. Root 30 A. Cook 13 P. Siddle 1/28 (5 overs) J. Pattinson 1/31 (9) Evenly balanced at lunch. Trott's looking good and Pattinson and Starc have both bowled well. Glad Siddle got the wicket of Root as his first 4 overs were very ordinary and I was thinking I wish Bird was playing. Agar looks a likely type, tall left arm spiner with a bit of bounce and grip. 0/8 off 3 overs and as another poster mentioned, seemed to worry Trott more then any of our seamers. First ball in test cricket was a full toss that went for 4 but steadied after that. Here's hoping for at least 3 wickets in the next session!

As mentioned Banfield is one that could be looked at by way of a delisted free agent (like how we got Gillies), others who could fill that role and be recruited a similar way as they seem to be out of favour with their clubs are Robin Nahas or Leroy Jetta, both have shown an ability to rotate through the midfield.

Care to elaborate rjay? Was that no to Banfield, Michaliades or both? Reckon they both have the ability to roatet through the midfield playing bursts on a wing if needed.

You're spot on about Saad. With Milne and Schneider both gone at years end he'll be starting forward pocket there. As for Warren, as the you said he's more a lead up forward then crumbing forward, not the right fit for us. If we're going to target a small crumbing forward in he VFL Chris Michaliades with Sandringham Zebras is the man for us IMO. As mentioned in the OP, you'd think one of Garlett, Yarran or Betts would be possible to shake free especially if we offered Fitzpatrick who you'd think they'd be very keen on. But cost would be to much I reckon. I'd love to keep Fitzy as insurance for Mitch but that may be selling Fitzy's career short. Anyway if we were to trade Fitzy I'd rather it be for a good young midfielder like Taylor Adams, Mitch Hallahan, Leroy Jetta or George Horlin-Smith.

Looks about right Macca. Although I feel Bird would suit the conditions down to a tee, fact of the matter is, Siddle has the runs on the board, Starc should play given Cook (our biggest target) looks to have a bit of a weakness against the left handers and Pattnson's our most dangerous bowler. As for Warner he clearly is in our best team and the no 6 position should suit him I reckon. Me to Jazza, just one more night to go! I've stocked up on the ice coffee's and coke zeros to get me through the 5 nights. No coffee due to the the noise the boiling kettle will make and my sleeping 10 month old in the other room. I've also worded my work colleagues up that I'll be not much use Thursday & Friday and next Monday due to the cricket so I'm set to go! It does make you wonder, despite the change in coaches, how the likes of Watson, Pattinson & Khawaja (especially Khawaja as he'll miss out for Warner) will feel if Warner's allowed to play when they missed a test for much less. Fingers crossed the noises about the team being much closer now are true and we can move forward! On another note though what are people hoping to see on Day 1? We bat first and bat out the day making 300 odd with the loss of no more then 5 wickets? Or we bowl first and knock them over for less then 200 and get to stumps 1 or 0 down for somewhere between 50-100? Both would be ideal starts to the series.

Wonder how Smith, Khawaja and Faulkner feel if he does play as they're the three that will likely miss out if Warner gets the no 6 spot. I reckon Cowan will get first crack at 3.

Final days play effected by rain. Worcestershire 2nd Innings 5/274 Faulkner 2/21 (17 overs) Harris 2/60 (19) Agar 1/86 (27) Didn't get the result which is disapointing but a good hit out all the same. Harris, Bird & Faulkner all took 4 wickets for the match each and Agar 3 so we're probably no closer to seeing who gets the final bowlers spot. Rock, paper, scissors championship between Harris, Bird, Siddle & Faulkner maybe to determine?

Stumps Day 3 Australia 4/396dec Watson 109 Rogers 75 Smith 68* Clarke 62 Cowan 58 Hughes 19* Worcestershire 284 Bird 4/48 (25 overs) Faulkner 2/57 (14.1) Harris 2/65 (21) Agar 2/79 (23) Australia 5/344dec Clarke 124 Hughes 86 Smith 43 Cowan 34 Rogers 26 Agar 10* Faulkner 7* Watson DNB Worcestershire 1/64 Agar 1/16 (7) If it wasn't certain before then it certainly is now that Hughes is a lock to play the first test. Harris getting a couple of wickets to wrap the innings up also keep him in contention for the final qucik bowling spot with Bird & Siddle. Then there's the big question of who will bat at first drop and at 6 out of Cowan, Smith, Khawaja, Faulkner (allrounder) and of course Warner? Anyone elses guess is as good as mine!

Very true. Australia ended up making 4/396dec Watson 109 Rogers 75 Smith 68* Clarke 62 Cowan 58 Hughes 19* Worcestershire currently 7/246 Bird 4/38 from 20 overs! Agar 2/79 Faulkner 1/55 Both Smith & Bird putting their hands up for a birth in the 1st test! Smith to bat at 6 with one of Cowan or Khawaja to bat at 3 and Bird as the 3rd quick after Pattinson & Starc to bowl into the breeze???

And that's stumps on Day 1! http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2013/engine/match/566929.html Watson 109 Rogers 75 Clarke 62 Cowan 58 Smith 21* Hughes 10* Good to see us hitting some form leading into the Ashes, all be it again weak opposition. The big thing to look forward to on Day 2 is the battle of Bird & Harris with the ball to see if either of them can put pressure on Siddle for the 3rd bowlers spot?

Wish someone could rread the minds of the selectors Macca, would be amazing to see how they justify some of their decisions. I agree re: Warner, will be very tough to justify his selection. My gut for the first test XI is telling me it might be along the lines of: Rogers Watson Cowan Clarke* Hughes Khawaja +Haddin Siddle Starc Pattinson Lyon With both Harris & Bird stiff to miss out. I know Jazza you're keen for a 4 pronged pace attack, but I doubt the selectors will go that way, but who on earth knows???

For me the big questions that will determine our XI for he 1st Test will be: 1. Does Warner play despite not playing any warm up games? 2. With Watson now openning, does he still play as a genuine allrounder? Or does that mesn that we have to consider Faulkner? 3. What's more valuable in England, a genuine into the breeze bowler like Bird, or do we get Siddle to play that role and look for either the strike power of Harris or variation of Starc? 4. With Hughes seemingly having secured his starting spot with two 50's, who's ahead for the other spot, Cowan or Khawaja? None of those questions are easy to answer IMO.