Macca

You're probably on the money again, WJ. Uncanny! Who knows what they'll do now in all honesty. The selectors are impossible to read.

Yeah, Chappelli can be a bit of a 'Back in my day' sort of commentator and writer. I remember once hearing that Keith Miller went into the Australian rooms and said something like "Don't worry about what I've written about you in tomorrow's paper, it's all for show". I've paraphrased it a bit, but that was the jist of it. By the way, would have loved to have seen Miller play. He must have been some sort of player ... Anyway, it's certainly a 'different' way of being dropped. And they used to say that it was harder to get out of the side than into it ! It could mean that Lyon, Maxwell, Smith and Doherty all play? 4 spinners! Hughes was going to be dropped but that may change. Strange days indeed ...

Big news on the eve of the 3rd Test .... on the surface of it, it does seem like a somewhat 'over the top' decision, but I guess that's the way of the modern sporting landscape ... Australian cricketers Shane Watson, Usman Khawaja, James Pattinson and Mitchell Johnson axed from third Test in Mohali

I agree but unfortunately flying in a couple of batsmen won't happen. Our top order look deficient against spin and it's hard to see anything changing in the next 2 Tests. India could play Ojha instead of their young opening bowler (Kumar) and it would make things even harder for us. Ravi Shastri described our top order as 'Sitting Ducks'. The obvious concern is our preparation for the Ashes. It will be a miracle if our top order is settled before the 1st Ashes Test. The conditions are vastly different but it would be nice to know that our top 4 had some solid runs behind them. Khawaja coming in and Clarke moving to number 4 (?) could alleviate a few of our issues. (although in an ideal world, I'd much rather Clarke bat at no.5, apart from when we're on spinning decks) Our top 7 in the next Test in India could read as follows Cowan Warner Khawaja Clarke Watson Henriques Wade/Haddin (depending on Wade's possible injury) (who knows what they'll do with the bowling) In England either Watson or Henriques should miss out and the one who stays could bat at no.6. (Watson has to bowl to stay in the side) Complicating all this, is that Watson is probably best suited as an opening batsman. Another batsman could come in and bat at no.4 or no.5 (depending on where Clarke bats). That other batsman could be Doolan, Burns or perhaps another young up and comer. Cowan and Warner aren't guarantees either but both those 2 are much better away from spinning decks. Khawaja has a nice technique but needs to learn how to convert his starts.

Some more classic Aussie rock from the 70's Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons with "Shape I'm In" and "Hit and Run" Macca 12.6 ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipqiMn965_c

From 'The Times of London' ... Shoddy England given lesson by New Zealand Beautiful !

What's the name of that French city ..... ????????

Bobby Hebb with .... "Sunny". "Sunny" has an interesting and quite tragic story behind it ... Sunny (the song) Macca's jazz 5.9

The experts (Vegas??) have the Lakers making the playoffs at the expense of Utah (based on strength of scheduling) That's gotta bring a smile to pantaloons face. I hope they get there. Not sure the Spurs or OKC would relish facing L.A straight up but either series would be definitely worth looking at. C'mon Lakers Meanwhile, over in the East, the Heat are on a 15 game winning streak. They look in Championship form don't they? Wade had a big night against the Timberwolves the other night. LeBron is just sublime.

If you look at it closely, we've sent some great teams to India who couldn't get it done. The conditions are probably the harshest for our team in some ways. You need to able to play spin really well on spinning decks, and you need good spinners in your team to have any chance. England defeated India 2-1 in Nov/Dec but they have 2 world class spinners in Swann and Panesar. England in England will be a different story but our batsmen will need to fire. We're screaming out for a young gun batsmen. Greg Chappell, Border, S.Waugh, Ponting, Clarke - who's next?

Is this thread still going TD? The fun was in the picking. More than half my team are either injured, out of form, have never played Test cricket, can't get a game or verging on retirement. (still a great team though )

The brutal truth is that we haven't got enough very good or great players. Clarke is our only great player. Pattinson, Cummins and Starc could be very good or better but that's it. The rest haven't shown enough. The selectors just need to keep giving new players a go until we start unearthing a few gems. It used to be that a new player was given a couple of Tests to show something and I still believe that tried and true method is the best way. We need an all rounder in the team so it's Watson, Henriques or Maxwell - but only one of them should play. I don't believe giving a player an extended run is necessarily the answer although I think in some cases it's warranted. (especially if that player has very good technique or has a bit of an X factor) As a general rule I reckon it's good to keep a player hungry and gifting players with games is fraught with danger. What's wrong with a player being under pressure to keep his spot? That pressure can bring the best out of people. We're not restricted with lists like we are in footy and other sports. They can pluck a player from anywhere and we've sometimes done that with some success. Warne, Walters, Ponting, Clarke and many other players were picked when they were very young. Often these young players had not had a huge amount of 1st class experience or were hugely successful at Shield level. A lot will point at Mr Cricket and the fact that he was 30 years old when he debuted. My counter argument is that he could have been played from the age of 22 or 23. We had a fairly good batting line-up that stopped this from happening but he could have had a 16-17 year career. If a young player is at or just below the level of a veteran then I'd pick the young player. There are a number of young players in Shield ranks that might be worth a punt. Doolan, Keath, Maddinson, Handscomb and Burns are possibilities. Khawaja will get his chance in India you'd reckon. Our fast bowling is not a major problem although we need to manage them well. Hopefully Ahmed can solve our spinning woes. Let's face it, only one spinner is usually needed. Wade is probably safe for now but Paine is an excellent gloveman (and he can bat)

At least our fast bowling stocks still look promising All we can hope for is that the team pulls out all stops in the next 2 Tests. A few of the batsmen will get 2 more Tests to prove themselves and make amends. The only batsman who could come into the team is Khawaja (although Smith might be given a chance) It's fair enough given the circumstances. I wonder if he'll go as high as 3? Our top 4 are really struggling and when you consider that the 1st drop is most probably going to be confronted with spin then he could jump 2 spots. Happy to change my mind on that one. Not entirely sure about England though. Maybe no.4 ? It will be a miracle if we've sorted out our batting before the 1st Ashes Test.

England would be looking at our top order right now and trying to figure a way to play Swann and Panesar in the same team. They could possibly get away with batting Broad and Swann at 7 and 8. Our top order looks all at sea against spin. Watson can only justify his spot if he bowls and is best suited as an opening batsman. Cowan and Hughes don't look to be good enough right now and Warner seems to have a real weakness against spin bowling. Moving Clarke isn't going to solve our batting woes. They could move him to no.4 for the last 2 Tests in India but I'd favour him going back to no.5 for the Ashes. Our overall batting is sub par and we need to address the issue as soon as possible.

Maxwell bowled ok as the back-up spinner but batting him at no.8 is far too low for a bloke who has batted as high as no.4 in 1st class cricket. They should have played Lyon and if they wanted to play Maxwell as well, then one of the top order had to go to make room. They didn't bite the bullet and tried to be too cute. Doherty is not a big turner of the ball and doesn't bowl with a great deal of guile or flight. Ravi Shastri pointed out yesterday that Xavier doesn't get side on enough before and during his delivery stride. He made mention that his right shoulder is pointed towards fine leg instead of 1st slip whilst in his delivery motion. Ravi's conclusion was that Doherty wasn't putting enough body into turning the ball. It was a very good pick up and it does make you wonder. He's still young enough to fix this fault but maybe he's not even aware of it.

The brutal truth is we don't have enough good/great players ... Now only Clarke is world class. Patto and Cummins could be, but not sure on anyone else. I don't reckon this Indian side are that good either. They can't beat England or South Africa and they were terrible when they last toured here. (losing 0-4)

Ha ha! How sad is this - I actually looked up the world record 2nd wicket partnership last night ! It's set at 576 runs (Jayasuriya and Mahanama) Highest partnership for each wicket

You just about nailed it. Any chance of the Lotto numbers?

Good post, TD. You've put a lot of thought into it and there are a lot of ideas there that make sense. I reckon our 'future team' is where our best side lies. We need to keep giving our young players opportunities and hope they turn into stars. Give them a chance when they're young. We have good prospects in the fast bowling dept but we need to unearth a star spinner (Ahmed?) Leg spin is where we've traditionally been strong. Our own wickets don't favour finger spin as a general rule. Wade is a reasonable keeper/batsman though I still wouldn't rule out Tim Paine going forward. The chances are that Paine will get an opportunity at some stage. I like Wade but we should always be aiming at having our 'best' players in the team. It's our batting which is our main problem. Good young batsmen with excellent technique and patience are needed. You mentioned a few in your post and we need to bite the bullet and give a few of these young blokes a go. We've done it with our quicks and unearthed some excellent prospects. Sometimes greater responsibility and a higher standard can bring the best out of a cricketer (Clarke and Warne spring to mind) Our top order in India are really floundering. A good top order batsman should be able to play pace and spin very well. Clarke is our only batsman who can do that. The others can do it occasionally. If Watson bowls then he's a valuable member (although Henriques, Maxwell or possibly Mitchell Marsh can claim the all rounders spot) Warner can be a match winner but he worries me when he's facing spin.

I like this from the Heat ...

3 poor shots from Warner, Cowan and Watson. Ed misses a straight one again, Warner played a terrible shot and Watson tries to pull a ball that was always going to stay low. Need a rescue mission. Just as well we bat to 8! Siddle and Patto can bat as well - we're probably going to need them!

Great toss to win. If we had to bat last I would give us very little chance of winning. Lyon out is a surprise. Not sure many saw that coming. Maxwell is a good inclusion but batting at 8 ?! We bat deep but can we get 20 wickets? We'll need just about everything to go right for us to either level the series or draw the match.

The possibility that they're even contemplating using either Hughes or Khawaja to 'don the gloves' only highlights the selectors poor decision to not take a reserve keeper on the tour. A few on this thread made mention of this 'oversight' at the time. Wade's injury may not be that serious but that doesn't rule out the fact that it could be a serious injury. Good luck to Wade and I hope he can get through 5 hot days of fierce cricket with a fractured cheekbone.

Alex Smith to KC Well the Chiefs are making some moves. Giving up a 2nd round draft pick (and possibly another pick next year as well) sounds like a good decision on the surface of it.

Good news re Fawad Ahmed.(I still haven't seen him in action but have no reason to doubt all the talk about him) Always like to see a leggie in the Aussie side (esp in our conditions) Interesting that our best performed spinners have just about all been leg spinners. (O'Reilly, Grimmett. Benaud, Warne and MacGill) Love this stat regarding Clarrie Grimmett - in his last 3 Tests for Australia he took 33 wickets (10, 10 and 13). He turned 44 years of age during that last tour ... Australians in South Africa 1935/36 I take your point on board re Patto and the Ashes, but I'm with TD on this one. We have to go all out in this next Test. Lose the 2nd Test and we can't win the series. He bowled 33 overs all up in the 1st Test and probably shouldn't have been used on the 5th day. I know the Ashes is the 'biggie' in most people's eyes but I view the series' against England, India and South Africa as being of almost equal importance. Always great to beat them and hate losing to them - anytime. I'll admit that the Aussies winning the series in India this time around is a bit of a stretch but you can bet the team hasn't given up on their chances. If they rest Pattinson so be it, but that would mean that Siddle and/or Starc will play both the opening Tests. Siddle is probably more seasoned but not so sure on Starc. He's probably as much a risk as Patto. We could go into the next Test with our 4 frontline bowlers being Siddle, Johnson, Lyon and Doherty.