Macca

There's talk that they might rest Pattinson. In such a vital Test? Second Test selection has Australian cricket in a spin

In that article O'Keefe is described as a 'Chirpy, confident lad not afraid to speak his mind' . What's happened to Australian cricket when that's somehow a problem?! I thought that attitude was a bit of a pre-requisite I've seen him bowl in some of the limited overs stuff and he looks a bit of a cricketer. Anyway, we'll find out soon enough. Good point Rogue, for some of the batsmen, time in the middle is very important. We're quite an inexperienced side when you look at it. I reckon a tour of India could toughen a few of the players up. It's hard yakka. Still got a bit of time for Lyon and I see him as our best off spinning option. He'll have learnt a lot from the 1st Test and hopefully bowls better in the 2nd Test.

Yeah, a bit like our 'best eleven' teams TD . Lots of options I heard today that Bird is flying home after sustaining a back injury - bad luck for the bloke and lets hope it's nothing major. Any news on his replacement (if any)? Surely they'll send another spinner over there. If Beer, Holland or O'Keefe are fit then we should send one of them over there - 'quick smart'. Like the make up of that eleven. Moises could hold down the no.4 for now - very impressive young cricketer. He'll most probably be facing spin when he goes in to bat anyway. The other option is for Clarke to go up to no.4 for these Tests only. Henriques could bat at no.5 if that happens. Watson is best suited to opening.

I agree with a lot of your summation TD, but I'd bite the bullet and make a few changes now. After looking at things overnight I reckon that we have to do something with the top order. Khawaja has a good technique to handle spin and I'd have him in. Also would find a spot for Maxwell, mainly because he gives the team another spinning option. Henriques had a terrific debut and even after one Test I reckon he could bat higher on the list. He didn't seem to be in any trouble at all and Gavaskar and Shastri gave him a good rap. I reckon we've found a cricketer there. Doherty is probably a certainty and Johnson might come in as well. Can't see them making 4 changes but maybe 3 (?) We have to assume that there will be a result in the next Test and we don't want to be 2 - 0 down.

Well, there's always a chance of an 'unseasonal' monsoon, TD. We may just escape yet. What we do know is that in the next Test, we'll probably be presented with another spinning track that is devoid of grass. Reality has set in for me. India are just so hard to beat at home. Ojha is waiting in the wings for them whilst we've got Xavier. This is where rotations can get tricky now that we're 1-0 down (barring a miracle). We really have to win the next Test. Patto has to stay. Siddle and Stark could be rested which would allow Doherty and Johnson or Bird to come in. I'd also bring in Maxwell in place of one of the batsman. None of our top order looked particularly comfortable although Warner was the best performed. We need as many bowling options as possible and Maxwell provides another badly needed spinning option. Khawaja has claims as well. His selection wouldn't surprise. It's difficult to hold your ground over there - it's now or never in a lot of ways. In this Test our batting and bowling hasn't been up to scratch.

Very handy late pick up for your 'best eleven' team HT He's shown a lot of fight and has a reasonably good technique. I like him as a cricketer. We'll need that extra seamer in England. Impressive debut and looks to have a bright future.

Fair enough, our sides are eerily similar 'TD' ... don't know what I was thinking with the 'Caro' comparison - I blame the heat. My thinking on the 2nd spinner came about when I came to the realisation that my 3rd choice seamer was not going to be a topliner. It also then meant that I needed a batsman who could bowl medium pace. Pollard was picked as a back-up for Watson (who will hopefully bowl again in Test cricket at some stage) In the end, having a 2nd spinner is not such a left field option. By the way, your series prediction re the India tour might be right on the money. My 'optimistic' prediction is looking very optimistic right now.

Tough batting conditions now for our blokes. We may as well try and smack a few. Trying to survive against these 3 spinners on this track is darn near impossible.

Ha ha ha ! Good comeback (I think) I hope you're joking re Scarlett but of course beauty does lie with the beholder It's funny how we view things - I try not to be too biased with anything. As I said, if I were to critique your team I would concentrate on your best 6 - 8 players and largely disregard your worst 3 - 4 players. You 'glossed over' my best players far too quickly and your view was far too biased. Your view shouldn't be in 'opposition' to my view. You have no need to square the ledger. Your view of my team was not fair and balanced (have you been reading too much of Caro?) . You could have written paragraphs on Prior, Smith, Amla, Vettori, Ajmal and Watson but conveniently chose not to. Are you telling me that Zaheer is not a very good bowler? That Bresnan hasn't got very good all round skills? I am by no means saying my team is the best team - that's up to Nasher to decide. But as I said in an earlier post, to concentrate on the last 3 or 4 players picked is wrong in my opinion. It's like the footy argument - do you want depth or do you want stars? Give me 'stars' any day of the week.

Watto opens the batting ... And they open with 2 'offies' . Ball is turning big time - good luck Aussies

asap ! And then get him on a big bird - straight to India

I'll admit that Zaheer is coming to the end but don't be surprised if he bobs up in the next test or 2. His record is very good when you consider he's played a large percentage of his Tests on spinning tracks. Under rated bowler in my eyes. Bresnan is still only 27 years old and I really rate him (especially on seaming decks) He's got an injury issue right now but that is the domain of fast bowlers - they generally all get injured at some stage of their careers. Plus, he can bat. Anyway ...... I reckon most of us would agree that South Africa are the best team in the world right now. But they are not the perfect team. Their spinner (Robin Peterson) is ok but no world beater. Kleinvelt, Alviro Petersen, Elgar, du Plessis and Abbott are just starting out and are not superstars of the game by any stretch of the imagination. (both Morkel and Kallis didn't play in the just completed Test, but that still leaves 4 players who aren't 'great' players) And South Africa are clearly the no.1 team in the world in my opinion. I believe that all our teams are very good. It was always going to be impossible to have 11 top liners. 6, 7 or 8 really good players is the best that any of us could have hoped for. To highlight the worst 3 or 4 players in a team is not the way I'd look at it. If your team is going to be a great team it will depend on your best 7 or 8 players. The matchwinners. Smith, Amla, Kallis, AB de Villiers, Steyn, Morkel and Philander are all very good/great players. Sounds harsh, but the rest of their team pales in comparison. du Plessis looks the goods but it's still early doors with that bloke.

Mate, I reckon you'd find fault with Scarlett Johansson. Do you worry about getting worried? Had no idea we were playing for a sheep station. You're the same bloke who genuinely thought the Australian team would only win 1 gold medal at the London Olympics! How's that battery of fast bowlers working out for you in India by the way? But seriously, all the teams have some weaknesses. Your team included. All things considered, I reckon all the participants have done exceedingly well. There's 88 players in the pool so there is going to be question marks over at least 20 or 30 players - stands to reason. Your revisionist stuff is all too predictable - you're not telling us anything we didn't already know. By the way, you've critiqued my side but have highlighted the perceived weaknesses whilst conveniently downplaying my strengths. A one-sided view with the aim of pumping up your own tyres. I'd critique your team but I'd have to be more fair minded. (though how you can compare your 'newboy' spinners with my 2 is beyond comprehension) One gold medal ! Now there's a bit of 'group think' gone horribly wrong

Yep, I reckon we can expect 3 more tracks like the one we're playing on. I know it's patently obvious but their strength is their spin bowling and their batsman's ability to play spin. Our weaknesses are the opposite of their strengths. We don't play spin all that well and our spin bowling is not good. It's gonna be a tough tour. We might have to play Doherty in the next Tests - I wish him well if that's the case. As pointed out by Gavaskar and Shastri - Lyon bowled too short. Their batsmen just picked him off down backward of square on a constant basis. He wasn't able to keep their batsmen on strike. Hopefully he'll learn a lot from today. Warnie's up in the commentary box - maybe they can ask him if he brought his 'whites'

First and foremost, I would like to congratulate everyone else on their teams. It's going to be a tough job for Nasher to decide the best team. All the teams have strengths in different areas. Well played gentlemen and may the better team win. Also, thanks to H_T for running the comp. It's been a lot of fun and I hope we do it again. The time it took never bothered me and in fact, it gave me a bit more time to reflect on the make up of all the teams. Now, to my team ... this eleven I have selected would be hard to beat in all conditions. Plenty of variation in the bowling and my team bats deep with Vettori and Bresnan at 8 and 9 reflecting this. On a spinning deck my team would be hard to handle. With 2 frontliners (Ajmal and Vettori) and 2 back-up spinners I challenge any of the other teams to rack up a decent score against my 'Spin Wizards'. On a seaming deck I have 2 quality fast medium bowlers (Zaheer and Bresnan) with good back up from Watson and Pollard. I have the arguably the best Captain in World cricket in Graeme Smith with Daniel Vettori as his able lieutenant. To accompany Smith at the top of the order I have Shane Watson. Watto is best suited as an opening batsman and I do like a left and right hand combination to start the innings. My no.3 batsman (Amla) is the best in World cricket. Samaraweera gives me good depth in the top order coming in at no.4 (averages 48.76) . I have a hard hitting middle order with Yuvraj able to turn a game on it's head and Pollard would be under instruction to 'go for it' ! My 7, 8 and 9 is a 'Dreamteam' tail. Prior is good enough to bat at 6 and Vettori has made 6 Test centuries and 23 fifty's. Bresnan has got a very good technique for a no.9 and averages over 30 with the bat. My team in batting order ... 1 Graeme Smith (Capt) 8748 runs @ 48.87 ... 157 catches 2 Shane Watson 2482 runs @ 37.02 ... 62 wickets @ 30.06 ... 25 catches 3 Hashim Amla 5693 runs @ 51.75 ... 58 catches 4 Thilan Samaraweera 5462 runs @ 48.76 ... 15 wckts @ 45.93 (right arm off-breaks) ... 45 catches 5 Yuvraj Singh 1900 runs @ 33.92 ... 9 wckts @ 60.77 (slow left arm orthodox) ... 31 catches 6 Kieron Pollard (yet to play Test cricket) 7 Matt Prior 3326 runs @ 43.19 ... 173 catches, 13 stumpings 8 Daniel Vettori (Vice-Capt) 4516 runs @ 30.10 ... 360 wckts @ 34.42 ... 58 catches 9 Tim Bresnan 438 runs @ 31.28 ... 57 wckts @ 32.54 ... 7 catches 10 Zaheer Khan 295 wckts @ 32.35 ... 1146 runs @ 11.81 ... 19 catches 11 Saeed Ajmal 133 wckts @ 27.03 ... 287 runs @ 11.03 ... 8 catches

Now we're gonna have to bat to save the game. 6 lefties in the top 6. Ashwin and Harby will be itching to get at us. This has been some sort of knock from Dhoni

This track is stone dead. Although you wouldn't want to be facing any sort of bowling on this pitch when the match gets into it's 5th day. Ball is grubbing a bit. The ball is barely reaching Wade on the full from the quicks. Clarke's bowling could be handy today and Lyon needs to get amongst it. As ya said, we just need one wicket. Edit : we got that wicket but it's been India's session so far.

Interesting words from Pattinson overnight. I have no real issue with what he said.(though he wouldn't want to do it all the time) He's an aggressive, young fast bowler who is just speaking his mind. In another article he mentioned that he wanted to bowl more (yesterday). For what it's worth, I like the way that Clarke is keeping Pattinson fresh. It's no good having all your bowlers spent as the innings progresses. These Test matches in India are nearly always 'marathon affairs'. ... Should have bounced Sachin, says Pattinson

Pup's handling your bloke well. Keeping the big gun fresh . Patto bowls his 3rd victim.

I don't mind . It'll give half my blokes a chance to either regain some form or overcome injury. Pollard could make his Test debut, Watto will be rolling his arm over and Zaheer and Yuvraj will be back in the Indian team !!! Do you wanna make that a couple of months, Django ?!!

Big Patto gets things going ... good pace Need to get Sehwag early.

Good point re the Windies 'TD'. Suppose with Johnno and Bird waiting in the wings we can just let the quicks go for it. I wonder if they've gone through the process of working out their attack's for all the Tests? If they've done this they will need to factor in a bit of flexibility. Remembering that the 2nd Test follows on from this Test after just a 3 day break. Looking forward to today's play. Tactically, the Tests played in India are fascinating. I don't mind 'turning' tracks at all. Brings so many other aspects of the game into play - none the least being the ability of batsmen to use their feet. Clarke looked terrific late last night with his feet movement. Lyon has a real opportunity to make a mark in these Tests. We need him to play a part. I remember Michael Kasprovich played a strong role in 2 tours of India. Big lion hearted bowler who kept charging in - Siddle and Patto are in that mould. Starc provides good variation and has a bit of x factor.

Had forgotten about Ryder ... he can certainly hit the ball. The last 2 rounds hasn't been as tricky as I thought. With so much cricket being played over the 3 forms of the game, there is a reasonable amount of depth I've had my eye on Pollard for quite some time. The depth in batting in my tail allowed me to have a bit of freedom with the no.6 bat. Plus, you've got to have the bowling capacity to get 20 wickets and Pollard is more than handy with the ball. Think I've got 8 bowlers in my side

Need a hard hitting no.6 who can bowl decent medium fast. Someone with a touch of 'Grinter' about himself The bloke I'm picking can have a 'licence to thrill' as my tail bats deep (Prior, Vettori, Bresnan). This fella is only 25 years old and is a very good outfielder who (arguably) took the catch of the summer. Hasn't played Test cricket yet but according to that doyen of cricket writers, Tony Cosier, it's "Time to check Pollard's red-ball value" Round 11, pick 85 Kieron Pollard (West Indies)

Didn't get to see much either but heard that Clarke was in complete control again. His batting has gone into overdrive since he assumed the captaincy. Great to see. From what little I saw, Henriques didn't look out of place and he spoke very well and succinctly after the days play. I can see him snaring a wicket or 2 when he gets the ball in hand. He's a confident young bloke! Evenly poised but we need to get to 400+ to give ourselves a reasonable chance. Hoping that 'TD's forecast of our quicks coming through with the goods happens. Pup's spin could be handy as well (to back up Lyon) . That is of course if his back holds up.