- Mar 20, 2007
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Or get rid of it all together?
Australia Test squad - 2015
- Thread starter Sweet Jesus
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I am really, really struggling to pick a squad for this. None of the batting fills me with confidence, and even the bowling for those conditions is hard to come up with anything worthwhile. I don't want to pick Johnson, there is nothing for him in Bangladesh, but might be forced into it.
Pattinson would be first picked if he had more cricket behind him. As it is, I'm leaving him out. If he stays fit he plays at the Gabba.
I'd rather not have Smith at #3, but who else is there.
I have one spinner in the first eleven, despite the conditions. The gap between the available quicks and the available spinners is simply that big.
I'm going to have tom come back and fill in the gaps:
??????? batsman, not Lynn, I think he needs to start somewhere with more pace in the deck. Khawaja ????
O'Keefe
??????? Coulter-Nile, I'm not as sold as some, but he might suit the conditions better than some others
??????? Johnson
Hartley on reserve for the keeping duties
And then two of three quicks would change at the Gabba : Johnson, Pattinson in.
Pattinson would be first picked if he had more cricket behind him. As it is, I'm leaving him out. If he stays fit he plays at the Gabba.
I'd rather not have Smith at #3, but who else is there.
I have one spinner in the first eleven, despite the conditions. The gap between the available quicks and the available spinners is simply that big.
I'm going to have tom come back and fill in the gaps:
- Warner (not ideal for the conditions but no choice)
- ??????? leaning towards Bancroft, but one very good Shield summer and a tour against India "A" of varying quality is not a great platform; otherwise Cowan/Warner averaged 44 together including the nightmare series in India so Steady Eddie may be an option - plenty of players are much better on their second or third attempts. I don't think the selectors will go that way, Australia likes all-out attack (even if leads to all-out 60)
- As I said, I don't want Smith at #3, however, Smith
- ??????? Voges
- ??????? Burns
- ??????? Do we really need an all-rounder??? M Marsh if so, and I guess he's as good with the bat as many of the batting options??? Could put Nevill 6 and Agar 7 given I'm only going with one front line spinner in the eleven
- Nevill
- ??????? Starc ??? No really suited but can get reverse, and even on low slow decks a useful yorker is useful.
- ??????? Hazelwood
- ??????? Siddle
- Lyon
??????? batsman, not Lynn, I think he needs to start somewhere with more pace in the deck. Khawaja ????
O'Keefe
??????? Coulter-Nile, I'm not as sold as some, but he might suit the conditions better than some others
??????? Johnson
Hartley on reserve for the keeping duties
And then two of three quicks would change at the Gabba : Johnson, Pattinson in.
I think not having a one day competition at all would be pretty short sighted
LukeParkerno1
Post-Human
- Bancroft can do the same thing despite not being over 30 years old and semi retired like Cowan.
- Faulkner will need to play some cricket in Australia first, they won't bring him in for this series, it would look awful.
- Agar just has taken a bucketload of wickets for Australia A, O'Keefe is another option. Either way there is no point playing a 34 year old leg spinner who won't do much anyway.
- Handscomb is a batsman, he is only a batsman. Play him as one or not at all.
- Mar 20, 2007
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Tend to agree but under its current format it smells of "lets just have one for the sake of having one"
- Jun 30, 2014
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I like handscombe as a solid batsmen, but when he has the keeping duties it effects his batting
LukeParkerno1
Post-Human
Agreed, which is why I don't want the words Handscomb and 'keeper' together. The bloke is potentially a very good middle order bat. We have about 4-5 keeps, we don't need batsmen trying to be keepers.
- Jun 30, 2014
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The wades, Nevilles, pains etc can all bat pretty well
LukeParkerno1
Post-Human
Would rather not go back to Wade in a test match personally (all for it in a ODI/T20 though), but we have Nevill, Whiteman (not yet but in a year or so), Trifitt, Paine. Even Chris Hartley would do a job if need be. We just don't need batsmen trying to be keepers.
Paine is a pretty poor batsman to be honest.
And his 200 was scored when he was playing as a specialist batsman (and opening).
Wade's a pretty good batsman but the same can't be said for his keeping
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That trifott looked the goods last season, but time will tell. Wade has had his chances, there is something that doesn't convince me about Nevilles batting but he has big wraps on keeping ability.
LukeParkerno1
Post-Human
To be fair Nevill had a massive season with the bat. Hard to gauge him off an Ashes series where he was coming in at 5 for absolutely nothing and having to rebuild an innings every time. Very solid bat. That said my view is the same, he will play for 2 years then hand over to Sam Whiteman.
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Nevill has a good betting record, but there is something about his technique that doesn't convince me
LukeParkerno1
Post-Human
He will be solid, and I have always said the primary role for a keeper is with the gloves, batting is a added bonus.
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The selectors don't seem to think that way a lot of the time
The dual wicketkeeper thing is probably not sustainable long-term. The fact that Wade is still picked as ODI/T20 keeper suggests pretty clearly that the selectors are not sold on Nevill.
But batting at 7-8 is not going to give Wade much chance to make a big innings and build a case for Test selection either.
So I really don't know what the selectors are doing here.
But batting at 7-8 is not going to give Wade much chance to make a big innings and build a case for Test selection either.
So I really don't know what the selectors are doing here.
LukeParkerno1
Post-Human
Thankfully. The last thing we need is for Wade in a test match as a keeper, surely we learnt enough the last time.
PaddyO
Cancelled
Don't be an argumentative ******* just for the sake of it?
- Have you seen Bancroft bat?
- Looks don't matter. Pick the best side.
- Doesn't matter which way they go with the spinner. But why take Ahmed to Eng and the WIs and and not play him and then not take him to spinning conditions where he might play?
- My point was, Handscomb has kept before, and that makes him handy in a tour squad as a reserve batsman and keeper, especially for shorter tours. If Nevill rolls his ankle before a test, Handscomb can step in.
LukeParkerno1
Post-Human
1. Yes I have seen Bancroft bat, more than you think too actually as my work allows it. He is an old fashioned opener, uses plenty of deliveries and plays the ball on its merit (yes I know, foreign concept for our batsman)
2. You pick the best side moving forward, we don't need too many 30 year old stop gap options when these options are no better than Voges/S.Marsh. Give a young bloke a chance. We have just come off a test series where despite the score, we were flogged in 2 out of 5 tests and outplayed in 1.
3. Ahmed was the most ready in an Ashes series (at the time of selection). Since then if you haven't caught up we have had an Australia A series, and Ashton Agar and Steven O'Keefe got plenty of wickets.
4. Handscob is a batsman. You take an extra keeper, it is a fairly simple concept. On an overseas tour you should always carry one as insurance at worst. Handscomb by all means can be the reserve batsman (no issue there)
I actually don't mind bringing Handscomb as a reserve bat who doubles as the back up keeper.
Unless the keeper gets injured the day before a test or on the morning before the test we can always fly someone in.
I don't think picking a reserve keeper makes sense for the 2 test series
Unless the keeper gets injured the day before a test or on the morning before the test we can always fly someone in.
I don't think picking a reserve keeper makes sense for the 2 test series
Yes
We just lost the Ashes which in many respects is our World Cup equivalent.
Why debut a 35 year old against Bangladesh?
When we have younger players who are performing it's time to bring them in.
Especially since we won't play two spinners in Australia.
Wacky Tiger
Parmy
Juggalo Balla thoughts?
Maybe got something to do with the fact Nevill has never really performed in limited overs despite his very good first class record. Nevill can't get a big bash contract. This tells you all you need to know, he's an old fashioned test batsman who values his wicket. Rogers would never get a game in the odi side and I really don't see what the difference is. Nevill is a better batsman and keeper than Wade, he just doesn't score quickly enough.
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I know people are loathe to pick players for the Test team based on limited overs form, and I'm not a real fan of "gifting" Baggy Greens either, but if Nathan Coulter-Nile has a good ODI series against England, and maintains his current good record in that format, is he worth a look for a couple of Tests against Bangladesh?
Bancroft can also do reserve keeping if they needed someone to pick it up in a game. He's kept at underage and I think in grade cricket too.
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