Stop complaining about sloggers

Jan 6, 2004
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He has a great record in Australia though so surely that is the most important thing?

Considering s marsh is one of the slowest scorers we have produced in this era and possibly the worst starter currently in the game it just seems silly to label another batsmans tempo as a major issue.

The most important word is that other one you used inconsistent, it's not how fast they score its the reality that we have just one world class batsman in the side you can't cover for lack of quality no matter the approach our number three takes to his innings.
 
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Jan 6, 2004
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The problem is that bowling teams can mount significant pressure when he's not rotating the strike, leading to twits playing rash shots, or the RR completely drying up. He's normally at his best when he's up against it.

The three batsmen who often followed were Smith and the marsh boys though, Smith averages 60 and seems oblivious to his partners scoring rates , s marsh is just a slow scoring batsman but he rarely let's that get to him and mitch marsh has just struggled no matter his approach or the approach of his partners.

You talk about actually watching the games well I do and this notion that Khawaja is dead batting it while his partners take excessive risks to make up for his approach just doesn't ring true.
 
May 5, 2016
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Averages mid 40, huh? 43.8 is not mid 40s and his average in the last two years is barely 40.

All of his big innings except the last one against Pakistan in Dubai have been on Australian soil. There's a good chance he'll have a good summer, although he has never faced India before and has traditionally struggled vs bowlers that move the ball around.

43.8 is essentially 44.

If you don’t classify 44 as mid 40s, you don’t follow cricket.
 
I don't rate Usman as being much of a test batsman. He's done well for someone that's on his 3rd chance and is only slightly better than Watson
Only slightly better than Watson? He is a far, far better player than Shane Watson.
 
Aug 18, 2006
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I see so many people on this board complaining that the Australian team is full of sloggers and that the only way to craft a test match innings is through a slow but steady approach.

Boy do I have news for you. You are wrong. Oh so very wrong.

Some of the greatest batsmen of all time have been "sloggers" and make many on here look foolish when they whinge our batsmen are too impatient or are sloggers. Let me teach you a little bit of cricket.

Adam Gilchrist: Belted the ball rain hail or shine. One of the greatest batsmen in our history

Michael Bevan: Incredible finisher. One of the great batsmen who gave it a whack.

Sehwag: The Indian Gilchrist, but not as good. Again, scored at a ridiculous rate.

David Warner: Aggressive batsman with a very impressive record. Another slogger.

Chris Gayle: Destructive batsman who blasted a triple century. One of the greatest innings of all time.

Mark Boucher: The South African Gilchrist

Some of the greatest batsmen of all time were sloggers. The proof is above.

Now shut up and please stop whining about it. It is not an issue and never has been.

The issue is we lose a 2 or 3 wickets in quick succession and these 'sloggers' don't have the brains to knuckle down and see off a few overs before resuming their normal style. Slogging is good and all when things are going your way but these knuckleheads are not capable of grinding out a few runs when the team needs them to.
 
Aug 18, 2006
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Most people have complained the test side lacks the pre-requisite foundations to properly craft innings. It doesn't help when you have an ultra-aggressive batsman at the top of the side who normally hits out, paired with a typically defensive batsman that struggles to rotate strike.

The test side seriously lacks not just talent depth and consistency, but balance most of all.

This is likely to be the team that faces India in Adelaide:

AJ Finch - Ultra attacking, slogger
MS Harris - Debut, inconsistent, unknown quality
UT Khawaja - Ultra defensive, gets bogged down
SE Marsh - Defensive, inconsistent
MR Marsh - Attacking, inconsistent
TM Head - Ordinary, inconsistent
TD Paine - Ordinary, inconsistent
NM Lyon - Ultra defensive
PJ Cummins - Attacking, slogger
MA Starc - Attacking, slogger
JR Hazlewood - Attacking

Going by his test batting (and only 2 tests) Finch isn't a slogger so far. Been very circumspect with his batting - however this series hasn't begun
 
Apr 19, 2013
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Going by his test batting (and only 2 tests) Finch isn't a slogger so far. Been very circumspect with his batting - however this series hasn't begun
He's a T20 hero that got a shot as the ODI captain. Like Warner, his "slogging" hasn't transferred to test cricket. He really needs more time in SS to develop his technique.

Watch for him to get caught at 3rd/4th slip slicing at a wide one.
 
Jan 6, 2004
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I didn't want finch in but he has only played two tests and he batted sensibly in both games, he at least deserves this series to show how he will approach test cricket before he is labelled a dumb slogger.
 
May 2, 2007
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ok he was a terrible LBW candidate even worse at using referrals but Watson is criminally underrated on this board in general.

Khawaja looked a lot better in the UAE and hopefully he's turned the corner but overall most of his runs have still been scored at home hammering mediocre opposition.
 
May 5, 2016
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He's a T20 hero that got a shot as the ODI captain. Like Warner, his "slogging" hasn't transferred to test cricket. He really needs more time in SS to develop his technique.

Watch for him to get caught at 3rd/4th slip slicing at a wide one.

He’s had two tests to transfer it to tests, and he’s averaged 45 at a strike rate of 45


F*** my mouth do some f***ing research.
 
May 1, 2016
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Only slightly better than Watson? He is a far, far better player than Shane Watson.
Both are bunnies to different things. Watto was shithouse against the straight ball on a full length, stepping across the stumps as he did. Ussie's got a critical flaw in his technique early in his innings where it doesn't matter where the spinner pitches the thing, he plays back to it. You can do that in Australia - sometimes. You can't in Melbourne - but you can't anywhere else.

Usman's a better bat than Watto was, but the 8-10 runs difference is because Watto was equally weak to his at every point of his innings, from start to finish, where Usman's gets better the longer he's out there.
 
May 2, 2007
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Again, as pointed out, you're looking purely at numbers and not his performances. Typically he is slow to start, but gets rolling a few hours into an innings. The problem is that bowling teams can mount significant pressure when he's not rotating the strike, leading to twits playing rash shots, or the RR completely drying up. He's normally at his best when he's up against it.
Today's brain-melt v Ashwin probably a pretty good example.
 
The premise of this thread gets more and more invalidated with every occasion that Australia manages to either put themselves behind the eight ball or squander positions of advantage with brain dead slashes to deep backward point or toed pull shots.
 
Apr 19, 2013
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The Indians are bowling to him with a solid plan, he’s back to looking like Usman Koala at the moment sadly.
That's always been his weakness, his inability to make small tweaks. Indians had a plan to Smith, it was a good one, he changed his stance and position and plundered runs. Warner, meh against the saffas.

When you bowl crap to a decent batsman, more often than not they'll make you pay, even the technically flawed ones. It's like he needs to take a half step further across the pitch and open his shoulders slightly.

He has always been a poor batter with an abysmal international record. He did ok in the UAE, but selectors didn't trust him in India, despite scoring runs for fun in Australia.
 
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