2019 5th Ashes Test 12-17 September - The Oval

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Pykie

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Based on Pat Cummins comments of being physically spent, I think Mitch Marsh probably comes into this side, but at whose expense?

I don't think they can drop Wade as they wanted to last test, based on the form of Warner and Harris.

Is Wade an option to open with Warner, with Warner on his very last chance?

For the one off test, I'm thinking:

Warner
Wade
Labuschagne
Smith
Head
Marsh
Paine
Pattinson
Cummins
Lyon
Hazlewood




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Pykie

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Im all for dropping Warner, but they won't sadly.
Give Cummins a rest, and bring in Pattinson

I'm not sure you rest the #1 test bowler in the world and the leading wicket taker in the series, when we have the first opportunity to win an Ashes series in 18 years.

We just need to alleviate his work load and that means Mitch Marsh imo.
 
Give Cummins a rest if he needs it. Bring in Pattinson but please please don’t bring in anyone called Marsh.

Marsh is an almost certain selection

Worn out bowlers and a spinner on the brink - we need a genuine 5th bowling option.

Assuming he gets a bowl before the 70th over - he will take wickets.

His batting is no worse than the others - i'm sure he's capable of making an 8 ball duck as well.
 

Pykie

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Marsh is an almost certain selection

Worn out bowlers and a spinner on the brink - we need a genuine 5th bowling option.

Assuming he gets a bowl before the 70th over - he will take wickets.

His batting is no worse than the others - i'm sure he's capable of making an 8 ball duck as well.

I'm far from Marsh's biggest fan and in any other circumstances I'd be dead against it.

But I don't understand the opposition from people.

We have 3-4 batsman that can't score a run, yes he's likely to fail, but a pass mark for his batting is literally a couple of scratchy 20's and 30's if possible.

Marsh's bowling record in England is actually good, with 5 of those 8 wickets taken at the Oval in 2015. Those 5 were made up of Root, Stokes, Bell, Butler and Broad also.....

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I'm far from Marsh's biggest fan and in any other circumstances I'd be dead against it.

But I don't understand the opposition from people.

We have 3-4 batsman that can't score a run, yes he's likely to fail, but a pass mark for his batting is literally a couple of scratchy 20's and 30's if possible.

Marsh's bowling record in England is actually good, with 5 of those 8 wickets taken at the Oval in 2015. Those 5 were made up of Root, Stokes, Bell, Butler and Broad also.....

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If he made a 30 he might actually be knighted
 

Wolfs

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If I was Australia, I would drop Head for Marsh. The Oval is good for batting, so a player like Marsh can bowl overs especially if England bat first. Wade can move up to 5, and have Marsh bat at 7 or something.

If I was England, I would drop Overton for Woakes. Bat Stokes at 4 and move Roy to 6 with Buttler at 5, and Bairstow at 7. Then drop Buttler, Bairstow, and Roy after the series, and give the captaincy to Broad or Burns as a stop gap
 

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Cummins has done his job. Awesome!!
He’s only played 24 odd tests, I’d rest him. He’s the long term and we want to win, and Pattinson hasn’t done a lot wrong!
 

The Passenger

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Cummins will definitely get rested for this test. Pattinson to come back. Starc was a bit up and down in this test, but did bowl well on Saturday and got the crucial wicket of Stokes so I think the selectors will want to get another chance to see how he goes.

Unless they are willing to play Marnus as a genuine 5th bowler and see how it goes, Marsh will come back in, which will mean one of Head or Wade gets dropped. Whilst neither Wade or Head can have any real complaints about getting dropped, it's probably a bit harsh that one of them gets dropped before Harris or Warner, but sometimes that's the way it goes. I would be surprised if they moved either Head or Wade into an opening role - I would suggest both would have a torrid time against Broad and the new ball anyway.

A more left wing suggestion would be - if they pick Marsh - is to open with him. Not that he is particularly suited to opening, but he is probably more suited than Wade or Head and would give us another right handed batsmen at the top of the order. But I don't really see them taking this route either - it's pretty risky to bring back a guy with a sketchy test batting record to the top of the order when he doesn't open for his state or previous tests for his country and then also expect him to take on #5 bowling duties on top of it.

As much as our opening batsmen have stunk it up this series, I think the selectors will just stick with Warner and Harris and hope for the best. Or if they do want to make a change there it will be more conservative and bring back another opener who has struggled in Bancroft (his fielding will at least add something).

My tips:
Definite change: Pattinson for Cummins
Probable change: Marsh for Wade or Head (Wade more likely to get the chop, but it's a genuine 50/50 call)
Possible change: Bancroft for Harris or Warner (Harris more likely to get the chop, Warner's seniority the only thing saving him but is hitting last chance saloon territory)
 

Wolfs

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I don't see Cummins being rested. After this, he probably won't play for Australia until November. He will play some in October for some FC cricket, and LA Cricket for NSW. The Pakistani series is in November, and I don't think he'll play the T20 series against SL.
 

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DaRick

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I'm honestly not sure what my ideal XI would be. Much rests on the fitness of the bowlers, including Cummins (who has played 4 Tests on the trot with a large workload) and Hazlewood (who has played 3 on the trot).

If we're dealing with a traditional Oval wicket (i.e - it's flat), then I would be OK with Mitch Marsh's inclusion at #6 instead of Wade. He has proven himself able to score on roads if nothing else, and his bowling has proven useful here in the past. If Cummins and Hazlewood aren't fit, Siddle and Starc respectively should take over. I've favoured Siddle over Starc because he's done pretty well on this ground in the past.

RE the opening pair, I'd favour Khawaja and Bancroft. If Burns was in the country, I'd select him in place of Bancroft - if he's going to score runs anywhere in England, it will be on a traditional Oval wicket, against an attack that's hitherto bowled a lot of overs. Alas, he is not.
 
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Please no Mitch Marsh. I get people's reasoning, but the trouble is we've still got people in charge with an all-rounder addiction. A scratchy 20 or 30 and a few handy overs at The Oval would be enough to keep him in the side for a year. Don't y'all remember last time?

If we need more bowling resource, pick another bowler. Drop Head and shuffle everyone up one. Cummo and Starco are genuine #8's anyway and Lyon and Haze are genuine #10's. It's not like we've got Tuffers, Dilley and Jim Higgs down there.
 
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I don't see Cummins being rested. After this, he probably won't play for Australia until November. He will play some in October for some FC cricket, and LA Cricket for NSW. The Pakistani series is in November, and I don't think he'll play the T20 series against SL.

Probably depends on any symptoms he has. ie some low back pains/stress reactions. Other joint pains. If its anything like that they wont want to stuff him for the next 6 months or more.

They'll wrap him in cotton wool if he has any real problems or even if he just feels really tired. They wont want to push him to the limit & risk any long term problems.
 

The Passenger

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Please no Mitch Marsh. I get people's reasoning, but the trouble is we've still got people in charge with an all-rounder addiction. A scratchy 20 or 30 and a few handy overs at The Oval would be enough to keep him in the side for a year. Don't y'all remember last time?
Coming back to Australia and we'll want a fifth bowling option.

As much as I hate to say it, he's probably the front of the queue. Marnus' legspin has been handy, but it's still got a bit to go to be considered as a genuine all round option.
 
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We have to try something different with the openers, they have given us absolutely nothing. The Oval is a ground where you need your openers to bat long.

If Lyon has split his spinning finger, he's a total liability. I'd use the fifth test as the opportunity to bring out the 4 man pace attack:

Khawaja
Bancroft
Labuschagne
Smith
Head
Wade
Paine
Pattinson
Cummins
Starc
Hazlewood

Wouldn't mind Marsh for Head if they want one less left hander, but 3 changes to a winning side is already a lot.
 

The Passenger

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Interesting England have gone with an unchanged squad. I suspect Woakes or Curran will come in for Overton.

Wouldn't happen too often where the team on top in a series has made far more changes than the team behind.

15 Australian players used to 14, but a lot more chopping and changing for us.

England have made 3 changes all series - Ali to Leach and Anderson to Archer after the first test, Woakes to Overton for the fourth.

We've changed openers, bought Labuchange in for Smith, Smith has back come in for Khawaja, and rotated all our fast bowlers except Cummins.
 

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