Changes for the 3rd Test

[Xtreme]

With that line up things will be very interesting.

To save the mods from banning me from ANOTHER test match thread i will respectfully read and not post in the Third Test match thread . At least not until the final wicket has fallen or final run has been taken.

 

[Slax]

how can you say it could be mental when you just previously stated he has a "massive" flaw in his game lol?

Not having the capacity to concentrate for entended periods is a flaw and it is a flaw that Khawaja & Watson definitely have. When something gets into your head and you start to doubt yourself you make decisions that you might not otherwise of made and this could be the issue with Hughes. As an example think back to Darryl Cullinan when he was facing Warne, he was his bunny and Warne had got in his head and he made bad decisions against his bowling, this is a bloke who finished his career with an average a touch under 45 and with 14 centuries to his name

 

[Cleavy]

not sure how we can have Watson and Khawaja in the top 3 when neither are adept at taking quick singles to rotate the strike

 

[Ill Chicken]

Looks like Smith will have to go for not converting starts into hundreds.

 

[BJFCyulerman13]

You are kidding me right? What has he done to say that he is the 2nd best batsman in Australia? IMO he is extremely lucky to be getting a gig for Aus A at the moment. He's 30 now and he has a FC average of 35 and a test average of 27.

i should've added "at his best". no doubt his stats are mediocre but his best is breathtaking. besides you can't say you'd rather someone like cowan over him

 

[swansfan51]

i should've added "at his best". no doubt his stats are mediocre but his best is breathtaking. besides you can't say you'd rather someone like cowan over him

I'm not sure we're talking about the same batsman. Are you talking about the guy who averaged 19 in the Sheffield Shield?

 

[BJFCyulerman13]

I'm not sure we're talking about the same batsman. Are you talking about the guy who averaged 19 in the Sheffield Shield?

did you just read what I said ****head? I said his stats are not great but his best is the 2nd best in australia. just look at his summer in bbl. completely different form of the game I know, but he single handedly got his team over the line a few times. besides let's be honest, it's not like we have many young batsman setting the world on fire in shield anyway.

 

[Phone]

The thing with citing domestic T20 form with Marsh is that you have to point out that in International T20, Marsh has been a flop. Even in his best form he hasn't made the step up.

 

[The_Reaper]

Marsh plays well in T20 by staying in against the good bowlers and then flogging the duds when he is settled.
He's always slow at first.

At international level there aren't so many duds so he struggles.

 

[bluespooner]

Looks like Smith will have to go for not converting starts into hundreds.

Playing Smith as one of the specialist batsmen and then bemoaning the fact that the side cannot post defendable totals is just moronic.

Congratulations to Smith for posting a nice 80 but it aren't going to happen to often with his technique. He had a heck of a lot of luck to get there; played just about the most ridiculous shot to get himself out; and the unfortunate thing is that it will give encouragement to keep him in the batting order.

For mine, he should be the first player dropped when they get back to Australia and you've got more than one replacement i.e. Cowan. A proper specialist batsman (preferably right-handed) is required.

 

[bird_man]

i should've added "at his best". no doubt his stats are mediocre but his best is breathtaking. besides you can't say you'd rather someone like cowan over him

I am no fan of Cowan, but I can honestly say I would rather Cowan over Marsh any day.

 

[Speck]

Another walker?????

 

[courtjester]

Playing Smith as one of the specialist batsmen and then bemoaning the fact that the side cannot post defendable totals is just moronic.

Congratulations to Smith for posting a nice 80 but it aren't going to happen to often with his technique. He had a heck of a lot of luck to get there; played just about the most ridiculous shot to get himself out; and the unfortunate thing is that it will give encouragement to keep him in the batting order.

For mine, he should be the first player dropped when they get back to Australia and you've got more than one replacement i.e. Cowan. A proper specialist batsman (preferably right-handed) is required.

Smith stays until someone forces their way past him. I'm a big fan. With more opportunity he is going to get better and better. Love him and his attitude.

Smith has done a great job of honing his technique so that he can succeed against very good bowling attacks. He'll quite possibly be Australian captain after Clarke.

 

[Kram]

Marsh plays well in T20 by staying in against the good bowlers and then flogging the duds when he is settled.
He's always slow at first.

At international level there aren't so many duds so he struggles.

lol, unfortunately that's probably a pretty fair assessment.

 

[The Passenger]

like all batsmen smith will go through his ups and downs, but i think the problem he will have is when he goes through his down periods he doesn't have a very good technique to fall back onto which is what allows players out of form to just eek out runs and keep them ticking over....

a guy like hussey who had a great technique, and even though had a little bit of a down period leading into the 09/10 ashes never never averaged less than 37 in a calendar year. and even that down period was only for a little while.

compare to even a great batsmen like punter who had a good technique generally, but always had a big issue falling across his crease early in his innings, and as he got older we saw that get exposed more and more. most people suspect his eyes and reflexes were going which was probably right. the last 4 years of punters career were bog average, only slightly saved by belting the hapless indians around. Funnily his calendar year average never dipped badly (never below 30) but he was down for sometime at the end (4-5 years). his average in that period was boosted by the fact every time he did score 100 he cashed in pretty big - 150, 209, 134, 221 were his last 4 centuries.

phil hughes will suffer the same problems, and has. him even moreso than smith, but he has also has more natural batting talent, and the reports from Cricket NSW a few years back were that his reflexes are absolute top drawer.