Changes for the 3rd Test

[Kyptastic]

Patto's out of the series with stress fractures in the back.

For the love of god, do not rush Pat Cummins over there CA.

 

[VirgilHilts]

That's a terrible shame for the lad as he's been one of the very few who has looked as if he's willing to guts it out for his country. Having said that, Australia's fast bowling injury record is terrible and something like this was always going to happen (although I expect most people thought it would happen first to Ryan Harris).

On the plus side, Pattinson hasn't impressed with the ball (7 @ 43) so bringing in someone else may actually improve the attack.

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

That is a shame as he with the bat has done a better job than our batters. Well lets wrap him up in cotton wool and get him 100% fit for the Waca test.

Bird to come in.

 

[the_interloper]

That is a shame as he with the bat has done a better job than our batters. Well lets wrap him up in cotton wool and get him 100% fit for the Waca test.

Bird to come in.

This, and I'm going to tip him to get the most wickets from here on in, bowls the sort of stuff which gets good batsmen out. And I'd get Faulkner in there too, even if they have to drop Hughes, it's worth rolling the dice and a bowling all rounder is a match winner at test level.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

This would be my team:

Hughes
Warner
Khawaja
Clarke
Watson
Wade
Agar
Bird
Siddle
Harris
Ahmed

Nothing against Hadden, but our batting desperately needs helps and thus gone with the stronger batter in Wade plus re-calling Warner for Rogers. I would swap Hughes and Watson in the order as Watson is struggling opening the batting. And given Agar is not taking wickets it is time to blood Ahmed. Bird for Pattinson due to injury.

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

We need this.

 

[what did you say]

when warner is the answer to our problems then you are asking the wrong questions,heck even his brother is a twat......

we have two all rounders who are not stars with either the bat or ball, problem is we depend on them to be like kallis ... agar out for lyon,patto out for bird an pray to the gods the top order fires

 

[matty p]

In: Warner, Doolan, Wade, Bird, maybe Lyon
Out: Watson, Smith, Haddin, Pattinson, maybe Agar (not fit)

Warner
Rogers
Doolan
Khawaja
Clarke
Hughes
Wade
Siddle
Harris
Bird
Lyon/Agar

I read that Starc is the favourite to replace Pattinson. Wtf? Surely Bird gets a go in the 3rd test!

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

I read that Starc is the favourite to replace Pattinson. Wtf? Surely Bird gets a go in the 3rd test!

I'm not surprised by that. Disapponted but not surprised. If we have to get most of gthe runs from the bottom half of the order, Starc will probably score more than Bird.
It would be nice to get runs in the top half, and use the bowlers as bowlers, but that seems unlikely.

 

[HBF]

Is there a reason guys like D.Hussey and Voges aren't being considered for the Ashes? They are already over there and have been aclimitised to English conditions for a while now. Couldn't be any worse than what we already have, and would at least give us some experience in the middle order. Even George Bailey would be worth considering.

 

[The_Reaper]

Is there a reason guys like D.Hussey and Voges aren't being considered for the Ashes? They are already over there and have been aclimitised to English conditions for a while now. Couldn't be any worse than what we already have, and would at least give us some experience in the middle order. Even George Bailey would be worth considering.

Because Hussey averaged 23 (with a very late century) over an entire shield season last year.

Voges averaged 25.

Bailey averaged 18.

 

[HBF]

Because Hussey averaged 23 (with a very late century) over an entire shield season last year.

Voges averaged 25.

Bailey averaged 18.

Fair enough then.
Just boggles my mind that we have such little batting depth in Australia at the moment.

 

[foxtrot36]

The royal baby is to be named Stuart Broad.
At least until it walks.

 

[Zach Package]

I think a return to obscurity beckons for Agar, at least temporarily. But I don't think Ahmed - a 31-year old with 16 first class games under his belt - is the answer. Lyon has to come in, surely?

Pattinson hasn't done much with the ball so another quick may get a go; not sure whether Faulkner or Bird is next in line.

Batting-wise, Warner may come in but I don't imagine that's going to solve anything; it'll just be replacing one set of technical problems with another.

Depends if he's injured or not. From a technical standpoint a hip injury is one of the absolute worst injuries a spinner can have. Go back to the first test and he was really getting up and over his front leg, therefore more overspin and bounce, and curve and all those wonderful things we spin bowlers love.

He troubled Trott in particular a bit in the first innings because of those things, but it was pretty obvious to me he was playing hurt. Still didn't really bowl badly, but it looked as though he was hurling really full darts in without much of a pivot or follow through.

He's got the week off to heal up if it's minor, but perhaps he does need a spell to heal up and give gazza a go.

 

[BILC]

Read an interesting article that pretty much put our poor test performance due to what's happening at domestic level. With all the domestic teams vying for outright wins teams have been producing pitches to get a result in 4 days with lots of wickets being taken. All this is doing is leaving our batsmen with no confidence when they get to international level and bowlers with an inability to take wickets on pitches that aren't doing as much.

It's very interesting when you look at the runs-fest that was domestic cricket in the 90's.

 

[Zach Package]

Read an interesting article that pretty much put our poor test performance due to what's happening at domestic level. With all the domestic teams vying for outright wins teams have been producing pitches to get a result in 4 days with lots of wickets being taken. All this is doing is leaving our batsmen with no confidence when they get to international level and bowlers with an inability to take wickets on pitches that aren't doing as much.

It's very interesting when you look at the runs-fest that was domestic cricket in the 90's.

gotta find a balance though. we don't want to go too far the other way and end up on roads with multiple bats averaging 60 at first class level like the indians, and shithouse fast bowling stocks

 

[The_Reaper]

Read an interesting article that pretty much put our poor test performance due to what's happening at domestic level. With all the domestic teams vying for outright wins teams have been producing pitches to get a result in 4 days with lots of wickets being taken. All this is doing is leaving our batsmen with no confidence when they get to international level and bowlers with an inability to take wickets on pitches that aren't doing as much.

It's very interesting when you look at the runs-fest that was domestic cricket in the 90's.

I think that is a very weak argument.

 

[Selective Retention]

What's the next pitch like, could you play 4 quicks? i.e. Faulkner and Bird for Patto (inj) and Agar (inj) and get by with Steve Smith.

 

[BILC]

I think that is a very weak argument.

It's not an excuse, but it does have merit.

 

[The_Reaper]

It's not an excuse, but it does have merit.

But prior to last summer we had pretty flat wickets for about a decade.

One could also argue that having to bat on difficult batting conditions would actually improve batting techniques.

 

[MisterMarcus]

What's the next pitch like, could you play 4 quicks? i.e. Faulkner and Bird for Patto (inj) and Agar (inj) and get by with Steve Smith.

Old Trafford is a spinners deck. 2 spinners (ableit unlikely) is more realistic than 4 quicks....

 

[Selective Retention]

Old Trafford is a spinners deck. 2 spinners (ableit unlikely) is more realistic than 4 quicks....

So it is going to be even uglier next test then, great.

Lyon and Bird would really weaken the tail order, I hope they don't pick Starc ahead of Bird, for his batting, to replace Patto in that scenario.

 

[frankrizzo]

pre series we had a lot of people suggesting we just play 4 quicks but it was ignoring the fact that england were never going to give us tracks that suited our one and only potential strength.

We will need at least one spinner on every deck this series.

We had better get used to it, everybody is going to give us tracks that turn if they can, the only relief will be the SA tour where we get steyn philander and morkel on green decks.

 

[getgaff]

Watson - needs to make the most of his starts. Already to many un coverted 20's and 30's this tour
Rogers - The Yang to Watson's Yin. IMO theese two could work really well as an opening pair. Especially if Wtason converts his starts
Khawaja - Did enough at Lords to deserve another shot. Peeved he got out to that pie chucker Root but his 50 was solid
Cowan/ Hughes - Hughes brings nothing to the table for me if his not scoring runs. Had one innings of note where Agar despite coming in far later in the order overtook Hughes's score with ease. Warner a no go zone at the moment. If he cant score runs against Zimbabwe he wont score anything against England. Dont think they will have the guts to drop Hughes but

Clarke - Stats show that 5 is where he makes the bulk of his runs and I tend to agree. 4 or above is too high for Clarke and not because he isn't good enough but we need his stability in the middle order
Smith/ Wade - Depending what the pitch is doing i wouldnt mind bringing Wade in as a specialist batsman
Haddin - Can't fault his batting in the series. His glovework still a concern but

Agar - Borderline selection with Lyon close behind. Suffered the second test blues and looked like being a threatening spinner who will run through opposition middle and tail order bats. Surely his a better spinner than Root???
Siddle - Lion hearted effort again at Lords. Can't fault endavour
Harris - I'm just glad he seems to be fit for 2 tests in a row. Touch wood he can stay fit because he is a vital part of the bowling attack and proved that with a 5 for in England's first dig
Bird - Replaces the departed Pattinson. Hopefully it's Bird and not Starc or an Australian A rep. Potenially a damagiung bowler in English conditions

12th: Cowan or Smith

 

[Jimthegreat]

Watson - needs to make the most of his starts. Already to many un coverted 20's and 30's this tour
Rogers - The Yang to Watson's Yin. IMO theese two could work really well as an opening pair. Especially if Wtason converts his starts
Khawaja - Did enough at Lords to deserve another shot. Peeved he got out to that pie chucker Root but his 50 was solid
Cowan/ Hughes - Hughes brings nothing to the table for me if his not scoring runs. Had one innings of note where Agar despite coming in far later in the order overtook Hughes's score with ease. Warner a no go zone at the moment. If he cant score runs against Zimbabwe he wont score anything against England. Dont think they will have the guts to drop Hughes but

Clarke - Stats show that 5 is where he makes the bulk of his runs and I tend to agree. 4 or above is too high for Clarke and not because he isn't good enough but we need his stability in the middle order
Smith/ Wade - Depending what the pitch is doing i wouldnt mind bringing Wade in as a specialist batsman
Haddin - Can't fault his batting in the series. His glovework still a concern but

Agar - Borderline selection with Lyon close behind. Suffered the second test blues and looked like being a threatening spinner who will run through opposition middle and tail order bats. Surely his a better spinner than Root???
Siddle - Lion hearted effort again at Lords. Can't fault endavour
Harris - I'm just glad he seems to be fit for 2 tests in a row. Touch wood he can stay fit because he is a vital part of the bowling attack and proved that with a 5 for in England's first dig
Bird - Replaces the departed Pattinson. Hopefully it's Bird and not Starc or an Australian A rep. Potenially a damagiung bowler in English conditions

12th: Cowan or Smith

Don't worry about Zimbabwe, that was a very low scoring game. Any bowler can do well in those conditions, which is why I rated Doolan's effort there. Right now I'd play Doolan, pluck Klinger out of County cricket as he looks like he can at least bat the long form of the game. He'd have to be better than Hughes, Khawaja, Cowan and Smith. Put Warner at 6, where he is capable of taking a game apart if he gets going. A punt but could change a game within a session if he got going. I'd play Fawad. Bird obviously in for Pattinson but I'd bring Cummins over from SA as a replacement bowler with a view of giving him a Test with this series done and dusted. Get our blokes ready for the return series.

Watson
Rogers
Klinger
Doolan
Clarke
Warner
Haddin
Siddle
Harris
Fawad
Bird

A little different to the side I had a few posts above. Hope that strengthens the batting a little. Something with a bit of backbone in the character