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Changes for the 3rd Test

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So Agar is going to be persisted with? Smith will be bowling a fair bit at OT in that case.
smith got a few lucky wickets with some average balls, i don't think he'll get more than 2 wickets for the rest of the series. that said, i don't think agar will get many wickets either.
He does look a decent batsman.
From his 4 outs, 1 was a poor run out by his partner and the other was as dodgy as all heck and shouldn't have been out after referral.
 
My mail is that Rogers won't play in the 3rd test. My sources are generally spot on. My mail has this as the 3rd test side.

Warner
Watson
Hughes
Kwajawa
Clarke
Smith
Haddin
Siddle
Harris
Bird
Agar

Make of that what you will.

I'm hoping they do persist with Hughes, Khawaja and Smith.
 
Watson
Wade
Smith
Clarke
Maxwell
Haddin
Henriques
Paine
Faulkner
Agar
Mitchell Johnson

Clarke only stays if he can improve his bowling, otherwise I have my eye on Mitch Marsh.
 
Watson gets a little longer... I guess the positive of him whinging his way back to the top of the order is that he's surely staked his future on it. He "won" a few more chances through his whinging - but if he gets the end of this series and is still Anderson's bitch, he'll be in strife.

They clearly want Warner in this side, they see him as a match winner - I think Hughes is probably the one to make way. I feel a bit bad for Hughes - he gets shifted round the batting order like it's nothing, all the while Clarke moving from 5 to 4 is made to seem like going from batting 8 for Goulburn seconds to opening for Australia. Hughes is also batting like he just has no idea what temperament he's meant to be adopting for his position in test cricket - he bats like a guy with half a dozen different voices in his head telling him what to do.

I think aside from Warner, and the required Pattinson change - hopefully for Bird - I reckon they'll retain the same team. For whatever reason, we don't have the cattle with our batsmen. The chopping and changing achieves nothing.
 

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I would just change patto for bird.

The series is basically over, these next three tests are just trying to find something to cling to in the lead up to the home series so i agree the constant chopping and changing needs to stop, give this current group 3 tests with the same lineup and batting order and just hope we get something out of it.
 
My mail is that Rogers won't play in the 3rd test. My sources are generally spot on. My mail has this as the 3rd test side.

Warner
Watson
Hughes
Kwajawa
Clarke
Smith
Haddin
Siddle
Harris
Bird
Agar

Make of that what you will.

3-0 :D
 
1. Watson - Hammer him all you want, he's gotten more runs than most this series.
2. Hughes - NEEDS to open. Not 3, 4, 5. He can be a decent 6 but I think Smith is the one to fill that void. Dominated England's number 2 spinner.
3. Khawaja - Look he churned a decent 50 but his weakness against spin makes Hughes look like Lara.
4. Warner - Can't fit him anywhere else but on the basis of his 193 on the road he got it on it's worth the try.
5. Clarke - If he bats 3 or 4 he'll fail. There, done, said.
6. Smith - Played a controlled innings against Sussex and really is the only one outside of Clarke to look comfortable at the crease
7. Haddin - Of all the hype in the last week of Wade coming is a batsmen or keeper is now invalid. A 0 from 6 balls in a match in which everyone got starts is more than enough to not keep him from the Manchester.
8. Siddle - Been arguably our best so far
9. Harris - No complaints in the second Test, simply put, the Ryano's back.
10. Lyon/Agar - They seem to both be getting destroyed in England. Take who you will, you'll get the same results.
11. Bird - is the word! I feel he'll continue to get shafted and be in the shadow of Siddle and Patto. Deserves more and is, as everyone says, suited for English conditions.

Predictions:
Watson to get a 50 that'll keep him in the squad for the rest of series.
UTK to make less than 20 in both innings
Bird and Harris to take the majority of wickets
Whoever gets a century will be praised as an Australian hero and deemed Best of the Series.. also be named King of Moomba
 
Im predicting an Australian victory. Aus to bat first, get 400+ and then go to work on the poms. Knock them over for 150. Set a target of 450 and then knock the poms over for 300.

Can't see the Poms making 300 in the second dig, assuming Broad is only allowed the one innings.
 
What about this team:

Rogers/Cowan
Warner
Hughes
Watson
Clarke
Smith
Haddin
Lyon
Siddle
Harris
Bird/Starc

I dont like the idea of Watson and Warner opening in a test match, maybe in a 20/20 or 50 over one dayer, they are both very attacking batsmen, sure if it comes off we might be 0/120, but if it dosnt and they get out playing big shots we are going to be 2/20 like we have been in the past 2 tests. Rogers or Cowan have more ability to play a long innings and see off the new ball and if Warner goes early then we have Hughes who should be comfortable against the new ball. Me personally I am not a fan of Khawaja, when I watch him bat he dosnt feel like a match winner to me and I would overlook him. Agar hasnt troubled the batsmen enough and Lyon has more experience and feel like its s safer move to have him in the team over Agar.
 

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It's easy for people to forget that Warner has been one of our best batsmen of the last few years. No doubt he had a very poor away tour in India where he averaged just 24.38 which dropped his average from 44.50 to 39.47 but he's otherwise been pretty good.

Admittedly, his two away series' have both been mediocre but he's proven he can play. We should still be investing time and experience into him.
 
I really don't envy the selectors on this one. Everything looks like shambles in the making. The temptation is to make wholesale changes, but would it really change anything?

Bird in for Pattinson is the easy pick. Siddle, Harris, Bird, confirmed.
Wade is even worse than Haddin with the gloves, so Haddin stays.
Clarke stays.
That makes for all the certainties, leaving a team of:

?
?
?
?/Clarke
Clarke/?
?
Haddin
Siddle
Agar/Lyon/Starc
Harris
Bird

There is so little to separate all the rest of the top six.
* Hughes batted intelligently with the tail in one innings.
* Watson has failed the least, but proven prone to old faults yet again.
* Rogers works hard, looks a Test player but hasn't yet produced. He also hasn't had many chances and perhaps deserves more.
* Khawaja got a 50, but was perhaps the least productive at Hove.
* Warner got a big score in South Africa, exactl what he needed to do. He also failed in Zimbabwe and the SA game had other huge scores, including from proven dud Elgar.
* Smith is Smith. He still doesn't convince at Test level, but who in this line-up (or out of it) does.
* Cowan had a horror first Test, but the Warner/Cowan partnership was as close to working as anything in the batting over the last twelve months and he was one of the best of a very bad lot in India.
* Wade as a specialist batsman?

None of them really deserve a place, but five have to be picked.

I would not be surprised if Agar and Starc got picked ahead of Lyon and Bird simply for the batting depth. I would disagree with that reasoning, but not be surprised by it.

I thought they got the changes right going into Lords and despite the result can't see much better to bring in. Bird for Pattinson, Warner for Watson (probably, though its tempting to leave Davey to play the last "A" game knowing he needs to get runs again, and fly back for the fourth Test).
Other than that, why swing things around when there is nobody better to bring in.
 
It's easy for people to forget that Warner has been one of our best batsmen of the last few years. No doubt he had a very poor away tour in India where he averaged just 24.38 which dropped his average from 44.50 to 39.47 but he's otherwise been pretty good.

Admittedly, his two away series' have both been mediocre but he's proven he can play. We should still be investing time and experience into him.


I totally agree, I think its a positive move selecting him. The thing I like about having Warner in the team to is you know that he wont just occupy the crease, if he's still there at lunch he will more than likely be knocking on the door of a century, so he puts pressure on the opposition to get him out and quickly which will hopefully throw them off there line and length abit. IMO there is no doubt that Warner enhances our chances of winning the 3rd test so he must go back in.
 
I would be picking Smith over Khawaja, I agree that both havnt looked convincing with the bat, but Smith would get the nod because he adds more to the team with his fielding/bowling and his ablilty to use his feet against spin.
 
If they dump khawaja after 1 test then i hope they stop picking him all together.

that would be just 7 test matches but spread across 3 years 4 countries and 4 separate stints, no point even selecting somebody if they get 1-2 tests maximum to prove they belong.
 

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