First test of the aussie summer

[BGman]

He isn't the answer though, at the end of the day who is he replacing? It's easy to say Head but we sort of want him to succeed because he's frankly the only realistic captain going forward, Warner is too old and the rest don't captain, and it's useless going back to smith who is average at it anyway.

How long has Handscomb coached the Vics.. and mostly with success. If you are referring to his age.. well yes. I aint picking Head in my Tests side because he may or may not be captaincy material. It is what he does with the willow that counts. Marnus has the makings of a good captain in my view. This may be a moot point as Cummins has done a fine job and could hold onto the reins for five or more years.

 

[footyfan1978]

After the poor showing in the test v sri lanka - it's best we put it behind us. For the upcoming India tour we may have to make some gutsy selection decisions eg. Maxwell etc.

For the time being though the first test team of the summer again picks itself (pending no injuries in the upcoming white ball games etc)

warner, khawaja, labuschagne, smith, head, green, carey, starc, cummins, lyon, hazlewood.

the only other players really pressing are boland, jhye and pucovski (if right)
m.marsh and inglis are only in the conversation as cover for green or carey if something happened to them.
swepson and agar will come into the conversation again for the India tour.
i'd like to see another solid shield season from hardie.

8 of the 11 are now on the wrong side of 30 and change is imminent.

warner is under pressure and on the cusp of playing his 100th test this summer. Does he go to India with a view of trying to get to the WTC final. And then there's the England tour.

i'm still not sold on head but the spot is still there to cement.

khawaja, well like warner is approaching the end and we are needing guys to put their hand up over the next 12 months.

i'm still not sold on head but the spot is still there to cement.

is our bowling quartet needing a change? i feel we should've won more games with them especially the last 2 home series v India.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

How long has Handscomb coached his Vics.. and mostly with success. If you are referring to his age.. well yes. I aint picking Head because he may or may not be captaincy material. It is what he does with the willow. Marnus has the makings of a good captain in my view.

Marnus in control of DRS what can possibly go wrong? He strikes me as the worst captaincy candidate. The wildcard might be Green but I hate this idea, that's way too much of a load, being an AR, likely batting top 4, bowling and captaining. It's too much. I personally don't trust Handscomb, top bowlers will figure it out and have done in the past. A Renshaw type is more likely.

 

[footyfan1978]

i'm still not sold on head but the spot is still there to cement.

i'm still not sold on head but the spot is still there to cement.

I'm not sold by this repeated opinion

 

[SSwans2011]

If you are happy watching dad's army clunk around I'm not we lost to bloody sri Lanka with this lot

We drew a series with Sri Lanka.

Last time we played a series in Sri Lanka we were whitewashed 3-0.

This team delivered us our first Test series win in Asia in over a decade.

I'm not sure where this "dad's army" tag is coming from. Which of our current Test players do you think should be retired?

I'd like us to move on from Warner, but the only other players who fit into that description are Khawaja, Smith, and Lyon, and none of them deserve to be dropped.

 

[11kgm]

We drew a series with Sri Lanka.

Last time we played a series in Sri Lanka we were whitewashed 3-0.

This team delivered us our first Test series win in Asia in over a decade.

I'm not sure where this "dad's army" tag is coming from. Which of our current Test players do you think should be retired?

I'd like us to move on from Warner, but the only other players who fit into that description are Khawaja, Smith, and Lyon, and none of them deserve to be dropped.

Warner definitely, would have preferred we went youth over Usman but you can't fault him since coming in but means now Street/Hunt will have to wait a while, Starc at 32 should be moved on from tests, Alex Carey at 31 should be replaced by Inglis

 

[11kgm]

Ashton Agar and Todd Murphy named in PM's XI with India tour in mind

Selectors have picked an Australia A team but are looking to give a range of players opportunities across two games against West Indies and South Africa ahead of India tour

www.espncricinfo.com

 

[BGman]

Prime Minister's XI squad: Josh Inglis (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Peter Handscomb, Aaron Hardie, Marcus Harris, Henry Hunt, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Matt Renshaw, Mark Steketee

Inexplicably they have again ignored Jhye Richardson. We have better players than Harris and Abbott. Both CA pets. Why Harris as he has been picked in the Test squad. Street or Wade can feel hard done by. Pleased to see Handscomb and Renshaw there. These two have come back from hell to return to this level. Both now in the frame for India as are Agar and Murphy. Has Swepson been discarded?

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Ashton Agar and Todd Murphy named in PM's XI with India tour in mind

Selectors have picked an Australia A team but are looking to give a range of players opportunities across two games against West Indies and South Africa ahead of India tour

www.espncricinfo.com

Why we are bothering with Agar is beyond me. Give a young spinner a go. Murphy happy with.

 

[SSwans2011]

Warner definitely, would have preferred we went youth over Usman but you can't fault him since coming in but means now Street/Hunt will have to wait a while, Starc at 32 should be moved on from tests, Alex Carey at 31 should be replaced by Inglis

32 is an absurdly young age to move on a cricketer with a bowling average of 27.5 who just played a large hand in winning us an away series.

Mitchell Johnson was the same age and had an inferior record going into the 2013/14 Ashes series.

I'd prefer Inglis to Carey, but Carey is coming off 2 away tours where he averaged 60 and 45, so he deserves more time. He's also one of our best players of spin, and should therefore be in the XI for the India tour next year.

Street isn't even in Queensland's best XI at the moment, and Hunt is in average form and averages less than 40 with the bat at FC level.

We should always pick the best XI in Tests, not what might be the best XI in half a decade.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Prime Minister's XI squad: Josh Inglis (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Peter Handscomb, Aaron Hardie, Marcus Harris, Henry Hunt, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Matt Renshaw, Mark Steketee

Lol is rule number 1 that Harris has to be picked regardless…

Hunt and Renshaw are better

 

[BGman]

Street isn't even in Queensland's best XI at the moment, and Hunt is in average form and averages less than 40 with the bat at FC level.

Betting Tim Wade jumps both in the not too distant future. I like Hunt too. Technically superior to Street. But if Renners again scores runs at opener the young wannabees will have to wait a while longer.

 

[eth-dog]

Lol is rule number 1 that Harris has to be picked regardless…

Hunt and Renshaw are better

Sure, Hunt's better.

Curiously, in the last 3 seasons Hunt has scored 1399 runs at an average of 41.
Harris, meanwhile, has 1304 runs at 52.

With fewer games, innings and not outs. Please explain how Hunt "is better"?

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Sure, Hunt's better.

Curiously, in the last 3 seasons Hunt has scored 1399 runs at an average of 41.
Harris, meanwhile, has 1304 runs at 52.

With fewer games, innings and not outs. Please explain how Hunt "is better"?

Can we take out the runs at Junction please, honestly we all know it, it's a road and a half. We all know this Harris script, luckily the bloke won't get a gig unless there is a forced change. Renshaw is a better option and we add the fact he'd solve our first slip problems in a second too.

 

[Westend]

Sure, Hunt's better.

Curiously, in the last 3 seasons Hunt has scored 1399 runs at an average of 41.
Harris, meanwhile, has 1304 runs at 52.

With fewer games, innings and not outs. Please explain how Hunt "is better"?

Hunt did recently score 107 for Aus A on a last day turner in Sri Lanka.....the selectors would take that into account

but yes the averages above are correct

 

[BGman]

Hunt averages less than 40 with the bat at FC level.

@40 FC is more than acceptable.. specially as an opener. Marnus averaged FC @33 yet made the 2019 Ashes. Then struck gold when he replaced an injured Steve smith. Since then his FC average has jumped by 20..

 

[Blackhawk42]

if only pucovski's head was right.

1st class batting averages with 10+ FC games (before the start of the shield season)

56 smith
53 hardie
52 pucovski
49 green
47 warner
46 labuschagne
45 khawaja
41 wade, s.marsh
40 head, maxwell

39 harris, maddinson
38 burns, bancroft, patterson, hunt
37 handscomb, street, d.hughes, whiteman
36 renshaw, finch, henriques
35 cartwright, pierson, weatherald, lehmann

34 carey, mcdermott, m.short
33 stoinis, turner
32 m.marsh, philippe, silk
31 webster
30 paine

Tim Ward up to 12 games at an average of 41.

 

[BGman]

Sure, Hunt's better.

He is. He'd bat Harris under the table technically. You want an opener that bats time, takes the shine off the new ball and tires the bowlers. Hunt does that. Will do same at test level. Harris sees off about a piddling 50 balls, around 30 runs, then implodes.

 

[Freezin]

Reckon Agar would struggle to get into WA shield side at present....young Roccichioli seems to have that WA spinner spot under control.

 

[BGman]

Hunt did recently score 107 for Aus A on a last day turner in Sri Lanka

Great knock showed he has the temperament, application and determination, in short the mental capacity to master test cricket.

 

[BGman]

Tim Ward up to 12 games at an average of 41.

George and his panel will be watching this young opener closely.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Great knock showed he has the temperament, application and determination, in short the mental capacity to master test cricket.

And heaven knows we need blokes that play spin well do we need to remember how putrid Head is the moment a spinner is on? It's why I'm a fan of Renshaw too showed he can play spin when he went to India and performed.

 

[eth-dog]

Hunt did recently score 107 for Aus A on a last day turner in Sri Lanka.....the selectors would take that into account

but yes the averages above are correct

I'm not denying Hunt could overtake him. However, as it stands, Harris is clearly the superior player.

He is. He'd bat Harris under the table technically. You want an opener that bats time, takes the shine off the new ball and tires the bowlers. Hunt does that. Will do same at test level. Harris gets to about 50 balls.. around 30 runs then implodes.

He could do that. He's a good player. He's inferior to Harris right now though.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

George and his panel will be watching this young opener closely.

You made a mistake thinking this group of selectors watch them...if they did Ellis would have been in the WC squad! It's a boys club.

 

[SSwans2011]

@40 FC is more than acceptable.. specially as an opener. Marnus averaged FC @33 yet made the 2019 Ashes. Then struck gold when he replaced an injured Steve smith. Since then his FC average has jumped by 20..

I get that, my point was more so that Hunt and Street aren't banging down the door.

Marn's return to the Test team meanwhile was off the back of a strong performance in the County Championship. None of the openers next in queue have been putting in performances at FC-level that justify selection, excepting Harris (no thank you) and Renshaw.