How about Klinger?

[ant22]

There as been has alot of talk about players coming into the test side and the lack of form batsmen to pick from and yet I have not heard boo said about this bloke. He was state cricketer of the year last year and averaged 63. He is not young at 30 but remember Hussey made his debut at about 29 and has had a great career. I am a big believer in playing the best batsman available at 6(I thought smith was a terrible selection for this match) and I am not sure there are any batsman in the side at the moment who are out of the side that are better then this bloke.

Thoughts?

 

[DeadlyAkkuret]

Why was Smith a terrible selection?



(I haven't seen enough of Kilnger)

 

[ant22]

Why was Smith a terrible selection?



(I haven't seen enough of Kilnger)

Dont get me wrong I think he is a talented youngster but is he in the top 6 batsmen in the country at the moment? Is he even in the top 10 or 15? Personally I think Khwaja is a much better batsmen. If your 6th best bowler has to do alot of bowling in a test match then you will not win so by picking a batsman who can bowl a bit as they have done in smiths case you are having a bit each way in my opinion. I would much much rather see the player picked to play at number 6 simply be the next best available batsman.

I must admit on klinger I could not find this years stats. I have just managed to find them and it looks like he is really struggling. But in his previous 2 seasons he was probably just about the best batsmen outside the test side. He was a seriouslhy talented youngster and even captained the under 19 national team. He really struggled at vic and I had heard rumors from the premier league that early on he was not the most committed bloke(these are just rumors) and like to have a good time. Since he moved to SA he really knuckled down and is now there captain. Not sure why he is so out of form this year but its a pity as if he was in the same form he would really be pressing for a spot.

 

[The Passenger]

klinger has to get this season back on track before he'll be considered for test selection. got another low score (possibly 0) yesterday so that doesn't help.

last two seasons were outstanding. said in another thread had he just come in to shield cricket in 2008/09 than he probably (possibly) would've taken North's spot at some point in the last 12 months cause those two seasons he was racking up huge numbers... admittedly playing on the adelaide oval road helps his cause so you have to take that into account. but having 7 seasons of very very average form in shield prior to that really hurt him and would've wanted the selectors to show it wasn't just flash in the pan form.