Test Squad - 2016

[corbies]

IMO, if everyone is 100% fit (no injuries, match fit), and we're just picking our best sides for neutral conditions:

Australia
1. Joe Burns
2. David Warner (VC)
3. Usman Khawaja
4. Steve Smith (C)
5. Adam Voges
6. Mitch Marsh
7. Peter Nevill (+)
8. Mitchell Starc
9. James Pattinson
10. Josh Hazlewood
11. Nathan Lyon

Australia A
1. Cameron Bancroft
2. Ed Cowan
3. Shaun Marsh
4. George Bailey (C)
5. Peter Handscomb
6. Moises Henriques (VC)
7. Matthew Wade (+)
8. Steve O'Keefe
9. John Hastings
10. Peter Siddle
11. Jackson Bird

Australian team I agree. If everyone is fit my Aus A side:
1. Cameron Bancroft
2. Ed Cowan
3. Michael Klinger (C)
4. Peter Handscomb
5. Shaun Marsh
6. Glenn Maxwell
7. Matthew Wade (+)
8. Steve O'Keefe
9. Patrick Cummins
10. Peter Siddle
11. Jason Behrendorff

I'd have no problem with Henriques over Maxwell and Bird over Siddle/Dorff though. Just trying to create a bit of difference. Dunk is probably the form opener in the shield too and could get a gig in front of Cowan.

 

[JackOutback]

Klinger has been in pretty poor form since the beginning of the Big Bash.

 

[The_Reaper]

Australian team I agree. If everyone is fit my Aus A side:
1. Cameron Bancroft
2. Ed Cowan
3. Michael Klinger (C)
4. Peter Handscomb
5. Shaun Marsh
6. Glenn Maxwell
7. Matthew Wade (+)
8. Steve O'Keefe
9. Patrick Cummins
10. Peter Siddle
11. Jason Behrendorff

I'd have no problem with Henriques over Maxwell and Bird over Siddle/Dorff though. Just trying to create a bit of difference. Dunk is probably the form opener in the shield too and could get a gig in front of Cowan.

remove Wade and Klinger add Stoinis and Whiteman

 

[JackOutback]

remove Wade and Klinger add Stoinis and Whiteman

That would do it; pretty strong line-up.

 

[corbies]

remove Wade and Klinger add Stoinis and Whiteman

Who's your captain? O'Keefe?

The keepers a lottery really. I dont think Whiteman is a good a keeper as many think (Obviously better than Wade).

 

[The_Reaper]

Who's your captain? O'Keefe?

Marsh?

It's an A team. Don't really see the point of picking some old bloke who isn't in our plans just for the sake of having a Captain

 

[JackOutback]

Cowan or Marsh could captain.

 

[corbies]

Marsh?

It's an A team. Don't really see the point of picking some old bloke who isn't in our plans just for the sake of having a Captain

Oh if the team is actually going on tour and is a development squad i wouldnt pick klinger. I thought it was just like a who is an alternate test team. Fair point you make though, i'll concede.

 

[Choomah]

who and when do Aus a play this year?

 

[The_Reaper]

who and when do Aus a play this year?

It should in South Africa against South Africa A.

Two first class matches and then a one day tri series against South Africa and India A

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Very harsh on Steve O'Keefe IMO.

Side arm dart bowler....

Lacks drift, flight and turn... Other than that has all the tools ...

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Side arm dart bowler....

Lacks drift, flight and turn... Other than that has all the tools ...

A lot of people speak of his apparent weaknesses, but then how do you account for his excellent Shield stats? They have shat on every other spinner in the country for years.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

A lot of people speak of his apparent weaknesses, but then how do you account for his excellent Shield stats? They have shat on every other spinner in the country for years.

Same way I account for Michael bevan's shield record and Brett spinks' wafl record

Some blokes can manage at the lower levels. Batsman who aren't quite up to it get themselves out

Hell, how many wickets did mark Craig get in the past two series?

In test cricket you actually need to be able to get blokes out, not just rely on a rash stroke or a hoick to cow

 

[Damon_3388]

Hell, how many wickets did mark Craig get in the past two series?

Not that many, actually.

Craig's figures from his four recent Tests against Australia - 137.2 overs, 10 wickets @ 66.60 average, 82.4 strike rate, 4.84 economy rate.

And Craig's career figures:

FC (Test results excluded) - 42.10 average, 75.2 strike rate, 3.36 economy rate
List A - 45.86 average, 53.0 strike rate, 5.18 economy rate
T20 - 45.57 average, 32.5 strike rate, 8.39 economy rate

O'Keefe should be highly insulted by the comparison.

 

[Mego Red]

Not that many, actually.

Craig's figures from his four recent Tests against Australia - 137.2 overs, 10 wickets @ 66.60 average, 82.4 strike rate, 4.84 economy rate.

And Craig's career figures:

FC (Test results excluded) - 42.10 average, 75.2 strike rate, 3.36 economy rate
List A - 45.86 average, 53.0 strike rate, 5.18 economy rate
T20 - 45.57 average, 32.5 strike rate, 8.39 economy rate

O'Keefe should be highly insulted by the comparison.

I think anyone who read that comparison should be insulted.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Not that many, actually.

Craig's figures from his four recent Tests against Australia - 137.2 overs, 10 wickets @ 66.60 average, 82.4 strike rate, 4.84 economy rate.

And Craig's career figures:

FC (Test results excluded) - 42.10 average, 75.2 strike rate, 3.36 economy rate
List A - 45.86 average, 53.0 strike rate, 5.18 economy rate
T20 - 45.57 average, 32.5 strike rate, 8.39 economy rate

O'Keefe should be highly insulted by the comparison.

My point being - of those 10 wickets - how many actually beat the batsman. And how many were the batsman just having a late innings slog.

To be an effective spinner you actually need to be able to deceive the batsman.

Lyon is a country mile ahead of O'keefe and he is a 'capable' test spinner without being elite (though given current spin stocks worldwide...)

O'keefe isn't going to regularly drift one in or deceive a batsman in flight, nor rip one through the gate. His best hope is to pop one outside off and hope it gets a bit of bounce and the bloke top edges it to backward point.

Dart bowling is effective in white ball cricket, but in red ball cricket it serves no more purpose than resting the quicks.

He has been told to get his arm up higher, he was told that was his shortcoming and he has done nought about it Source: radio interview). He'll probably go to a dustbowl and do ok - but hey even Hauritz and Clarke got wickets on a bunsen.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Dart bowling is effective in white ball cricket, but in red ball cricket it serves no more purpose than resting the quicks.

And yet O'Keefe is a much better bowler with the red ball than the white.

 

[Damon_3388]

And yet O'Keefe is a much better bowler with the red ball than the white.

You could even go as far as to say that his white ball record (particularly List A) is laughably poor compared to what he's done in FC cricket.

 

[1892]

Assuming squad of 14

1. Burns
2. Warner
3. Khawaja
4. Smith
5. Voges
6. M. Marsh/Maxwell
7. Nevill
8. Starc
9. O'Keffe/Pattinson
10. Hazlewood
11. Lyon

14. Bird

If they go 15 add S. Marsh.

 

[Damon_3388]

An interesting extract from Mike Hussey's new book, discussing Ashton Agar:

The Agar error

Ashton Agar is a terrific young man who I hope has a great future in the game as a left-arm orthodox bowler and decent lower-order batsman. But his remarkable experience of becoming a household name during the Ashes in 2013 was followed by a long period of treading water. And I was not the least bit surprised. His story is a striking example of how the glare of the spotlight can change the equation when you are trying to create a cricket career.

After just three first-class games the Australian selectors invited him on a national team tour to India to be a net bowler and gain experience from being around the team. It sounded like the right thing to do, but the alarm bells went off for me immediately. I knew he would bowl really well, I knew the selectors had doubts over Nathan Lyon, despite investing eighteen months of hard work in him, and I had a sneaking suspicion they would see Ashton as the bolter who could fix everything.

Unsurprisingly Ashton turned heads while with the team in India. I remember getting a message from the assistant coach Steve Rixon saying, "How good is this Ashton Agar? I think he should play the first Test in India." I thought to myself, "No way! Please don't make this mistake!" Ashton was nowhere near ready. In my opinion he needed three or four seasons of first-class cricket to learn and grow and have some idea of what he would be in for if he was to play Test cricket.

I picked out some of the juicier bits, but having read the whole extract, I have to agree with Mr. Cricket here. Too much, too soon.

Agar is still only 22, and he plays on arguably the least spin-friendly track in Australia (that breeze called the Fremantle Medical Practitioner does f*ck all in reality), so hopefully he can still turn out to be a decent bowler (and that's always been the intention, for him to be a bowler who can bat a bit). His post-Test stats don't exactly bode well, though:

Agar's FC record at the time of his Test selection - 10 matches, 286.2 overs, 29.39 average, 55.42 strike rate, 3.18 economy rate
Agar's Tests - 2 matches, 84 overs, 124.00 average, 252.00 strike rate, 2.95 economy rate
Agar's FC record since those two Tests (including the first innings of the ongoing Shield fixture) - 28 matches, 946 overs, 45.38 average, 87.38 strike rate, 3.12 economy rate

 

[The 747]

I'd take NCN or Dorff over Hastings personally, would put SMarsh down the order, but aside from that, no faults in those two

No alarms and no surprises please WA guy

 

[The 747]

A lot of people speak of his apparent weaknesses, but then how do you account for his excellent Shield stats? They have shat on every other spinner in the country for years.

Australian batsmen cannot play spin. That Zufi Babar guy ripped through us in the UAE bowling dead straight deliveries and we couldn't cope. That's our Test players.

 

[eth-dog]

O'Keefe is the second best spinner in the country, as much as it pains me to say it. However we only have one spinner that is test standard, and that's Lyon.

 

[Kram]

No alarms and no surprises please WA guy

wot.

 

[eth-dog]

wot.

It's a song called "No Surprises" by Radiohead