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The Cricket Thread

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Brishawk said:
Link? or at least copy over the team? :)

Mine would probably be:
Hayden
Langer
Ponting
G.Chappel (assuming he makes it in the time period)
S.Waugh
Clarke
Gilchrist
Gillespie
Warne
Lillie
McGrath

Honourable mentions to Boarder (can't believe I had to leave him out!), Mark Waugh (amazing player to watch but his penchant for not going on and make big 100's costs him a spot). I felt Gillespie deserves his place even though I suspect others would pick maybe a McDermot or even Bruce Reid. I don't think Lee makes the side despite a great career either. I could be talked out of Gillespie but he was excellent at getting wickets while keeping the runs low allowing Lee, McGrath and Warne to be attacking. I think he could have had more wickets bowling in another era where he was the main main but yeah I could be talked into someone else.
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How do you leave Border out? Averaged over 50 in the era before big bats and was under-utilised for mine as a bowler.
 

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Collins-Langford-Ayres said:
Not seen Steve Waugh then???

Oh I trust the tail end....
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Lol yeah so true!

The only knock I have on Waugh is that his average in the second innings of matches was half that (about 30) of his first innings average(60). But in his younger years he could bowl decent medium pace so I had to have him in the team. Clarke and boarder both bowled the same sort of spin and Clarke's spin was pretty dam good. Shame his back wasn't up to it.
 
Brishawk said:
Link? or at least copy over the team? :)

Mine would probably be:
Hayden
Langer
Ponting
G.Chappel (assuming he makes it in the time period)
S.Waugh
Clarke
Gilchrist
Gillespie
Warne
Lillie
McGrath

Honourable mentions to Boarder (can't believe I had to leave him out!), Mark Waugh (amazing player to watch but his penchant for not going on and make big 100's costs him a spot). I felt Gillespie deserves his place even though I suspect others would pick maybe a McDermot or even Bruce Reid. I don't think Lee makes the side despite a great career either. I could be talked out of Gillespie but he was excellent at getting wickets while keeping the runs low allowing Lee, McGrath and Warne to be attacking. I think he could have had more wickets bowling in another era where he was the main main but yeah I could be talked into someone else.
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Border for Clarke. Held some really poor sides together with his bare hands.
 
Wow, what a test. Smith is in some form.

Interesting that Agar has been named in the squad. Reckon, given this is a dead test, that it's the SCG, the impending Indian tour, he'll slot in at six. Dunno about any of you people but Maddinson looks to have a few too many technical limitations - right now - for test match cricket.
 
Yeah smith is incredible. 1000+ runs for the third year running and his 17th century. So much of his career to go with his best years potentially to come.

Would love to see Lynn get over his shoulder issues and get a go at making six his position. Can bowl off spin and would be able to win matches off his own bat.

Agar is interesting. Is he good enough to bat at six?

I don't think Maddison was in great form when they picked him and it's shown. Used to open for nsw so should have the technique to play at test level but he looks like he has spent a lot of time playing t20.
 

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Brishawk said:
Yeah smith is incredible. 1000+ runs for the third year running and his 17th century. So much of his career to go with his best years potentially to come.

Would love to see Lynn get over his shoulder issues and get a go at making six his position. Can bowl off spin and would be able to win matches off his own bat.

Agar is interesting. Is he good enough to bat at six?

I don't think Maddison was in great form when they picked him and it's shown. Used to open for nsw so should have the technique to play at test level but he looks like he has spent a lot of time playing t20.
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Maddinson was an odd selection. And if the subtext is to be believed, very much a captain's call.

As for Agar, he can hit the ball beautifully,has shots, but he would really need to put it together - and fast - to legitimately claim he can bat in the top six. He might have the raw potential to do that, but would need to develop into that player first!

I'm not a fan of having an all-rounder for the sake of it. Or felxibility. Or freakin' Feng Shui. They need to earn selection, and hold that place, based on being able to do one of the skills as a speciliast.

But with all that being said, we've had absolutely nothing from number 6 for some time now, so having an extra bowler who can bat a bit is ok for a test or two. But is no long-term strategy in my opinion.

As an aside, I reckon if Shaun Marsh does slot in at six, especially in India, I wouldn;t be surprised if Whiteman isn't too far away from being our next keeper. In my view, given some luck and development, he could be in there for a decade.
 
The mcg have reportedly prepared a Mumbai pitch for handscomb to prepare for India. The question I have is why don't all Australian players do this? It's obvious we don't go over prepared for the conditions.

I remember a few years back Philip Hughes wanted to practice his technique against spin ahead of a sub continent tour and the selectors told him to play one day cricket instead. After two tests they dropped him again because he struggled against spin.
 
Brishawk said:
The mcg have reportedly prepared a Mumbai pitch for handscomb to prepare for India. The question I have is why don't all Australian players do this? It's obvious we don't go over prepared for the conditions.

I remember a few years back Philip Hughes wanted to practice his technique against spin ahead of a sub continent tour and the selectors told him to play one day cricket instead. After two tests they dropped him again because he struggled against spin.
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There's a good article on Cricinfo about Handscomb and playing spin - I'll get the link... passed it onto Jnr last night.... give me a minute....

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/story/1074983.html

He seems utterly dedicated.

There was a terrific article recently about the young England opener - Haseeb Hameed - who went back to India and studied at one of their cricket academies. Seemed like he learned a lot. Playing on the dustbowks, against good bowlers etc
 
Brishawk said:
The mcg have reportedly prepared a Mumbai pitch for handscomb to prepare for India. The question I have is why don't all Australian players do this? It's obvious we don't go over prepared for the conditions.

I remember a few years back Philip Hughes wanted to practice his technique against spin ahead of a sub continent tour and the selectors told him to play one day cricket instead. After two tests they dropped him again because he struggled against spin.
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We do seem to have a very arrogant attitude when it comes to preparation for touring the subcontinent.

I remember Abdul Qadir slaying us in 1982 and how poorly prepared our batsman were for playing legspin. Tours to India in 1997 and 2001 (and our most recent one) have shown our deficiencies against quality spin bowling and batting on wearing pitches. These aren't new things yet a rich cricketing nation like Australia doesn't appear to rate it particularly highly. Conversely, Tendulkar prepared for Warne by batting against Shivaramakrishnan in the nets for hours. And it paid dividends.
 

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There have been some very very very very rather ordinary teams tour this country recently !
 
A lot of it has to do with scheduling, and the lack of practice touring teams get when visiting overseas. It's the same for Australia now too, but I miss the days of the 70s & 80's when touring sides played about 5-6 first class matches before the First Test.
 
moginie said:
We do seem to have a very arrogant attitude when it comes to preparation for touring the subcontinent.

I remember Abdul Qadir slaying us in 1982 and how poorly prepared our batsman were for playing legspin.
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And then Qadir came to Australia and got belted. Nothing wrong with how we handled Qadir in Australia. Seems to me that we are so critical of how Australia perform away from home, but not so critical of how other countries perform (or don't perform) in Australia.
 
Adelaide Hawk said:
And then Qadir came to Australia and got belted. Nothing wrong with how we handled Qadir in Australia. Seems to me that we are so critical of how Australia perform away from home, but not so critical of how other countries perform (or don't perform) in Australia.
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We completely reorganised our batting lineup having five left handers in the top seven - a tactic that had never been used against him before.

True, the criticism of Australian teams, because of the very high standards that we have set is probably harsh. But we also have 6 test pitches that are individual. Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi do not have the extreme levels of variation as Sydney, Perth and Adelaide. Which Indian pitches provide that variation? As a rule they are dry, dusty turners with variable pace and bounce. Matt Hayden is the poster boy for a player that worked hard on his technique to succeed in such conditions. I can't think of too many others who have done what he did to succeed.
 

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