The Cricket Thread

[Thaihawk]

Great effort Peter Siddle. Two fifties among some pretty weak batting.

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

Siddle top scores twice in this test for the Aussies.

Also gives him more 50s for the series than Hughes, Wade, Cowan, Tendulkar, and Watson

Shows how good our batting has been this series

 

[Garf]

India are trying to find a way to make this Test a close one !

 

[Henry Jr]

A predictable ending to a predicable tour (in my eyes anyway).

So, going forward to the Ashes, what did we find out players on this tour?

Maxwell - nup
Moises - undecided
Special K - we still don't know even after more than half the team not averaging 30
Smith - I don't think he's suited to English conditions by would get exposed in Eng for mine. Had a good tour.
Warner - Is Warner. Will be Anderson's bunny
Cowan - Surprised me to be honest. I thought he would have struggled big time.
Watson - Soft as dogshit
X.Doh - nup


Thought our bowlers did the best they could considering what we had available.

 

[Garf]

But on the bright side the Indian bowlers have played Sids, Lyon and Patto into some batting form.

Not a lot to come out of this tour really, just quite a lot of uncertainties. You think Pup will play IPL now ?

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Batsmen are just pathetic. They don't have to bowl, most of them stand around in slip all day picking their noses, meanwhile tailenders are doing all the bowling, chasing down balls in the outfield and ... scoring most of the runs. Come on batsies, how about earning your keep for a change?

 

[Messenger]

You think Pup will play IPL now ?

He shouldn't, but I'm sure he will.

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

A predictable ending to a predicable tour (in my eyes anyway).

So, going forward to the Ashes, what did we find out players on this tour?

Maxwell - nup
Moises - undecided
Special K - we still don't know even after more than half the team not averaging 30
Smith - I don't think he's suited to English conditions by would get exposed in Eng for mine. Had a good tour.
Warner - Is Warner. Will be Anderson's bunny
Cowan - Surprised me to be honest. I thought he would have struggled big time.
Watson - Soft as dogshit
X.Doh - nup


Thought our bowlers did the best they could considering what we had available.

Of the tourists:
Cowan - Secured his spot for the Ashes. Values his wicket. More Geoff Marsh than Matthew Hayden but we need tough players like him. One guy who's value went up on tour
Warner - How do you solve a problem like Dave Warner? you get what you get. Time has to come where he puts scores together consistantly.
Hughes - I have more and more confidance that this guy will be a long term at 3. Rebounded back from his crap start, and I think will learn the most from the tour.
Watson - Still not convinced. If he's not bowling, then he's not carrying his weight in the team. Lacks the mental toughness it seems to bat long periods. Will be on the Ashes tour, but has to bowl or nothing
Clarke - Gun.
Wade - Thought his keeping improved from the summer. STill not great. Made some runs here and there, missed a game. For mine still our number 1 keeper for his batting. Ashes ticket assured
Maxwell - I don't mind what Maxxy brings to the table.....for victoria. Needs to play for at least another season in Shield cricket, and would suggest he spend a season or two in County to work on his craft. has talent but raw. Should never have played test cricket at this stage
Johnson - Depth player
Siddle - Like him or lump him, he continues to perform when we need him. I reckon in a year or trwo he'll be overtaken, but right now, deserves to lead the attack
Pattinson - Gun. Our best quick by some margin. He is the most important bowler come the ashes
Lyon - He's bowled well, he often bowls well, in fact, he bowls well nearly everytime he bowls. He's just that threatening on wickets that don't dust up. Good containment option if our quicks can get on song

Henriques - Great debut, heck all else. Bowling lack penetration, batting dropped off badly. Reckon he'll be on the plane to England, but another than needs time in both Shield and County cricket to develop his craft
Smith - Great tour from him to be honest. Actually impressed and surprised. Valued his wicket, toughed it out when needed, posted some good scores. Not convinced he's an Ashes tourist on seaming wickets, but probalby done enough out of a bad bunch to get a go
Starc - Ashes Certainty really if his ankle holds, purely based on his batting!! I think he'll like the swinging seaming bowler friendly wickets he'll see........a lot than our top order will
Doherty - Look on the bright side X.....you got a free trip to india. Hope you got a chance to see the Taj Mahal (in between your homework breaks) so at least you can take something from the tour
Khawaja - What can you say about Ussie. On the fringe of the side, a chance to play, and you're too lazy to make a comments on the three points the coach wanted. Could turn out to be a mammoth heck up son. Get a county contract, even a second tier one, and just start making runs, and runs and more runs, and work on your bowling too as we know that certainly helps.
Haddin - Will tour England, probably should if we are looking forward, but good enough to hold his spot again. would be nice to see a Hartley or Paine go, for experience anda different voice, point of view etc, but Hadds is handy to have

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

He shouldn't, but I'm sure he will.

Think of all the back meds, and rub he could afford with an extra $1mil large in your sky rocket

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

This is an australian a side i would take over to england early (if they'll let us). Taking 15 players so we can rotate some as that's the cool thing to do these days

Scott Henry (NSW)
Usman Khawaja (QLD)
Alex Doolan (Tas)
Peter Forrest (QLD)
Steve Smtih (NSW)
Joe Burns (Qld)
Chris Hartley (C) (QLD)
Coulter-Nile (WA)
C Sayer (Adel)
G Puntland (SA)
F Ahmed (Vic) - assuming he's naturalised, if not
C Boyce (QLD)

Squad players
Nic Maddinson (NSW)
Michael Hill (VIC)
Luke Butterworth (Tas)
James Franklin (Tas)
Jon Holland (Vic)

Other considerations would be Sandhu, Zampa, Cummins, just to get them some more cricket under their belts

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Warner - Is Warner. Will be Anderson's bunny

That could certainly happen, but it could also go the other way. I'd definitely have Warner in the 1st Test because if he gets off to one of his blinders, he could dent Anderson's confidence and give the Aussies a major edge. Worth the gamble I think.

 

[Brishawk]

This series highlighted a few things for me:

1. Our batsman do not value their wickets enough and are undisciplined.
2. The selectors had a shocking tour. Dropping Lyon for no reason. Playing Doherty ahead of Maxwell as the second spinner. Playing Doherty at all. Dropping Patterson. Not picking Special K. Picking Watson based on one day form. Making Watson Captain. Taking Starc to India when he needed surgery.
3. Our team lacks mental toughness and heart. Siddle needs to be picked on heart alone as the rest of the squad are a bunch of soft c__ks.
4. Believe it or not, Maxwell was our best bowler . . .

Player​

MatInnsOversMdnsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR510CtSt​

GJ Maxwell​

2 3 41.0 2 193 7 4/127 4/127 27.57 4.70 35.1 0 0 2 0​

JL Pattinson​

3 5 79.0 19 250 9 5/96 6/109 27.77 3.16 52.6 1 0 0 0​

PM Siddle​

4 6 110.4 27 305 9 5/71 6/105 33.88 2.75 73.7 1 0 0 0​

NM Lyon​

3 6 127.1 9 560 15 7/94 9/165 37.33 4.40 50.8 1 0 1 0​

XJ Doherty​

2 3 77.1 25 242 4 3/131 3/131 60.50 3.13 115.7 0 0 2 0​

SPD Smith​

2 1 10.0 0 63 1 1/63 1/63 63.00 6.30 60.0 0 0 1 0​

MC Henriques​

3 3 53.0 12 155 2 1/48 1/48 77.50 2.92 159.0 0 0 1 0​

MA Starc​

2 3 58.3 9 200 2 2/74 2/125 100.00 3.41 175.5 0 0 1 0​

MJ Clarke​

3 1 8.0 2 25 0 - - - 3.12 - 0 0 2 0​

DA Warner​

4 2 4.0 0 33 0 - - - 8.25 - 0 0 0 0​

MG Johnson​

1 2 19.0 3 60 0 - - - 3.15 - 0 0 0 0​

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

Geez, Mitch Starc's figures look really really bad when looking at that.

Shows that figures can be misleading, if Maxwell was a better bowler during the series than Pattinson, then I'll give up watching cricket

 

[Langford4FBOTC]

Wonder how many players from the shield finalist teams will make the Ashes squad?
Faulkner, Burns, Harris, Forrest, Bailey, Paine......

Actually, on the basis that S Watson shouldn't be in the team, let alone as vice captain, I'd seriously consider drafting in Bailey as vc.

 

[grizzlym]

Wonder how many players from the shield finalist teams will make the Ashes squad?
Faulkner, Burns, Harris, Forrest, Bailey, Paine......

Actually, on the basis that S Watson shouldn't be in the team, let alone as vice captain, I'd seriously consider drafting in Bailey as vc.

I reckon the Tasmanian Shield side would have given our test side in India a decent run!

 

[Henry Jr]

Wonder how many players from the shield finalist teams will make the Ashes squad?
Faulkner, Burns, Harris, Forrest, Bailey, Paine......

Actually, on the basis that S Watson shouldn't be in the team, let alone as vice captain, I'd seriously consider drafting in Bailey as vc.

Faulkner for sure. I'd have him on the boat to England.

 

[MinerBoy]

I'd just like to see some guys who strike me as 'traditional' long form batsmen. Not party batsmen. God I hate T20 cricket. Don't like it's impact on cricket, all the way down to club level where I'm playing. It's rubbish.

 

[Brishawk]

Faulkner for sure. I'd have him on the boat to England.

He doesn't seem quick enough for test level although his figures do really stand up at FC level. Probably better to play him as the 5th bowler than Moises.

I'd be interested in taking Burn over there. Hope he makes some runs in the second innings and leads the bulls to victory

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

My only issue with Faulkner, and I actually wouldn't mind him in the side, but he would need to be chosen as a batsman or bowler, and let the other discipline be sugar on top. This fascination with an allrounder has to stop. Unless you have one who is good enough to warrant a spot in the side on one discipline alone, then you are taking up a spot for a player who would do better in that spot.

In saying that, Faulkner averages lows 20s with the ball in shield cricket. It's actually bloody good.

But take him to England, and in the event we get a raging seamer, play 4-5 quicks with Faulkner in the side then.

 

[Henry Jr]

He doesn't seem quick enough for test level although his figures do really stand up at FC level. Probably better to play him as the 5th bowler than Moises.

I'd be interested in taking Burn over there. Hope he makes some runs in the second innings and leads the bulls to victory

Pace is not the be all and end all. Look at MJ.. bowls 150kph. Im guessing Faulkner moves the ball in the air or off the pitch. I know which one batsman would be more worried about.

 

[grizzlym]

So Watson has now come out that he has to play as an all-rounder...

"One thing I have realised, even in the first few Test matches, is how much I do miss bowling and it has been a plan over the last two or three months just to get my body to a position where I can get back into bowling again and hopefully hold together for the cricket we have coming up.


"There is no doubt coming here as a specialist batsman has not worked out anywhere near where I wanted it to.

"I haven't scored anywhere near the runs I wanted to, to be able to help the team out - it didn't work in that regard, but in the end I am an allrounder, I love being an allrounder. At times, it has been hard not to bowl knowing what I can contribute to the game, and it keeps me involved in the game."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...ball-watson-says/story-e6frg7rx-1226605796406

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

Like it or lump it, if he doesn;t make runs, he still doesn't justify his spot. He'd have to take a lot of wickets to honestly justify being in the team, and I doubt he would bowl that much

 

[grizzlym]

Like it or lump it, if he doesn;t make runs, he still doesn't justify his spot. He'd have to take a lot of wickets to honestly justify being in the team, and I doubt he would bowl that much

If one good thing that could come out of the tour would be the selectors stopping this freakin' obsession with all-rounders.

 

[Simon_Nesbit]

Either that or ply your trade for QLD Shane.

FWIW, Faulkner can tip the 140 mark pretty regularly when it suits. He's just found so much more success with the 'trick' balls, but has a good yorker (not as good as Starc) and a very good bouncer, both of which are >140k.

 

[Langford4FBOTC]

I've been a big wrap for Faulkner for a while. Definitely 4th seamer material. Batting is a bonus with him and as he showed down in Hobart, can make runs under pressure.