The selectors

[Ill Chicken]

Didn't Shane Watson say he had a sore calf before the Boxing Day test, then played and ended up injured. So they follow a numbers game but when a player actually has an injury they play him?

 

[Mateyman]

Treat a pitch with kid gloves and it will be a soft as butter and shit itself under pressure.

so suddenly the pitch will start performing poorly when the game gets close? More shooters etc.?

 

[Tyberious Funk]

Article in The Age giving the selectors a bit of a roast for Hughes preparation...

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/hughes-coach-blames-hierarchy-20130309-2fsu2.html

Highlights a couple of issues. Firstly, the selectors weren't prepared to accomodate Hughes taking on board one-on-one coaching, specifically aimed at Indian conditions. And secondly, they concede they considered sending him to India early, but decided it was better to keep him playing some mickey mouse one-dayers.

I don't really know much about D'Costa, except that he was Clarke's coach for a long time, and i reportedly responsible for Hughes resurgence, as well as working with Nick Compton. More importantly, he's actually working over in India, leading one of their cricket academies. So, y'know', he might actually know a thing or two about playing in Indian conditions. Probably more so than Mickey Arthur or Michael DiVenuto.

 

[Ill Chicken]

I don't think what D'Costa is saying, has any merit. Hughes has been making first class runs at Shield level consistently since his debut. He had a poor start to the 2010/11 season but was reasonably good season by the end. You can replicate Indian spin conditions in Australia fairly easily. Hughes was one of the few guys absent in Darwin where they had pitches favouring spin specifically made in the middle of last year.

 

[Team DJ]

Hughes shouldve gone over to India to prepare over there rather then playing stupid ODIs.
That has some merit

 

[western royboy]

Article in The Age giving the selectors a bit of a roast for Hughes preparation...

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/hughes-coach-blames-hierarchy-20130309-2fsu2.html

Highlights a couple of issues. Firstly, the selectors weren't prepared to accomodate Hughes taking on board one-on-one coaching, specifically aimed at Indian conditions. And secondly, they concede they considered sending him to India early, but decided it was better to keep him playing some mickey mouse one-dayers.

I don't really know much about D'Costa, except that he was Clarke's coach for a long time, and i reportedly responsible for Hughes resurgence, as well as working with Nick Compton. More importantly, he's actually working over in India, leading one of their cricket academies. So, y'know', he might actually know a thing or two about playing in Indian conditions. Probably more so than Mickey Arthur or Michael DiVenuto.

I'll come from another angle. D'Costa has been Hughes coach for a long time. He was the guy who advised "just go with it" when some others where suggesting he had a major flaw in his technique after the poms exploited him in 2009. We are half way through a series, as far as we know Hughes hasn't been dropped yet, so why would you come out with a statement such as this? How can this help Phil Hughes at this point in time.

A wise man onec told me "don't complain - don't explain" when dealing with the media, it was sage advice and one Mr D'Costa should consider adopting. As for Phil, he's a big boy now, to get everything right he'll still need some advice, but the key to becoming a great batter at any level is being able to get a routine and become your own coach. You can't just run for the personal coach everytime you hit a snag and get him to defend you. It's almost an admission of defeat and as I have highlighted in other posts, not too many players have ever got four shots at making it as a test match player. Only Hughes' youth and run scoring ability at the domestic level give him any hope if he get's dropped again, because plenty of others have had their papers stamped "NTBS". Comments from Mr D'Costa will not help the current situation.

 

[Ill Chicken]

I can't see how 4 days of one on one coaching over there would make any difference, appears to be someone trying to spruik their coaching ability.