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Wasted Talent

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STC

STC

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It seems clear that with no one in serious form at the moment in the Shield, our depth has suddenly gone to zero - by the end of this Ashes series, we will have seen just about everyone in or around our best XI play test cricket, and it won't have been enough to win the Ashes.

The 2005 loss was a shock, but at that time I felt confident we had the youth to rebound. I felt we still had the depth and was willing to blame the selectors for just not picking the right team after the 2009 loss. But now, it seems crystal clear that we don't have the talent. So what happened - was I mistaken, or did we waste the opportunity to integrate seriously talented youth into our team over the years so that we wouldn't be in a situation where suddenly, we have no test quality youth.

Here's a list of players I can think of who, at one stage or another, looked like future stars, but have seen slid into oblivion, either because they weren't selected at the right time or because of injuries, or a combination of both:
-Phil Jaques - selected too late
-Marcus North - too late
-Chris Rogers - overlooked
-Matthew Elliot - another great Victorian batsman who didn't get enough of a chance
-Jimmy Maher - similar story to Elliot
-Brad Hodge - selected late, dropped early
-Mark Cosgrove - given an ODI taste but fell into oblivion afterwards
-Ashley Noffke - was thereabouts for a long time but overlooked and then injured
-Dave Hussey - combination of being overlooked and disappointing ODI form
-Cameron White - Up and down, but clearly a talent and was maybe worth fast tracking 5 years ago as a batsman rather than as a spinner.
-Andrew McDonald - Given a taste but now being overlooked again despite some incredible form
-Michael Klinger - in the form of his life for a while, never even considered
-Dan Cullen - from a test debut he fell completely off the face of the earth

What other potential quality test cricketers did we waste?
 
Cameron White still has a chance I feel, just so long as the selectors get him into the test side. Smashed Tremlett and Bresnan on a massive swinging deck in Hobart, whilst Clarke, Ponting, Hussey, Smith and co have struggled against them.
 
I don't think the selectors play on the safe side with their choices. Sure I'm all for giving the Shield stars a go, but some of them (maybe all) might 'do a Doherty' and get smacked around and end up been bagged the crap out of.
 

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STC said:
It seems clear that with no one in serious form at the moment in the Shield, our depth has suddenly gone to zero - by the end of this Ashes series, we will have seen just about everyone in or around our best XI play test cricket, and it won't have been enough to win the Ashes.

The 2005 loss was a shock, but at that time I felt confident we had the youth to rebound. I felt we still had the depth and was willing to blame the selectors for just not picking the right team after the 2009 loss. But now, it seems crystal clear that we don't have the talent. So what happened - was I mistaken, or did we waste the opportunity to integrate seriously talented youth into our team over the years so that we wouldn't be in a situation where suddenly, we have no test quality youth.

Here's a list of players I can think of who, at one stage or another, looked like future stars, but have seen slid into oblivion, either because they weren't selected at the right time or because of injuries, or a combination of both:
-Phil Jaques - selected too late
-Marcus North - too late
-Chris Rogers - overlooked
-Matthew Elliot - another great Victorian batsman who didn't get enough of a chance
-Jimmy Maher - similar story to Elliot
-Brad Hodge - selected late, dropped early
-Mark Cosgrove - given an ODI taste but fell into oblivion afterwards
-Ashley Noffke - was thereabouts for a long time but overlooked and then injured
-Dave Hussey - combination of being overlooked and disappointing ODI form
-Cameron White - Up and down, but clearly a talent and was maybe worth fast tracking 5 years ago as a batsman rather than as a spinner.
-Andrew McDonald - Given a taste but now being overlooked again despite some incredible form
-Michael Klinger - in the form of his life for a while, never even considered
-Dan Cullen - from a test debut he fell completely off the face of the earth

What other potential quality test cricketers did we waste?
Click to expand...

'too late' can be said for a lot, no point whining about Elliott and Jaques (or Slater for that matter) unless you think that Hayden and Langer were unsuccessful and one should have been dropped.

Lehmann should have played much earlier, but who do you drop? Martin Love proved he could bat, but once again, even Mark Waugh started 5 years after his brother did. Bevan, Blewett, Hodge, Law, Moody, Di Venuto, Cox, Siddons, Maher, Hussey x 2 were all just desperately unlucky to have been born at the wrong time in Australian cricket, some got a chance, some didn't and some started later than their talent suggested they would of.

Worryingly we have gotten into this rut of selection 28-31yo's for their test debut, this is a by product of that success.
 
We're wasting Nathan Hauritz right now.

Sheffield Shield 2010/11

Nathan Hauritz (New South Wales)
6 Games

19 Wickets
26.78 Average
56.6 Strike Rate
2.83 Economy Rate

332 Runs
47.42 Average
48.53 Strike Rate
2 100s/0 50s

What more does he have to f*****g do?
 
Isnt Cosgrove averaging nearly 60 in shield cricket this year.

In the 80's early 90's he would be playing.

On one hand you shouldn't need a 6 pack to play test cricket, on the other hand theres no reason the guy cant get in better shape.
 

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Thread is simply screaming for Martin Love.

Rated this guy very, very highly. Probably born 2-3 years too early, but I'd have had him in the squad for a lot longer. Champion.
 
Furn said:
On one hand you shouldn't need a 6 pack to play test cricket, on the other hand theres no reason the guy cant get in better shape.
Click to expand...

The bloke shouldn't have to be He-man but he is just plain fat, such a waste. I know some people struggle with weight but if you are only a step away from playing at the highest level what more incentive do you need?
 
Stuart MacGill says hi.

Was/is a tosser, but had it not been for the Great SK Warne, SCG MacGill would have taken 500+ Test wickets.
 
Kim Hagdorn said:
Move to NSW, oh wait..
Click to expand...

:D

Agree with Johnson #26 - Martin Love was a class act, among a Bulls line up with some good batsmen in it. Just happy he got at least to play some tests, unlike Jimmy Maher.

The other one is Tait - gee, he could have been anything if his body/mind was willing to play all three forms of the game.
 

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Most of the guys mentioned were simply not good enough to get a game in the sides we had at the time. When you have as much depth as we had it's inevitable that talent goes to waste. However, now we must make sure that we use all the talent we have available by blooding our talented youngersters as soon as possible so they can develop into what we hope will be our future team.
 
How has Luke Pomersbach name avoided this thred thus far. You only need to watch him to know how naturally gifted with the bat he is that if he only did some serious work to go along with it he would have the number 6 spot his own in the test team but alas it is not going to be.
 
CAS79 said:
How has Luke Pomersbach name avoided this thred thus far. You only need to watch him to know how naturally gifted with the bat he is that if he only did some serious work to go along with it he would have the number 6 spot his own in the test team but alas it is not going to be.
Click to expand...

He must have the dodgiest temperament. He and Shaun Marsh - the kings of throwing away their wickets on nothing deliveries.
 
CAS79 said:
How has Luke Pomersbach name avoided this thred thus far. You only need to watch him to know how naturally gifted with the bat he is that if he only did some serious work to go along with it he would have the number 6 spot his own in the test team but alas it is not going to be.
Click to expand...

typical of the younger generation of cricketers an its only going to get worse as 20\20s take over.

Plenty of talent around in the younger players they just want everything NOW but arent prepared to get their hands dirty by working hard for it.
Just look at M Hussey i heard he asked someone for advice in his early days on what he needs to do to make the aus side, jokingly the person replied spend x amount of hours a day practicing(cant remember amount but it was stupidly high an impossible).
But Hussey took it on board an would spend hours an hours a day in nets perfecting his game an still does it now.

Younger guys just arent prepared to put in that kind of work.
An when they go out an bat they want 100 Now they arent prepared to go out anwork hard to reach the 100.

With 20\20 taking over gonna be even harder to find test batsmen
 
Furn said:
Isnt Cosgrove averaging nearly 60 in shield cricket this year.

In the 80's early 90's he would be playing.

On one hand you shouldn't need a 6 pack to play test cricket, on the other hand theres no reason the guy cant get in better shape.
Click to expand...

He's never been able to unfortunately

A couple of guys i went to school with played district cricket against him (they were much better than me) and said he was the best batsman in our age group but was just plain lazy

He has such a good eye, and could have (and still could, but its unlikely) done so much with his career
 
cossie is a great player imo.

you can play him in any format for aus and he will do well. however just let him bat dont make him field. he is by no means the worst fielder around that goes to phil jaques.
 

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