What to expect this summer

[Bastians]

just constant pressure on our middle order i think.
It is pretty fragile. Its all good past haddin though. Tail can bat

Just need someone in the middle order who can consolidate if we lose early wickets. Thats what Mike Hussey was good at, until his form drop. These days, if we lose an early wicket or 2, a lot falls on Clarke, and if he goes, pretty much the entire batting lineup crumbles around him. Sure the tail can score runs, but you cant always rely upon the tail to push the score from 240 to 300.

Thats why i liked the look of Cowan as an opener. Sure he didnt make enormous scores, but he would generaly last a while, and that would make it easier for the 1st drop and middle order to come out an face a slightly older ball.

 

[mansize rooster]

word.
a 35 from 90 balls or whatever is damn valuable up the top from him.
should convert some though
hope he has a good summer, i like him

 

[Bastians]

should convert some though
hope he has a good summer, i like him

Pretty much this, would be great for him to convert once in a while.
Im not sold on warner as an opener either. I rekon watson and cowan could make a pretty decent opening partnership. Cowan can stick around, and Watson can score a decent amount of runs at a decent rate. Although he need to convert his starts a bit more himself. Cowan and Watson has potential, but warner gets bums on seats, and as much as id hate to say it, that would have some degree of importance in the selectors minds.

 

[Doodlesweaver]

Pretty much this, would be great for him to convert once in a while.
Im not sold on warner as an opener either. I rekon watson and cowan could make a pretty decent opening partnership. Cowan can stick around, and Watson can score a decent amount of runs at a decent rate. Although he need to convert his starts a bit more himself. Cowan and Watson has potential, but warner gets bums on seats, and as much as id hate to say it, that would have some degree of importance in the selectors minds.

Cowan is only the answer at present as batting stocks are so low. Does anyone actually like watching him bat? He looks worse than Paul Collingwood. Completely graceless with bat in hand. I wouldn't care if he got on with it, but as it is...

 

[Ducky Tie]

and as much as id hate to say it, that would have some degree of importance in the selectors minds.

Why would the selectors give a shit about that?

 

[Bastians]

Why would the selectors give a shit about that?

I just rekon they'd possibly be getting pressured from above about including certain players that are going to attract more spectators. Im not saying that its happening, but its something that wouldnt surprise me. Low crowrds are a bad look and a bad advertisment for the game.

 

[mansize rooster]

Cowan is only the answer at present as batting stocks are so low. Does anyone actually like watching him bat? He looks worse than Paul Collingwood. Completely graceless with bat in hand. I wouldn't care if he got on with it, but as it is...

jonathan trott is a plodder to but look at his stats over the last year!
not every player can look mint. Its about doing the buisness!

 

[mansize rooster]

I just rekon they'd possibly be getting pressured from above about including certain players that are going to attract more spectators. Im not saying that its happening, but its something that wouldnt surprise me. Low crowrds are a bad look and a bad advertisment for the game.

yep, sad but true
guys like Warner would have to have a MEGA SLUMP to be dropped.

if Cowan does not get passed 50 in the first test he is pretty much gone

 

[Ducky Tie]

if Cowan does not get passed 50 in the first test he is pretty much gone

I think he'll get more than one test, no matter what his results are.

 

[Dont be a lemon]

- more talk than usual about the TV rights

I wouldn't expect anything to change.

Seven/Ten only want the ODI/T20 forms. CA probably wouldn't want to 'split the brand' and risk Test coverage falling down.

And Nine's commentators will completely avoid the topic until it's officially done

 

[Doodlesweaver]

jonathan trott is a plodder to but look at his stats over the last year!
not every player can look mint. Its about doing the buisness!

Or don't look at his stats over the last year. The year before that, ok I'm with you, but anyway it isn't about Cowan being a plodder, it's about him being as ugly a batsman as I've seen play for Aus.

If he was scoring runs, he could look like one-legged donkey playing hopscotch for all I care, but it's just rubbing it in when you look like shite and don't score much on top of that.

 

[saj_21]

We seriously need some blokes at state level to stand up and have big summers, our biggest hope is Khawaja stands up as we need some youth in the middle order.
Cowan turning starts into 70+ scores and 100's
Watson turning 50's into 100's
I am expecting Haddin to fill the keepers role this summer. Should Wade be an option at 6, specialist batsmen if Ponting/Hussey fail or someone is injured. He has looked more capable than Huges or Khawaja in the last 12 months.
Tough battle against South Africa, and we should account for the Sri Lankans

 

[Carbine Chaos]

I would not be surprised to see Brad Haddin make a test 100 this summer.

 

[damochandler]

we'll get hammered by the african, brittle midle order and not so solid openers. we'll beat the sri lankans and everyone will think we ARE GOING WELL

 

[ioppolo]

Wouldn't surprise me to see the Windies topple us in the ODI series.

Looking foward to seeing Gayle back here too.

 

[damochandler]

also expect a camera m,an to fall off one of those scooters and the whole 9 commentary team will try and be funny and do what the cameraman did lik healy did last year

 

[Gough]

Summer will be over by the beginning of December. Tests against South Africa will be great, ODI's and Tests against West Indies and Sri Lanka don't fill me with any sense of anticipation.

 

[djrossie16]

Summer will be over by the beginning of December. Tests against South Africa will be great, ODI's and Tests against West Indies and Sri Lanka don't fill me with any sense of anticipation.

Maybe even earlier than that!

 

[Ducky Tie]

Hopefully a lot of this

 

[AM]

I would not be surprised to see Brad Haddin make a test 100 this summer.

Bound to - with NSW.

 

[Ducky Tie]

Bound to - with NSW.

I fear you have too much faith in our selectors.

 

[Bastians]

I fear you have too much faith in our selectors.

He'll get a bunch of dud scores, as expected, then get one decent score, as expected, then get a free ride for the next 12 months, when this event will repeat itself.

 

[iDon]

Underdone state players being called into the test team on the back of the big bash/20-20 games they play. Ridiculous we don't schedule shield games in this period, nov - jan without it. Joke

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Underdone state players being called into the test team on the back of the big bash/20-20 games they play. Ridiculous we don't schedule shield games in this period, nov - jan without it. Joke

Agreed, although its not so bad this season as the Tests finish earlier. Last summer, with Tests extended until late January it was horrendous scheduling to try and pick any replacement Test player for. There was basically a whole month with no first class form to use as a guide, and a lot can change in a month when a guy has adapted his game to play T20.

 

[Kyptastic]

Agreed, although its not so bad this season as the Tests finish earlier. Last summer, with Tests extended until late January it was horrendous scheduling to try and pick any replacement Test player for. There was basically a whole month with no first class form to use as a guide, and a lot can change in a month when a guy has adapted his game to play T20.

Yeah, they stuck with Marsh even though he was horribly out of form because there was no Shield cricket to pick a replacement from (eg. Khawaja and Hughes were dropped and had to go straight into T20 cricket without having the chance to work out their issues in the Shield).

Big problem with this season is that noone has really come out and said 'pick me' in the two rounds there have been so far, at least someone who has been close to the Test team in the last couple of years. Henriques is probably the best performing batsman and he's away for another 2 weeks at the Champions League.