Australia A tour of Zimbabwe

[cricketmad09]

You also want to see how those fringe players are performing against better opposition to help determine if they are good enough to play for Australia. Giving guys like Swan and McDonald a chance to prove themselves would show the selectors whether or not they can make immediate impact in the Australian side.

But players with poor OD records such as Butterworth, O'Keefe and Copeland are playing in the one day team. Not very consistent.

Copeland should never play for Australia. He's only bowls these dinky little military medium pacers. I don't know how he manages to take wickets at first class level bowling less than 120km/h but I severely doubt he'll be able to get away with it against international sides.

 

[War]

Copeland should never play for Australia. He's only bowls these dinky little military medium pacers. I don't know how he manages to take wickets at first class level bowling less than 120km/h but I severely doubt he'll be able to get away with it against international sides.

Damn is he really that slow?. Although i never saw him bowl with speedguns, he certainly didnt look that slow the few times i saw him bowl on live dream of domestic matches.

 

[Chewie]

I heard he was in the 120-130 km/hr range? NZ international bowlers seem to take wickets at that speed (though not a whole lot...) and I think he'd have more skill at making the ball move, etc. than some of ours so...

 

[aussie1st]

In one of the games he was definitely under 120km/h but I suspect he will be above 120 if he gets to play for Aus. Still there must be something about him to be able to take the wickets at the rate he has.

 

[cricketmad09]

I watched the Sheffield Shield final on TV and he was for the most part bowling just a tad under 120km/h. Saw him in a few domestic one dayers bowling the same speed. He bowls a good line and length. I suspect he can get the ball to swing/seam around although I haven't really seen him do that yet. Bit regardless of your line and length I don't see how that speed can take wickets against the worlds best.

 

[aussie1st]

I agree, I've always been one that likes a bowler to be above 130km/h at the very least. However I'm happy to try Copeland out at the next level and see how he goes because of his record so far which he has done over 2 seasons. The problem for him is he sucks in the shorter formats which is usually what the selectors use to test out a player so if he is picked it will have to be in Test cricket.

 

[sifter132]

Copeland should never play for Australia. He's only bowls these dinky little military medium pacers. I don't know how he manages to take wickets at first class level bowling less than 120km/h but I severely doubt he'll be able to get away with it against international sides.

Personally, I'd LOVE to see a guy of his speed play for Aus. Of course it's contingent on how the batsmen would play him, but at the moment it's like we've just picked the 9 fastest bowlers in the country to get a contract, which is not really what cricket is all about. The slowest contracted bowler we've got must be Hilfenhaus or Bollinger and both can hit 140kph on their day. Even the non-contracted guys who play T20 have all been speedsters: Tait & Nannes. Speed helps, but give me quality over quantity please, especially when no one in the country can find a decent line and length consistently.

 

[cricketmad09]

If he was around 130km/h maybe, but I don't see how 120km/h military mediums are going to penetrate the defenses of Alistair Cook, Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Sachin Tendulkar.

 

[angryangy]

I can see both sides. I'd liked to think a freaking slow seamer can do it, but I really doubt it.

 

[Doodlesweaver]

Personally, I'd LOVE to see a guy of his speed play for Aus. Of course it's contingent on how the batsmen would play him, but at the moment it's like we've just picked the 9 fastest bowlers in the country to get a contract, which is not really what cricket is all about. The slowest contracted bowler we've got must be Hilfenhaus or Bollinger and both can hit 140kph on their day. Even the non-contracted guys who play T20 have all been speedsters: Tait & Nannes. Speed helps, but give me quality over quantity please, especially when no one in the country can find a decent line and length consistently.

Yes please. Mo Asif and Zaheer Khan are hardly pace merchants but they can hit a lovely line and use the seam like a dream. Such under-rated qualities. Our bowlers never bowl as a team and never seem to help each other out by buliding pressure. They are all busy trying to bowl wicket-taking deliveries. It can make for quite disgusting viewing as in the Ashes. I'd probably weep if I watched an Aus team in the field where the bowlers made the batsmen really think about what they were doing nearly every ball, instead of 'will I help that half-volley on the pads down to fine leg' or 'will I belt that short wide trash square to the boundary?'

 

[angryangy]

It seems that Aus A are sensing superiority and progressively decreasing their batting order as the series goes on. In the last game, Wade and Maddinson got a run, but weren't required to bat; now they're not even selected in a team that has basically 3 batsmen.

 

[aussie1st]

Asif was high 120s to mid 130s, Khan is easily over 130km/h hence their pace is just in the right range for their other attributes to be effective. Harder to say on Copeland if he is bowling in the low 120s aka McDonald pace.

Looks like we got a batting friendly wicket, nice to see different types of wickets being prepared. Mitch Marsh bowling has come along nicely, going pretty well to bowl more economically than Hastings and Butterworth. This will give the batsmen a good test.

 

[angryangy]

If only the batsmen had been picked.

 

[Doodlesweaver]

If only the batsmen had been picked.

Meh, who needs 'em when you have the mighty Nathan Lyon at 11?

Wade is injured, don't know what's happening with Maddinson, must be injury or illness as well.

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Asif was high 120s to mid 130s, Khan is easily over 130km/h hence their pace is just in the right range for their other attributes to be effective. Harder to say on Copeland if he is bowling in the low 120s aka McDonald pace.

Looks like we got a batting friendly wicket, nice to see different types of wickets being prepared. Mitch Marsh bowling has come along nicely, going pretty well to bowl more economically than Hastings and Butterworth. This will give the batsmen a good test.

McDonald isn't that slow. He can bowl mid 80's without too much strain.

 

[angryangy]

Next game they'll have to replace osos and Ferg with Sid and Hilfy.