evertonfan
Chairman of Selectors
All pessimism aside for this one; we're gonna get utterly mullered.
The South African bowling attack that Phillip Hughes has dominated against over the past 2 weeks, has been stronger then any bowling attack that Chanderpaul has faced over the past 2 years.LOLLOLLOL. You've surpassed yourself there Ben. Chanderpaul not better than Hughes, Katich, Clarke and Hussey? Considering your dependance on averages I thought you'd rate Chanderpaul highly. He's averaged over 100 in his last 2 years, and is averaging 73 this year. He's a class act, and although those players are very talented, there's no way they've achieved more or are better batsmen than Shiv Chanderpaul yet. Chanderpaul averages 48 against Australia, 71 against India, 55 against England, 47 against Sri Lanka, 47 against Sri Lanka, he's a top class batsman. There's no way you can say any of those players bar Ponting are better, or have achieved more than Chanderpaul.
Michael Bevan averaged well over 60 for the majority of his ODI career but he struggled against the bouncer, hence why he didn't have much of a Test career. ODI statistics aren't a true reflection of a batsman talents. Especially middle-order batsman, who bat in the middle-overs of a ODI, where attacking fields aren't set and easy runs are available. Middle-order batsman in ODI's also get knicks and edges that go through slips that run away to the boundry for 4, because you'll rarely, if ever, see a slip in a ODI after the powerplays.King Pietersen said:Sarwan's a class act as well, he's one of the biggest underachievers in the world game. He's been in a real purple patch in this series, failing on only 1 ocassion, with 3 hundreds and a score of 96. He may not be as good a player as some of those mentioned, namely Ponting, Clarke and Hussey, but he's a very talented batsman. Look at his ODi record for example, 141 games, 4594 runs at an average of 44.17, if that's not a class batsman I don't know what is.
Ashley Giles has gotten world-class batsman out aswell.King Pietersen said:Broad's got the good batsmen out on at least 1 occassion in the series, getting Chanderpaul 3 times, and Brendan Nash twice, who's looked a very calm and composed player, and has made some good runs in his early Test career. He's also got Gayle and Sarwan on 1 ocassion. He's bowled fantastically on very batsman friendly pitches, and in England will be far more threatening than he was earlier in his career.
He handled Dale Steyn pretty well and even destroyed him at times. I dunno about you, but the difference between Steyn & Anderson is pretty big.King Pietersen said:As for Anderson troubling Hughes, we'll have to wait and see won't we. No point making sweeping judgements yet as Hughes hasn't played in England, and Anderson's not bowled to Hughes.
I remember foundly watching Brett Lee knock out Chanderpaul with a bouncer. His the only batsman that I've ever seen get knocked out by a bowler whilst being in the form of his life.your a joke kid. Chanders owns everyone in world cricket since 2007, go back and watch the last time Australia was in the Caribbean. Toyed with your best.
The South African bowling attack that Phillip Hughes has dominated against over the past 2 weeks, has been stronger then any bowling attack that Chanderpaul has faced over the past 2 years.
Michael Bevan averaged well over 60 for the majority of his ODI career but he struggled against the bouncer, hence why he didn't have much of a Test career. ODI statistics aren't a true reflection of a batsman talents. Especially middle-order batsman, who bat in the middle-overs of a ODI, where attacking fields aren't set and easy runs are available. Middle-order batsman in ODI's also get knicks and edges that go through slips that run away to the boundry for 4, because you'll rarely, if ever, see a slip in a ODI after the powerplays.
Ashley Giles has gotten world-class batsman out aswell.
He handled Dale Steyn pretty well and even destroyed him at times. I dunno about you, but the difference between Steyn & Anderson is pretty big.
I remember foundly watching Brett Lee knock out Chanderpaul with a bouncer. His the only batsman that I've ever seen get knocked out by a bowler whilst being in the form of his life.
Ian Bell's 199 was at Lords - The so-called "flattest pitch" in England, where the last 6 matches have been drawn. Hughes made twin-hundreds on a pitch where both Graeme Smith & Jacques Kallis had to retire hurt because the ball was spitting off the pitch and they both got collected.Ian Bell scored 199 against an identical attack, is he better than Chanderpaul?. 1 Test Match does not make Hughes a better player than a man that's averaged over 100 in Test cricket in the last 2 years. Chanderpaul also made a hundred in South Africa in 2007, against an attack of Steyn, Ntini, Nel, Kallis and Harris, an attack arguably stronger than one that includes Morne Morkel. He also scored 2 hundreds in a series that included bowlers like Lee, Johnson, MacGill and Clark. He also made a nice 86* against Vaas and Muralitharan. Hughes has played well in 1 Test match, Chanderpaul's been doing it consistently for a number of years, there's no comparison.
Broad has performed well on flat decks against one of the weaker batting lineups in world cricket. How long do you think England will persist with a bowler averaging over 40 in Test Cricket? Especially if he doesn't perform well in the Ashes? Which to me seems very likely...King Pietersen said:Yeh, and your point is? Giles mixed pies with a few decent deliveries and some luck. Broad has bowled brilliantly on incredibly flat decks, and got good players out on a consistent basis. If you think Australia will just milk him for runs, then you'll be in for a shock, he's a much better bowler than he was 5-6 months ago.
South African decks have been the hardest to bat on for the past 10-15, that's why only a handful of players have averaged over 50 in those parts. The likes of Tendulkar, Lara, Dravid and Hayden have all averaged well under their career average in South Africa.King Pietersen said:They're different bowlers. Steyn's got more pace and swing, but Anderson gets more swing, reverses the ball at pace and with no change in action gets the ball to swing both ways. In English conditions, with overcast skies and abit of green on the deck, you'll see the best of James Anderson. Steyn's a far better bowler, but Anderson in England could possibly be more effective!
The thing though is, Pietersen's not at his best currently and Kallis is seemingly past his best.King Pietersen said:Kevin Pietersen looked all at see against 1 92mph Fidel Edwards bouncer on the 4th day of the final Windies Test. Pietersen also incredibly struggled with Lee's bouncer in England in 2005. Jacques Kallis got smacked on the chin by a Mitchell Johnson bouncer and he looked in good touch before that. If a bowler is bowling upwards of 90mph bouncers at your head, there's not alot you can do as a batsman, whether your in good form or not. Loads of batsmen in good form have been hit by quick bouncers, so I don't really know where you're going with that point.
I reckon if Watson is fit and has match fitness bowling, we should select him.
He fits the balance of our team well IMO. We have the 2 openers, Hughes and Katich, then Ponting, Hussey and Clarke. Then we should follow with Haddin then Watson, then the lower order. He is not good enough to be picked on batting alone, so if he doesn't start bowling soon (apparently he plans on bowling around IPL time) I wouldn't take him on tour. He is a solid batsmen, but I don't think he is good enough to bat top 6 in test match cricket, and his bowling could be very valuable. Whilst we wouldn't want any more than 15-20 overs out of him per innings, due to him being so injury prone, that's a good amount of overs each innings. Plenty of time for him to take a few wickets. With 4 main bowlers, the chances are they will be quicks. He should come in for McDonald IMO.
So, this is what I think the Australia side should look like assuming Lee, Clark and Watson have match fitness with the ball.
1. Katich
2. Hughes
3. Ponting
4. Hussey
5. Clarke
6. Haddin
7. Watson
8. Johnson
9. Lee
10. Siddle
11. Clark
Clarke and Katich will provide the spin in that team. Trouble is working out who to drop if we get a real, spinning dustbowl kind of wicket where a spinner is absolutely necessary.
I get the feeling Hussey doesn't have that long left in the test series. I really hope he kicks on in this series, because I like watching him bat when in form. He is one of the best in the world, his average over 80 for a while during the 2007/08 summer proves that. Even if he bats poorly during this series, I think the selectors will persist with him until during or after the Pakistan test series, then they will finally make the call to drop him.
I remember foundly watching Brett Lee knock out Chanderpaul with a bouncer. His the only batsman that I've ever seen get knocked out by a bowler whilst being in the form of his life.