Australia & South Africa's tour of Zimbabwe August-September 2014

[SpitfiresKent]

This is bullshit.

@IanG nice photo, can anyone identify the three in that picture? It's a bit before my time...

 

[lion100lion]

Australia needs to be cautious against Pakistan in the coming series against them. Ajmal alone will tear their batting apart.
Well no need for Australian fans to worry. Today, every team is a lamb on overseas pitches.[DOUBLEPOST=1409591893][/DOUBLEPOST]

I forgot to place my bet for Australia and perhaps luckily.So congrats Zimbabwe,you beated the one who were considered the top ODI team by many >

Srilanka is the best team right now. It's because they have good proportion of experience and fresh players.

 

[cricketmad09]

@IanG nice photo, can anyone identify the three in that picture? It's a bit before my time...

What the hell are you on about?

 

[SpitfiresKent]

You're butthurt because you lost to the mighty Zimbo's!

 

[cricketmad09]

You're butthurt because you lost to the mighty Zimbo's!

Never heard of that term before.

 

[Spickery]

[DOUBLEPOST=1409483434][/DOUBLEPOST]
And cricket training in August?

Pre-season training buddy. We train at a indoor nets facility.

It was a disappointing loss by Australia but it was a magnificent win by Zimbabwe. Well done to them all.

Australia now move on to their next match against South Africa today, which we really need to win. Steve Smith and Mitchell Johnson will be back in the team so Clarke's absence will allow Smith back into the team and Ben Cutting will probably make way for Johnson.

This would give us a batting order of:

1. Phil Hughes
2. Aaron Finch
3. Mitchell Marsh (I am assuming he bats here again in Clarke's absence)
4. George Bailey
5. Glenn Maxwell
6. Steve Smith
7. Brad Haddin
8. James Faulkner
9. Mitchell Johnson
10. Mitchell Starc
11. Nathan Lyon

In my opinion this is the strongest side Australia can field with Clarke flying back home. I would bat Maxwell at three though to make it easier for Marsh against a quality South African bowling attack and Marsh batting down the order would allow you to move Smith up to number five to give him more time to bat, which has been a problem when he has came to the crease. Maxwell has proven before he has no problem batting higher up the order.

 

[cricketmad09]

Isn't it a bit early for pre-season training? Wouldn't think too many other clubs would be training this early.

Team has been announced. Faulkner has been dropped. I'm happy with that decision. His bowling is poor. Goes for runs, can't bowl at the death and most of his wickets are cheap ones later in the innings.

He can contribute with the bat, but if he's batting at 8 then most of them time we don't get to utilize his extra batting ability. So he needs to bat at no. 7 and be our 5th bowler option if he's going to play. So effectively it's between him and Mitch Marsh for a position in my mind.

 

[Spickery]

Isn't it a bit early for pre-season training? Wouldn't think too many other clubs would be training this early.

Team has been announced. Faulkner has been dropped. I'm happy with that decision. His bowling is poor. Goes for runs, can't bowl at the death and most of his wickets are cheap ones later in the innings.

He can contribute with the bat, but if he's batting at 8 then most of them time we don't get to utilize his extra batting ability. So he needs to bat at no. 7 and be our 5th bowler option if he's going to play. So effectively it's between him and Mitch Marsh for a position in my mind.

Training this early is normal in Tasmania mate.

Faulkner definitely isn't bowling at his best at the moment. At his best he is a dangerous point of difference for the Australian ODI attack. Starc and Johnson are both bowlers who normally rely on sheer pace to get wickets. In Faulkner's case he still bowls around 130k/h but he can bowl slower balls that trick batsman into playing a false shot. This can make it very difficult for batsman to adjust to the change in pace from 150k/h when Johnson is bowling to potentially 120k/h when Faulkner bowls accurately to the fields his captain has set for him. When Faulkner is in form he can bowl at the death, this is one of the main reasons he was brought into the Australian ODI team. Having a bowler who can utilises changes of pace in the side is even more important in Clint McKay's absence. I don't believe Richardson offers anything more apart from being a right armer that should see him in the side at Faulkner's expense. None of the Australian bowlers are in outstanding form at the moment.

Ideally Faulkner would bat at number 7 but with Marsh in the side as well he has to bat lower down the order.

 

[CremerCurrans]

@IanG nice photo, can anyone identify the three in that picture? It's a bit before my time...

The guy with his arm around the other guy (who I think is Iain Butchart) looks like Kevin Curran. The other gentleman I'm guessing is John Traicos. Here is the scorecard, if you are interested. Dave Houghton is a legend of Zimbabwe cricket.

 

[Doodlesweaver]

Take back what I said about Mitch not doing well against SA. That was some innings today. Very powerful lad.

 

[aussie1st]

Boy that is some knock, was not expecting to wake up to such a big win and then to see the total we made. Maxwell feels a bit to hit and miss at 5, Smith there could do the trick.

 

[angryangy]

Isn't it a bit early for pre-season training? Wouldn't think too many other clubs would be training this early.

Early training at an indoor net isn't unheard of, depends if the club has enough members that don't play footy.[DOUBLEPOST=1409804574][/DOUBLEPOST]Also, I think it's funny how Marsh has apparently barged his way into a top 7 spot, when Faulkner has an ODI century and has been bundled out because he's not such a good specialist bowler.

 

[cricketmad09]

Faulkner needs more experience as a top 6 genuine batsman to show that he is capable to taking that batting all-rounders position.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Good to see Taylor amongst the runs again. This has been a really interesting last few months watching Zimbabwe cricket, hopefully they can learn from their experiences and look ahead to the tour of Bangladesh with a bit of confidence.

 

[Doodlesweaver]

Faulkner needs more experience as a top 6 genuine batsman to show that he is capable to taking that batting all-rounders position.

It looks kind of dangerous for him that they have been so keen to give Marsh opportunities to bat in the top 6. Really, this would have been the ideal series to give Faulkner that chance. I'm disappointed that he hasn't been given opportunities and thought it was far too early for Marsh but he has done well so far. He's got plenty of talent.

Could simply be a problem that they don't want three left-handed bowlers in the line-up but I can't see why that would matter if they were all firing.

Faulks needs to pick his bowling up again to make himself indispensable to the team.