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

[sifter132]

Yah there's no real problem if Clarke's out. Bailey's an excellent vice captain. It's just a matter of who'll play where.

I hope there's a bit of rotation in the Aussie squad, make sure Cutting and Richardson and Smith and Marsh and Lyon, those newer guys, get at least a couple of games to show what they're made of.

If Australia are going to rest Lyon it should probably be in this first game vs Zimbabwe. Lots of right handers, and the Harare pitch will be at it's freshest.

Batting orders will be interesting too. I guess Australia could get away with Faulkner or Cutting at #7 vs Zimbabwe, but they'd probably want a better batting all-rounder like Marsh or Maxwell at #7 against South Africa for that extra depth. Will Haddin open? I hope not. I think they'd be better off working on his finishing and leaving him around #6. Clarke can open if necessary. Maxwell has done it too. Finch and Hughes would be my first pairing obviously.

 

[aussie1st]

Hughes can't even get in the side minus 2 players, again gone all rounder heavy.

 

[Spickery]

Hughes can't even get in the side minus 2 players, again gone all rounder heavy.

Hughes gets stuffed around by the selectors again, I can't say that is a big surprise.

It would have made much more sense to include Hughes in the team and have him opening the batting with Aaron Finch. Instead Haddin is opening, which I am not a fan of. Playing the extra bowler or all-rounder is also unnecessary when we would have been able to bowl the required amount of overs and still stick to our normal team structure. It seems the selectors have gone to a lot of trouble to keep Hughes out of the team when he would have been better served playing, not carrying out the drinks. The experience he would have gained playing on a turning pitch when he is in career best ODI form would have done him well. No wonder Hughes has trouble at international level when he keeps getting mucked around like this.

Apart from the Hughes debacle, I am looking forward to watching the Australians play. It has been a long time without being able to watch them play.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Good start here from the Aussies, Zimbabwe just don't look threatening with the ball at all which is a concern.

EDIT: Lol and just as I say that Haddin is bowled!

 

[cricketmad09]

Coming into this series I was unsure of our best line-up due to our large number of all-rounders, but I was certain this was not our best. We don't need Marsh. In the current line up we already have 5 genuine bowlers as well as the part-timers of Maxwell and Smith. Therefore it's a contest between Marsh and Hughes based what they can bring to the table with their batting alone and there's no way that Marsh is above Hughes on batting alone.

My line up would have been

Finch
Hughes
Smith
Bailey
Maxwell
Haddin
Faulkner
Johnson
Starc
Richardson
Lyon

Johnson has actually been quite poor in the shorter formats in the last 6-12 months or so. So it's possible to substitute him for Ben Cutting. If Clarke is back i'd get rid of Smith. I'm reluctant playing Faulkner as one of only 4 bowlers because I don't rate his bowling. He gets cheap wickets and can go the journey. Had struggled a lot at the death. But his batting record is too difficult to ignore and having him in the team as a no. 8 won't utilise the extra benefit we get from his batting.

For at least one game I wouldn't mind seeing Cutting have a crack and sticking him in at no. 4. Has the potential to annihilate the opposition.

 

[sifter132]

Instead Haddin is opening, which I am not a fan of

I agree, it seems quite pointless for Haddin to play there. He's not going to bat up there in the World Cup, and it's not developing his game in any way. Watson and Warner will be up the top. Marsh or Finch perhaps too. There's no room for Haddin to open. We also saw today why he's not a great opening option anyway. Too many dot balls. It was the same in the 2011 World Cup. His numbers looked OK from that tournament, but he bogged the team down.

I do love how everyone is on Phil Hughes' side again though. He's had fans unsure of whether to support him or hate him for a while now. I guess that's a good sign. The others I can think of in that polarising club would be Shane Watson, Michael Clarke, Mitchell Johnson, Steve Smith and Brett Lee. All those guys worked out how to play eventually.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

 

[Spickery]

Australia made a steady start to their innings with Aaron Finch and Brad Haddin making 67 and 47 runs. Haddin's innings worried me though because he took a long time to get going and against quality sides like South Africa it will be a lot tougher for him to make up the run rate. Finch got comfortable a lot quicker than Haddin and played in his normal attacking style. Mitch Marsh made the most of batting at number 3 and posted 89 runs. He started slowly but once he was in he really accelerated when the close of the innings was nearing. It is great to see him making runs and 89 is now his highest ODI score for Australia. Bailey got out for 14 but he played some nice shots and looked like he was about to play more aggressively before he was caught out. Maxwell played like Maxwell and made a very entertaining 93. He played a big part in helping Australia to a big score before the end of their 50 overs. Steve Smith was unfortunately run out for 1. Faulkner made 5 runs not out, which included hitting a four off the last ball of the innings. Johnson made 20 runs not out off 10 balls right at the end of Australia's innings and played in his normally attacking way. The highlight of his knock is surely smashing the commentator's window with a huge six!

Making 350 off 50 overs is a great score, which should result in Australia winning the match comfortably. The Australian batsman will be better for the time in the middle as well.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

I'm getting a bit frustrated with all of these recent batting collapses. Another poor performance from Zimbabwe

 

[Doodlesweaver]

Coming into this series I was unsure of our best line-up due to our large number of all-rounders, but I was certain this was not our best. We don't need Marsh. In the current line up we already have 5 genuine bowlers as well as the part-timers of Maxwell and Smith. Therefore it's a contest between Marsh and Hughes based what they can bring to the table with their batting alone and there's no way that Marsh is above Hughes on batting alone.
.

They used Marsh in the warm-up game v Qld at 3. So why would you assume that Hughes was the logical player to be picked for 3? It's hardly a straight shoot-out for a spot between Hughes and Marsh, as Marsh was picked in the initial squad and he bowls. They'll be giving him overs whenever he plays to find out if he's up to it.

 

[flake]

Im losing hope in Zim. Poor poor. On the brighter side of things, I was a net bowler for the Aussies on Saturday and pleased to say I was screwing Mitchell Johnson over !!! haha

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Until you reveal your identity none of us will believe you!

 

[CremerCurrans]

Until you reveal your identity none of us will believe you!

I think I know who he is. He has given some clues, like being friends with Dylan Nel, originally comeing from South Africa, he was involved with one u19 series, and is young enough to hopefully be selected in another one.

 

[IanG]

Probably the highlight of the match.
Here's the video of it

 

[SpitfiresKent]

I think I know who he is.

Malcolm Flake?