Australia Tour Of India 2012/13

[War]

^Hah, I don't know about that. I thought Cameron White playing as the spinning #8 on the 2008 India tour was the most awful selection I can think of.

If Agar's got the talent, which every eye witness says he has, I have ZERO issues with him being selected. Particularly if it's ahead of Doherty who I don't fancy at all. Picking Agar is a massive gamble, but sometimes that's what it takes. And comparatively it's not much less of a gamble than picking Lyon was, or Beau Casson in 2008, or Nathan Hauritz back in 2004 to replace Warne. Or of course, Warne himself back in the day.

I'm interested in the team Australia announced for the A game starting today:
no warner or Clarke, Watson will captain. No Johnson or Pattinson, they are playing all 3 specialist spinners, and it may be just a straight bowl-off between Agar and Doherty for a spot in the 1st Test. No Maxwell or Smith either, Henriques seems to have the inside run at a spot.

Funnily enough though, I doubt Henriques plays if Lyon is the sole spinner. Looking forward to the 1st Test it's likely either combo A:Henriques and either Doherty/Agar vs combo B: Maxwell/Smith and Johnson/Pattinson, depending on whether Aussies play 2 specialist spinners or not. I'd just go with 1 less than whatever India picks. If India plays 3 specialists spinners like they did a couple of times vs England, it's a pretty good clue of what the pitch is going to do...

Here lies the problem with this current selection panel when it comes to pick raw talent & how spinners have been chosen for australia since warne & macgill retired.

Based on their recent choices of players like Quiney, Laughlin, axing of Hussey, Hastings for tests & the general poor T20 selection - they are not giving off the confidence as panel to be selecting an unknown player who they claim has impressed them for such a important tour.

We can't expect to get lucky with spinners and pick them off raw talent & hope they get a 5-wicket haul on debut like Krejza & Lyon, have them learn on the job & expect them to have successful test careers.

Dan Cullen, Casson, McGain & Beer may have been crap/poor when given the chance at international level - but at least they got picked on doing well on first-class form.

O'Keefe also may not look like a world beater in the making, but he has the first-class #'s behind him. Its illogical for Agar to be picked ahead of him now, even if he comes good one day in the future.

On the 1st test team, it basically picks its with the first 10 players for me. Watson, Warner, Hughes, Khawaja, Clarke, Wade, Pattinson, Siddle, Starc, Lyon.

Its essentially a straight shout between the seam bowling or spin bowling all-rounder option between Henriques or Maxwell.

Major error that Bailey is not in the test squad, since i would have picked in the middle order ahead of Khawaja.

I would drop Cowan to the bench too, because i believe Watson has to open & i'm not too sure about Cowan in the middle especially vs spin in India.

----------

Also Rohit said Australia attacked too much and that's why they got quite a few easy runs. Australia better learn from their previous trip mistakes. Always attacking without a plan B is sure to backfire on them in Indian conditions. They defended well in that 2004 series, drying up the boundaries for India and thereby troubling them with their run flow. If they constantly attack, they will play into our hands pretty well.

Yes this is true, but sadly the current AUS team don't have the acumen in the bowling, despite the talent in pace ranks, to effectively replicate the attack/defensive bowling tactic balance of the legendary 2004 side.

But then again, India's batting isn't as near as strong of the 2004 side. So i think once the AUS 3-man pace attack peak as trio, they can cause similar havoc to what Anderson/Finn showed in India before christmas.

 

[midgetwars]

^Yes Rohit said Aussie spinners set attacking fields. Not sure they'll do that in the Tests, despite Clarke's reputation as an attacking captain. It will be a lot of in-out fields, couple of men in close, with probably 3 back on the fence to try and make Indians score in singles and test their patience.

As for Bird, well I'm not sure he'll get the assistance off the seam that he got in Australia. He'll be a good back of a length, bounce bowler, but whether he can get it to reverse consistently or do enough to get wickets on flat decks is another question. Look at Copeland in SL in 2011, or Peter George in India in 2010 - similar type bowlers. Neither did particularly well, but both were economical, and at least those guys got picked, so maybe Bird is the type of guy they like in Asian conditions. I guess we'll see.

To be fair, Bird is much faster than Copeland.

 

[midgetwars]

Seems like the Aussies can't handle spin,

 

[Aalay]

I think Tiwary needs to be in the squad. He scored 87 against England in practice match and now a century against Australia. Tiwary and Raydu both deserve a chance now instead of Jadeja.

 

[Slowcoach]

Not looking good at all for Aus...the spinners took wickets...but if you concede over 100 you'd want to get at least 2 or 3, or you look completely useless.
The batsmen all got out as soon as the spinners came on, so there is no way to talk up any "time in the middle" stuff, all they did was smash Gony, which is not hard, everyone smashes Gony.
Oh well, at least the bowlers got "time in the middle"...8 hours of it...getting smashed.

 

[Aalay]

The funny part is that Jalaj Saxena is a part-timer who averages 40 with ball in FC and he was the most successful bowler yesterday. This makes Jadeja's case even more stronger.

 

[War]

India v Australia, 1st Test : David Warner injury a concern for Australia | Cricket News | India v Australia | ESPN Cricinfo

This could be a lifeline to fly Bailey over as cover if these selectors have any sense remaining.

 

[icyman]

Forget it. Tiwary wont get in. No matter how much so ever we discuss on this forum, the truth is that Sir RJ will be in the team for the next 3 Test matches or sure. Even the 4th one, even if he doesn't perform.

The main reason that would be quoted by MSD - RJ will lend a bit of bowling stability to the side. In a sense, MSD would be right seeing as the likes of Ashwin and Ojha haven;t been able to extract much from the supposed turning pitches of India.

 

[Aalay]

India v Australia, 1st Test : David Warner injury a concern for Australia | Cricket News | India v Australia | ESPN Cricinfo

This could be a lifeline to fly Bailey over as cover if these selectors have any sense remaining.

Australia already have 18 people in the squad so I don't think they will name a cover for him.

 

[icyman]

India v Australia, 1st Test : David Warner injury a concern for Australia | Cricket News | India v Australia | ESPN Cricinfo

This could be a lifeline to fly Bailey over as cover if these selectors have any sense remaining.

If the selectors have any sense, the rotation policy needs to be chucked. The main motive behind having it in place was to to prevent breakdowns before a major tournament. It has already taken its toll on Micheal Clarke and now Warner.

The point about Geogre Bailey is spot on. He deserved to be in the squad. Beats me why he ain't there when a little known 'Ashton Agar' can worm himself in the team.

 

[aussie1st]

Khawaja really isn't taking these opportunities. Henriques now has one to all but guarantee his spot.

 

[sifter132]

^Yeah Khawaja...man, he just can't get going in the Aussie shirt. Shame, I like him

If the selectors have any sense, the rotation policy needs to be chucked. The main motive behind having it in place was to to prevent breakdowns before a major tournament. It has already taken its toll on Micheal Clarke and now Warner.

The point about Geogre Bailey is spot on. He deserved to be in the squad. Beats me why he ain't there when a little known 'Ashton Agar' can worm himself in the team.

The rotation policy is getting blamed for too much. Warner got hit in the nets by Mitchell Johnson, nothing to do with rotation. Clarke injured his dodgy hamstring again, if anything because he DIDNT rotate himself out when he first twinged it. The only time I'd say rotation has failed this year was when Shane Watson got pulled out of the Champions League. Ben Hilfenhaus' injury might be the only other one that can be pinned out rotation, but honestly, the bowlers are smart enough to handle their workloads if they aren't playing. They don't just say 'you beauty, a week off!'...they are made to bowl a decent amount of high speed overs in the nets when they aren't playing, to keep their 'baseline' high. Only if they are recovering from an injury eg. Starc's anke, do they actually rest, and if we are going to get angry at guys resting proper injuries then the furore about rotation really has got out of hand...

As for Bailey, yes he's a good chance to come over if Warner isn't right. The reason Agar is there and not Bailey is because they essentially wanted another spinner to bowl to them in the nets, and thought it would be great experience for the young kid.

On the 1st test team, it basically picks its with the first 10 players for me. Watson, Warner, Hughes, Khawaja, Clarke, Wade, Pattinson, Siddle, Starc, Lyon.

Its essentially a straight shout between the seam bowling or spin bowling all-rounder option between Henriques or Maxwell.

Yep. And now with Warner probably out, Cowan will come in to replace. That's the ideal scenario: Cowan as your reliable bench batsman, ready to come in for an injury or a period of poor form from the first XI guys.

You'll also enjoy hearing that Inverarity is leaning toward pace for this Test (and the series)
http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-australia-2013/content/current/story/605245.html

"The wicket for the Test match is already prepared. We could've played on it today, we could have played on it yesterday or the day before," Inverarity said. "There is not one blade of grass, so you'd suggest it is a wicket for spinners. But with our Australian team I think the strength lies more with the pace bowlers than with the spinners.

"We've got the option of playing two pace bowlers and two spinners, but it'd more likely that we'd go in with three pace bowlers and one spinner, plus some spin support.

 

[Sedition]

It would be madness to play two spinners, in the first test especially. Agree that Henriques should probably be above Khawaja at this point, just wish he was more reliable with the bat if we're playing him at 6 or shifting Wade up. Would prefer Smith or even Maxwell in that role. Should be a flat deck though, so no worries.

 

[icyman]

Shane Watson breaks down too often. Ideally, I'd like to see Watson bat lower down the order given that the current openers have really performed well. Cowan is a great guy, reminds me of Justin Langer a bit.
With Hussey gone and no Bailey in the side, I'd expect Watson to move down the order in Huss's place. I'd say the batting order should be

Cowan-Hughes-Khawaja-Clarke-Wade-Watson. Though if Watson is going to bowl ,they can go in with yet another batsman there,just to bolster the line-up.

 

[angryangy]

The only time I'd say rotation has failed this year was when Shane Watson got pulled out of the Champions League. Ben Hilfenhaus' injury might be the only other one that can be pinned out rotation, but honestly, the bowlers are smart enough to handle their workloads if they aren't playing.

I tend to think both concerns are more heavily compounded by the lengthy T20 campaigns at a time when bowlers probably needed to focus a lot more on building fitness. Watson coming home to train for maybe 2-3 weeks was a poor compromise. Hilfenhaus never really showed the pace or venom he is capable of and resting certainly wasn't going to change that. His presence owed a lot to last season's fortunes and the initial concern that Australian bowlers might become an endangered species if the attrition rate didn't drop. At the same time, he went to Sri Lanka for no reason. Cummins might have pulled up sore, but he bowled. It's not the greatest resource management to have a key bowler in one set of plans as a backup in another.