Australia Tour Of India 2012/13

[aussie1st]

Henriques bowling is more than good enough as the 5th bowling option, its his batting which is the issue. Smith has been picked on his batting as he sure as hell hasn't been bowling this season unless they plan on doing a Quiney and start using his bowling at the top level.

Doherty selection is a shocker, no form in shield cricket, barely performing in ODIs and dreadful record all round in FC. Surprised they didn't pick Peter Forrest while they were at it, he too has international experience and no form in shield cricket.

 

[Slowcoach]

Was being kind earlier, I think Doherty is dreadful, and always have.

By "logic" earlier, I meant the selector's way of thinking, which in this case is totally deluded.

Maybe they think he can "keep it tight" by firing in 50 overs of dart balls, and that he will have some sort of Kumble-like success due to being served up a succession of minefields.

For some strange reason I actually think he will do well, maybe it is the fear he will prove me wrong and show he actually can take wickets in a form of cricket other than limited overs wickets-by-default cricket.

 

[ricky87]

India will win series 4-0, says Harbhajan.

India will whitewash Australia 4-0: Harbhajan | Cricket News | Cricbuzz.com

Whatever happens this series is do or die for MSD. The England result has left a permanent scar I think, none of us expected it so a series defeat vs a relatively weak Australian side might well be game over as a test captain for him

 

[hedger_14]

By "logic" earlier, I meant the selector's way of thinking, which in this case is totally deluded.

Yeah, I don't think there's any such thing as logic in Australian cricket.

 

[Doodlesweaver]

Not much experience in the Aus line-up. I can't count IPL experience as relevant as the test wickets will be proper turners. Warner and Smith will struggle, Warner probably more than Smith if they bring the spin bowlers on early.

Doherty is a very depressing choice. But then the Aussie squad was bound to look a bit lame overall due to lack of real class and experience around at present.

 

[bigred]

Australia definitely not favourites. you need at least one quality spinner out there and also batsman like cook, compton, trott who are able to battle through hours of 2 runs per over cricket. can't see warner, Watson and Hughes being able to flung their natural instincts.

 

[SaiSrini]

India will win series 4-0, says Harbhajan.

India will whitewash Australia 4-0: Harbhajan | Cricket News | Cricbuzz.com

Whatever happens this series is do or die for MSD. The England result has left a permanent scar I think, none of us expected it so a series defeat vs a relatively weak Australian side might well be game over as a test captain for him

Well, I thought Harbhajan should be back in the team for this series... Now after this statement, HELL NO!!!! KEEP THAT IDIOT AWAY FROM INDIAN CRICKET FOREVER!!!

 

[midgetwars]

Australia definitely not favourites. you need at least one quality spinner out there and also batsman like cook, compton, trott who are able to battle through hours of 2 runs per over cricket. can't see warner, Watson and Hughes being able to flung their natural instincts.

Clarke and Hussey could do this easily, but now that Hussey's gone. Thing's have gotten complicated.

 

[sifter132]

Australia definitely not favourites. you need at least one quality spinner out there and also batsman like cook, compton, trott who are able to battle through hours of 2 runs per over cricket. can't see warner, Watson and Hughes being able to flung their natural instincts.

Words of truth...Hughes and Warner are OK once they are going, but they are at their flowing best vs pace. I think Watson will get well and truly bogged vs spin, especially if he's batting at #4 and coming out against spin - and Warner and Hughes probably will get bogged often too. Going to take a lot of discipline and technical ability to bat for long periods.

And Lyon+Doherty isn't even close to Swann+Monty I'm afraid. The Aussie quicks are going to have to be BRILLIANT.

O'Keefe instead of Doherty! I've been calling that over the past 2 years.

Yep. I really don't like Doherty much - just his bowling style as much as his results...but O'Keefe could have solved the 2nd spinner issue AND the all-rounder issue. O'Keefe, Johnson, Starc, Siddle and Lyon wouldn't be the worst 7-11 in world cricket that's for sure, plus you get a much better 2nd spinning option than Maxwell. To illustrate, Maxwell with bat has averaged 36 in 11/12, and 31 in 12/13 in FC cricket, O'Keefe has averaged 29 and 26 in those 2 years. Not much difference in batting ability, for a much more useful bowler.

I'm not going to hammer the squad too much, I can see why pretty much all the guys were picked, although I wish they'd only picked one of Smith/Maxwell and taken Brad Haddin instead - I think a confident Haddin would be good against the Indian spinners. The 5 quick bowlers named were obvious, as were most of the batsmen.

I'm not convinced that Maxwell will be awesome in the all-rounder role...I'd personally prefer Steve Smith He's more experienced in India and playing on turning SCG wickets, and he turns the ball the opposite way to Lyon ie. The current captaincy obsession for spinners who turn the ball away from batsmen would get a stern test if Maxwell plays as the all-rounder, and has to follow Lyon, particularly if India are on top. Plenty of right handers for India, and if they've already conquered Lyon, Maxwell will seem like a kitten (see what I did there ). He'll probably get a few wickets based on the Indian batsmen's egos, but relying on him to be consistently useful is ambitious.

What would I be doing? I think Clarke and Warner could probably cobble together 10-15 overs of decent spin per day - Clarke for economy, Warner to induce a false shot. So I'd be playing neither Maxwell or Henriques, I'd be encouraging Shane Watson to bloody start bowling again, and I would have picked O'Keefe so Australia could play a 5th bowler without much issue.

 

[Umair7]

The venues have been changed

 

[Satan666]

AUS fans shouldnt be disheartened, whilst the team is a young/inexperienced one they will be up against the worst bowling lineup in the world and in some of the most favourable conditions on offer to batsmen, yes the Indian pitches rarely spin they build roads now. Also the AUssies have a more than capable bowling unit that would certainly be able take 20 Indian wickets easily. A whitewash is a possibility!

 

[War]

Australia's cast of thousands for India tour | Cricket News | India v Australia | ESPN Cricinfo - while i can understand why the selectors may feel they need to consider an all-rounder to play 5-bowlers now that watson won't be bowling.

If this cricinfo articles prediction comes true and doherty, steve smith is anywhere close to this test team - i will puke.

Well i can report i puked many times . Disgusting squad, the selector of doherty & smith is just idiotic. O'Keefe should clearly be in as back-up spinner & one of Haddin (who could also used a batsman) or even the experienced chris rogers should have been picked instead of Smith.

As i've mentioned before, while i can understand the selectors reasons for wanting to pick Henriques or Maxwell given that Watson can't bowl - it shouldn't be a priority selection.

If the selectors even watched IND vs ENG series they would see that while ENG picked Patel as batsman who could do 5th bowler support option - england's main 4 bowlers were so brilliant after the first 3 tests, come the 4th test Patel was axed, for a pure top 6 batsman in joe root.

Why was this? because the concerns about the strength of india's batting in home conditions is a treat of the distant past. The fact that swann/panear spun them out @ home (the first time this has happened since india became a force in home conditions in the 70s) added to fact how pakistan quicks had them jumping in those odi's shows of vulnerable that batting line-up is.

Thus AUS mind-set should not be defensive with there squad selection. A simple team base of 6 bats, keeper, 3 quicks + 1 spinner is good enough.

Starc/Siddle/Pattison on form are good enough to own india's top seven i'm fairly convinced. Once this likely scenario occurs, the role of Lyon will become minimal & thus the need to have 5 bowlers becomes unnecessary.

 

[aussie1st]

After that knock by Bailey we should have taken him as backup batsmen. I've been waiting for a youngster to step on up after our numerous collapses and finally we have one.

 

[Slowcoach]

I think Bailey has a better temperament for Test cricket than Khawaja, as much as I'd like to see Khawaja do well.
I also think Marsh could have been picked due to being able to open or bat in the middle order.
We still haven't seen the best of Marsh, but everyone in India knows he can play on Indian pitches, he would have been a good horses for courses selection.
I wouldn't worry so much about Hughes or Warner, they will score runs there. Warner is only suspect v Spin in T20's when he is trying to score at his usual 10 runs per over, while in Tests where he can sit on the bowling for more than 1 over at a time he will do just fine.
As for the allrounders, we don't need one if they are not good enough to take wickets. If Maxwell and Henriques are just going to bowl to rest the others (and take no wickets while the do it, which is likely judging by this seasons FC stats), then we might as just use Wade to bowl, or someone crap like Quiney.

 

[War]

Dear me haha, i just realized that Bailey isn't in the squad, all the time i was just presuming he was in.

That makes the squad selection even more dumb. It was bad enough that the selectors gave Quiney a useless test cap before him - this is a shocker. Surely it can't be that the selectors view Bailey as a t20/odi player only??!!