Speaking of hit and miss, recently the big difference has been Gilchrist and Haddin. Haddin almost always gets a start, Gilchrist often never made it past 20, but when he did it was trouble. And when Warne batted at #8 it was particularly dangerous - he made a lot of ducks, but once he got flowing he was dangerous too. So what do you do? Bat lots of hero or zero guys together? Try to break them up? If they can't be heroes very often though, you kinda need to drop them - hint, hint, Hilditch....
Australian Tour of India, October 2010/11
- Thread starter drainpipe32
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drainpipe32
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But Hughes had a technical flaw to sort out. North just sucks/is out of form.
North probably wishes he could be Gilly, he managed to average 60 with his hit and miss at one stage and most of his career he was above 50. That is one of the problems with Haddin, lots of starts but not enough conversion. A guy of his talents shouldn't be averaging 40 but for a keeper I guess you would call that acceptable.
War
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Yea that is the craziest thing about the so called 'faith" they have in North. But they didnt show the same faith in the much more talented youngster
ATM i'm confused as to what Australia's best test XI should be:confused:
Robelinda
International Coach
I dont think our best XI is the best or all conditions, i'm sure we wont pick the best team for India, but probably will for the ashes. Our bowling is so unstable that we are scared to pick youngsters and give them a good run, Hughes/Smith etc should just be given a year of consecutive tests, the pay off could be massive.
angryangy
ICC Chairman
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The heroism has definitely been lacking for Australia lately and it's probably why the selectors believe in North. Consider that in the last 12 months, only Pakistan has a worse conversion rate. From the second highest quantity of 50+ scores, less than 20% have resulted in hundreds. There's something wrong there and North is neither the sole problem nor the solution.
Yea that is the craziest thing about the so called 'faith" they have in North. But they didnt show the same faith in the much more talented youngster
ATM i'm confused as to what Australia's best test XI should be:confused:
I think the thing that confuses the general public most is that North has been out of form longer than he was ever in form. He had 6 good Tests and since then he's been generally crap - in his 11 following Tests. Compare that with Mike Hussey, who was getting flack for his form, but at least he'd been excellent - if not awesome, for 3 years before he came back to earth. North had 6 Tests.
Has there been anyone like North who was persisted with despite having very little international success behind him? I'm thinking perhaps of Vinod Kambli types that started well, had all the potential in the world but sucked horribly after he was worked out. But I'm not sure Marcus fits that bill. He's got some things going for him: 100 scoring, part time spin, experience and a good record against England. But geez everytime he walks out I get very worried, the same type of feeling I got with Symonds until he eventually got it together.
TumTum
International Cricketer
^ tbh I get more worried when Hughes walks to the crease :laugh
For me not only does North lack the talent, but he also lacks the motivation. When he bats you kinda feel he is batting in his shell and doesn't posses that drive that almost all Australian batsmen had over the years.
For me not only does North lack the talent, but he also lacks the motivation. When he bats you kinda feel he is batting in his shell and doesn't posses that drive that almost all Australian batsmen had over the years.
Robelinda
International Coach
10 years, average of 43 or something for WA, i dont know what was expected of North. There was no evidence at all that he could dominate test cricket if given the chance. Not sure we can really rule out guys like Usman and Hughes, at some point you need to have 100% faith in youth, especially when that youth averages 60 in FC cricket for heavens sake. 
TumTum
International Cricketer
^ Our batting is weakened somewhat. No offense to Haddin but he is not a proper Test batsman and both Smith & Johnson are hit and miss (mostly miss). Especially Smith who looked suspect against spinners batting in India 
Hughes
Katich
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Watson
Haddin
Smith
Johnson/Hauritz
Hilfenhaus
Bollinger
That would be the best possible XI imo.
Hughes
Katich
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Watson
Haddin
Smith
Johnson/Hauritz
Hilfenhaus
Bollinger
That would be the best possible XI imo.
War
Chairman of Selectors
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^ Our batting is weakened somewhat. No offense to Haddin but he is not a proper Test batsman and both Smith & Johnson are hit and miss (mostly miss). Especially Smith who looked suspect against spinners batting in India
Hughes
Katich
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Watson
Haddin
Smith
Johnson/Hauritz
Hilfenhaus
Bollinger
That would be the best possible XI imo.
Wll yea given the AUS batting line-up since Ashes 06/07 has a common trend of stupid collapses. That will indeed prevent that suggested XI of mine from playing.
But its tempting no doubt, 6 bowling options. Your team will likely play, only difference of course is that the selectors are 99% likely to pick North instead of Hughes.
icyman said:
Not for test cricket.
Robelinda
International Coach
Great leg spinning abilities???? FAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What on earth do you base that claim on?? Sure as hell isnt his last tour to India.
Haddin at 6 and Smith at 7 would almost certainly be tried if: a) Australia lose the first Test in India and b) North looks like a goose and makes less than 20 both digs. Other than that, I don't think the selectors will entertain it at all. Adelaide or Sydney Test would be the next obvious options, but again it would need the same circumstances: struggling to take English wickets and behind in the series + North sucking.
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