Warne-Muralidaran Trophy (Australia in Sri Lanka) Aug-Sep 2011

[Papa_Smurf]

Drop Punter, and build for the future. Hughes doesn't look bad - he's pretty solid while on the crease. He just needs more experience.

 

[sifter132]

I was talking about this wit ha friend earlier and we both agreed, it might have to be Marsh who goes...but may be Khawaja will be dropped which will be a real shame, as on natural talent he is the best of the young 'uns.

Tom Moody pointed out yesterday that Usman perhaps only got his spot for the first Test because he opened in the tour match and made his 100 before Marsh really got a chance to reply. So if Usman were dropped, it may not be quite as harsh as it might seem.

Either way, it's a really GOOD problem to have - 7 batsmen into 6 spots. If I were selecting, short term I'd probably drop Marsh - he knew that he was just a replacement, and he's proven that he can play at this level, so he won't be too devastated. But looking long term I'd drop Hughes - he's just never impressed me much I'm afraid and Usman (or Marsh) would have no problems opening the batting. And as compensation, I'd give Hughes a go in the ODI squad to give his confidence against international bowlers a boost so he can come back into the Test side when Ricky retires. We know Hughes is a run making machine for NSW, but sometimes you need more than that and I think an ODI stint might help him. He hasn't really scored a lot of OD runs, but hey there's a greater purpose to selections sometimes . Maybe get rid of Ponting from ODIs - there really isn't a lot of point keeping him in there. Good for crowd numbers I guess, but there's no long term benefit.

And on the question of Australia catching long lost glories, let's not get too carried away. SL have underperformed and been out worked by a better bowling attack (who would have thought before the series eh?). Who is Australia playing next?

Australia goes on a shortish tour of South Africa in Oct and Nov - 2 T20Is, 3 ODIs and 2 Tests. All the young batsmen should prefer the bounce in SA compared to the spin of SL. Then we host NZ and India. So it's going to be a big few months. If Australia manage to win all those series, then that would set up a massive Ashes in 2013. Not sure whether we can, but I'd like to start out confidently

 

[Addy]

disgrace really, can't they win on their own soil. lost my huge amount of money on lankans!!

V cash that is, but it hurts really!

 

[angryangy]

I'm amazed that Dilshan could be so uselessly impatient; particularly at home; after what he did in England.

 

[aussie1st]

Lol Hussey just got another wicket in his first over. Shows it wasn't a fluke last time round.

 

[angryangy]

The first innings wicket was exactly what they would have set out to do with a medium pacer, getting the batsman to have a dip, but play too early. The second wicket was more flukish, actually beating the batsman with the faintest nick. Added to that Haddin went for the review and it was actually given out. Surely that won't happen twice in one game.

 

[aussie1st]

Light stops play again, hopefully our opening bowlers can do some damage with the new ball.

 

[angryangy]

Having lost a full day's play, I think this game might be beyond a result. It's probably not quite the worst wicket and might have been more interesting given five full days to wear, but as is, it seems to be more or less staying the same.

 

[War]

Drop Punter, and build for the future. Hughes doesn't look bad - he's pretty solid while on the crease. He just needs more experience.

Not at all. One of Hughes, Marsh, Khawaja has got to wait. Ponting deserves a chance now he has being relived of captaincy to prove he can make runs consistently again as a batsman.

India held on to Dravid through 4 years of struggles before his recent heroics in England - Ponting deserves similar treatment.

 

[Aalay]

Even though I HATE Ponting, but he surely deserves a chance. He needs a chance to show his worth and what he can give to Australian team.

 

[War]

I guess I'm just a little sceptical Harris is almost 32 and hasn't shown much ability to string together games. He's probably our best bowler at the moment, but unfortunately I can't remember a season where he hasn't been injured. Looking through his cricket archive stats, 2007/08 seems to be the last season he had where he played the full season.

Yes Harris has a bad injury record which can very well and come back to haunt him again. But i dont think us fans, nor the coaches, nor selectors need should take a general skeptical approach to his future just because of this.

We got take it one series at a time with Harris and hope for AUS sake we can get another 2 years of test bowling out of him. It seems like he might be restricted to just test matches and his ODI/T20 careers internationally may be cut short in a effort to prolong his test career, so lets how that goes.

Doug's hit 30 years of age too and I don't think he's got that spell-to-spell, innings-to-innings consistency. He seems to get wickets in clumps which may or may not be related to fitness, concentration, his hair piece - whatever. I just don't feel comfortable turning to Doug in a tight situation. Doug seems to me the type of bowler you throw the ball to when you need something to happen/something miraculous. But that's what Mitchell Johnson is there for - do we need 2 of them? Maybe, I don't know...

Again my friend i really am not sure how you are describing Bolligers past test career bowling like this, and comparing his style of bowling to Johnson at any point.

As aformentioned during his peak period before that Adelaide Ashes test between West Indies 2009 - India 2010, after Lee and Clark declined as a new-ball pair after West Indies 2008 - those 10 test by Bollinger is the only period when any AUS quicks displayed the bowling acumen of a "spearhead".

He certainly displayed alot of spell-to-spell and innings-to-innings consistency and was certainly Ponting's go to bowler in tight situations, just as how Harris has been in the current series for Clarke.

But bottom line: Bollinger and Harris aren't the future. That's why we need to see what Copeland's got. He's got 5 years on Dougie so he's a better longer term option.

When you say future, how far in the future are you looking towards?. I was under the impression that after the 2010/11 Ashes disaster that the new Clarke AUS test target is building towards the 2013 Ashes, which is i'm pretty sure is one of the short-term goals highlighted in the Argus review.

So Harris and Bollinger are certainly part of that short-term future for the 2013 Ashes - and so is Copeland.

Also with Copeland i think we probably are arguing axing the wrong bowler to accommodate/keep him in the test XI full-time. Johnson technically is the man who position should be under threat since he is the erratic one still.

But of course axing Johnson gives AUS a long-tail, which is why is overall all-round strength keeps getting selected.

However as you mentioned before Copeland is also a better stock bowler than Lyon as a spinner at this stage, so again the 4-quicks option comes into play.

Looking ahead to the S Africa test where AUS will almost certainly run into seaming tracks in Capetown and Jo'Burg, such an all-pace attack is an enticing option & Copeland would be the perfect foil to the attacking Bollinger/Harris/Johnson + Watson.

In the home tests vs NZ & IND of course, Lyon will be used more and then we have to think seriously about which quick has to make way based on performances in S Africa.

 

[Papa_Smurf]

Not at all. One of Hughes, Marsh, Khawaja has got to wait. Ponting deserves a chance now he has being relived of captaincy to prove he can make runs consistently again as a batsman.

India held on to Dravid through 4 years of struggles before his recent heroics in England - Ponting deserves similar treatment.

I disagree. Ponting is already one of the all-time greats. He's got nothing to prove to anyone, and let's face it, is facing the wrong side of 35. If he was in proven form, then yeah, stick with him. But he's not. He might be now that the captaincy is gone, but we still don't know. After the humiliating Ashes defeat, Aus have got to build for the future. They've got 3 very promising talents in Hughes, Marsh and Khawaja. Give them time to develop and skill experience in the international arena. Aus have got to look long-term, and this the correct time.

And I still maintain Dravid should have retired sometime ago. Yeah, kudos to him for having a magnificent series, but let's face it, he had nothing to prove and is not gonna last long anyway.

 

[Doodlesweaver]

Tom Moody pointed out yesterday that Usman perhaps only got his spot for the first Test because he opened in the tour match and made his 100 before Marsh really got a chance to reply. So if Usman were dropped, it may not be quite as harsh as it might seem.

Either way, it's a really GOOD problem to have - 7 batsmen into 6 spots. If I were selecting, short term I'd probably drop Marsh - he knew that he was just a replacement, and he's proven that he can play at this level, so he won't be too devastated. But looking long term I'd drop Hughes - he's just never impressed me much I'm afraid and Usman (or Marsh) would have no problems opening the batting. And as compensation, I'd give Hughes a go in the ODI squad to give his confidence against international bowlers a boost so he can come back into the Test side when Ricky retires. We know Hughes is a run making machine for NSW, but sometimes you need more than that and I think an ODI stint might help him. He hasn't really scored a lot of OD runs, but hey there's a greater purpose to selections sometimes . Maybe get rid of Ponting from ODIs - there really isn't a lot of point keeping him in there. Good for crowd numbers I guess, but there's no long term benefit.



Australia goes on a shortish tour of South Africa in Oct and Nov - 2 T20Is, 3 ODIs and 2 Tests. All the young batsmen should prefer the bounce in SA compared to the spin of SL. Then we host NZ and India. So it's going to be a big few months. If Australia manage to win all those series, then that would set up a massive Ashes in 2013. Not sure whether we can, but I'd like to start out confidently

NSW don't even play Hughes in their 50 over team most of the time, why on earth would Australia bend over backwards like that? If he's good enough for test cricket let him prove it there. He is going to be given enough opportunities, I mean, he's already played 12 tests.

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I disagree. Ponting is already one of the all-time greats. He's got nothing to prove to anyone, and let's face it, is facing the wrong side of 35. If he was in proven form, then yeah, stick with him. But he's not. He might be now that the captaincy is gone, but we still don't know. After the humiliating Ashes defeat, Aus have got to build for the future. They've got 3 very promising talents in Hughes, Marsh and Khawaja. Give them time to develop and skill experience in the international arena. Aus have got to look long-term, and this the correct time.

And I still maintain Dravid should have retired sometime ago. Yeah, kudos to him for having a magnificent series, but let's face it, he had nothing to prove and is not gonna last long anyway.

Punter is the wrong side of 36, he's turning 37 in December.

As he is sticking around for now, I hope Marsh's ton has put the wind up him and he comes back and shows more concentration than he has done for a long time. No 3's need to be scoring tons and holding the fort not throwing their wicket away needlessly because they can't get past their need to try and dominate.

 

[aussie1st]

But of course axing Johnson gives AUS a long-tail, which is why is overall all-round strength keeps getting selected.

Copeland is more than handy with the bat, already has done well in this series so I don't think that is a big issue if Copeland is in the side.

 

[Left_Hander]

Well we have an early one but Clarke drops another. We are going to have to take wickets in groups to have any chance.