Mega Thread 2022/23 Off-Season Sports Thread
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Taking who's place? We just won a Test in 2 days.
Good question - going off the past few years (and age) we need to have a Stark replacement plan. If we win the Boxing Day test we could rest Starc and give someone else an opportunity. He brings variety though and as seen in Adelaide I am not sure one of the WA guys would be next in line anyway.
Piggy Smalls
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Jhye was unlucky with the timing of his injury last summer.
Wobbly Punt
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I know what you're saying about the WA bowlers but we can't even fit everyone in the actual Test team in to the Test team. When Hazelwood is fit he might actually still miss out which is incredible. It gets even harder when you you pick the Test team for India or England, especially maybe England. Boland surely has to play in England doesn't he? But then with him in, who doesn't?
You can make an argument that when playing Boland, you can drop any other bowler and it be the right move and drop any other bowler and it be ridiculed. As far as depth goes, I can't remember a time when Australia was as well served with options in both spin and pace. It's quite amazing.
Spot on about Richardson, his injuries could not have come at a worse time for his career. Such shit luck...twice.
You can make an argument that when playing Boland, you can drop any other bowler and it be the right move and drop any other bowler and it be ridiculed. As far as depth goes, I can't remember a time when Australia was as well served with options in both spin and pace. It's quite amazing.
Spot on about Richardson, his injuries could not have come at a worse time for his career. Such shit luck...twice.
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Wobbly Punt
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Disgrace is a bit harsh I think IP but its also not that harsh. We only needed another 4 sessions out of it and it would have been close to ideal.
Some of the blame has to be on the batsmen in the game as well, they need to be better when conditions aren't perfect. Some of the blame could also go to the fact we don't have enough pitches like this so guys don't get a chance learn how to handle them. Too many roads leads to bad habits and then these pitches expose guys too much. More green-tops means guys would get better at playing on them.
Its also unusual to have 2 bowling attacks at the level we have in this series coupled with 2 batting line-ups with as many holes as these 2 teams have.
No doubt your main point is true in that 2 days is horrible though. But I also think it'd be better to have more of these types of pitches than it would be to have more of the pitches we had in Perth or like the first Test pitch in the England series.
Overall though I agree, it was too green. If they'd had the Day 2 or maybe day 3 pitch on day 1 it may have been perfect but we'll never know that. I don't think it missed by that much to be honest.
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Ideally you want it to be a even contest between bat and ball but I just like variation, not against seeing the occasional seaming wicket that's very tough for batting or on the other end nice and flat.
Wobbly Punt
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Very true, and if we had more green pitches the contest would get more and more even over the years as batsmen got better at handling the conditions.
I don't see any benefit in flat decks myself. There's nothing a bowler can do to improve on a flat deck.
Variation is best though I agree. Instead of roads though maybe turn them in to spinners decks by drying them out more and cracking them up a bit so instead of green they're dry turners. Fine line to run there though as they could become crumbling disasters if you get it wrong.
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I've always liked the variety by location approach.
Perth - bounce and pace
SCG - spin friendly
Adelaide - batting deck
Gabba - swing and bit of grass
Then in other countries - sub continent dry and low, England swing and movement off the pitch etc etc.
Perth - bounce and pace
SCG - spin friendly
Adelaide - batting deck
Gabba - swing and bit of grass
Then in other countries - sub continent dry and low, England swing and movement off the pitch etc etc.
Piggy Smalls
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It would be a huge call to keep him out but I would think Starc is the least suited to bowling in English conditions.
Taylor
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I think I prefer the testing nature of a spicy wicket both teams have batted on twice in two days over the wickets that are absolute roads for three days and then become raging turners so the side who won the toss and batted first for 650/3d then rolls the opposition twice for under a total of 150.
Too flat and the toss is too critical, to much action and the toss doesn't really matter.
Too flat and the toss is too critical, to much action and the toss doesn't really matter.
The proliferation of flat decks for limited overs cricket has bred a generation of players that have lost the art of defending and leaving the ball. Chris Rogers was maybe the last one. With the consistent bounce on offer these days, batters can rely on their eye to hit everything. No need either to get forward or back - just play from the crease with minimal footwork.
David Warner.
Literally any of our players (bowler, batsman, keeper) would do better than that wash up.
True but as chappelli alluded to in an article the selectors (once again) missed a big trick in Adelaide in not naming Morris but nesser instead .
I mean nessers a half decent bowler but he really does offer nothing outside of ordinary,particularly in the test match arena.
Morris or jhye for that matter (tho acknowledge his fitness was still an issue at the time) offer something different in terms of genuine pace and wicket taking ability, in particular Morris but once again the national selectors played it safe .
Taylor
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I'm going to sound like a broken record but if Jye Richardson was closer to 2m tall he would be playing for Australia far more frequently, shorter pace bowlers deliver less bounce but he is still a gun and I'm happy we have him.
He's only three fingers taller than me compared to the likes of Cummins who is 192cm.
It's all about points of difference, you're right about that.
He's only three fingers taller than me compared to the likes of Cummins who is 192cm.
It's all about points of difference, you're right about that.
Warner is very lucky he has brownie points. NSW players seem to get reprieves for form when suddenly any state players get dropped quickly.
Bancroft deserves a spot if he continues to build form. It’s a boys club that team.
Bancroft deserves a spot if he continues to build form. It’s a boys club that team.
I think the two things Warner has going for him are that the team is winning and winning well and a couple of others getting out cheaply in the 2nd innings besides himself. That gives his support base enough leeway to keep him in.
Barring a big change in form in the next two tests I can’t see him being selected fir India and England and I think he knows that too and will retire after the Sydney test
Cam Bancroft probably the best performed opener in the Shield so far this season but Marcus Harris maybe next in line ?
Barring a big change in form in the next two tests I can’t see him being selected fir India and England and I think he knows that too and will retire after the Sydney test
Cam Bancroft probably the best performed opener in the Shield so far this season but Marcus Harris maybe next in line ?
Richardson's injuries have cost him at least half a dozen test caps and however many LO games. It's also unfortunate for him our fast bowling depth is as good as it has ever been. Morris will get games, we've always been obsessed with pace.
Bancroft and Harris have both proved on multiple occasions that they aren't up to it. I'd hope it was someone else if there is a change.
Also, I don't like Warner, but the dude has averaged mid to high 40s opening the batting in test cricket over 99 tests including 24 hundreds. He's getting rope because he has proven a level miles above anything any other available Australian opener has. There is a limit and I think its coming fast. Doubly so given he's toilet in England and not great in Asia.
Bancroft and Harris have both proved on multiple occasions that they aren't up to it. I'd hope it was someone else if there is a change.
Also, I don't like Warner, but the dude has averaged mid to high 40s opening the batting in test cricket over 99 tests including 24 hundreds. He's getting rope because he has proven a level miles above anything any other available Australian opener has. There is a limit and I think its coming fast. Doubly so given he's toilet in England and not great in Asia.
Sorry but the state favouritism thing from selectors is a myth.
Wobbly Punt
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Good article here on the pitch thing that has been chatted about in here...
www.theguardian.com
Two-day finish shows key factor in Test cricket is the contest not the duration | Geoff Lemon
If there’s imbalance in a pitch, it’s better for it to be in favour of moving a match towards a result, rather than stifling one
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Thought Neser played well personally. Not sure I agree, if Morris is to come in it would be to replace Starc, which isn't going to happen. Pretty standard formula they have - one fast aggressive, two line and length metronomes, one spinner, one part time spin, one all rounder.
Wobbly Punt
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Good point. Winning the toss should provide an advantage but it shouldn't be insurmountable should it. I hadn't looked at it that way before but its a good way to do it.
Using Brissie as an example, I wonder if the toss had gone the other way whether the result would have? I think it was over too quickly for the toss to have determined the outcome but I'm not sure.
