2nd Test Australia v West Indies Jan 25-29 1430hrs @ the Gabba

[Blue1980]

Australia has this wierd obsession with thinking all rounders can play middle order (Green) and open the batting with no problems at all (Watson years ago).

We just dont know how to use all rounders.

Think of all the great all time all rounder players - Botham, Hadlee, Dev, Shaun Pollock - they all batted at number 6 or lower.

Kallis?

 

[frankrizzo]

One knock and it's worked?

Too early too write it off before his innings here , but also too early to say he is settled as the opener .


Mind you for me it's number 3 is the issue.

Head and Marsh attack and have been key parts of the team and mostly perform .

Labuschange has been lucky or crap for a while in the tests.

Green got a 40 wow guess he is bound to get a 30-40 when he gets given enough chances

Still pretty big innings for smith even ignoring opener part the one black mark on his resume is his poor 4th innings record.

 

[Blue1980]

Some people don't make it at Test level but to say Hookes, Lehmann, Blewett etc. were not quality batsmen when they carved up shield tons like popping tic tacs all over the country would be silly.

Out of those Lehmann was def test quality and an average in the 40s. Just born at the wrong time, if he was around 2010 onwards he’d have been our 2nd best bat to smith

 

[PhatBoy]

Head is not hit and miss, he’s our match winner, literally. He won us a Test championship final ffs. Played some critical knocks in India and the Ashes. The bloke has done it all over the world against the best attacks and made 100 on a tricky batting wicket in Adelaide just a week ago.

Is the best middle order batsman in world cricket currently, the very definition of not ‘hit and miss’.

That’s……. Something of an exaggeration

 

[ABAB]

Boland isn’t any younger than our current bowlers.

Though he was 32 but is 34. Well, our pace attack is stuffed then.

 

[Blue1980]

Nepo marsh averages c.30. Has had more chances than a 90 year old pensioner addicted to Bingo.

Will only score when conditions suit. Had a poor Brisbane Test which pretty much much sums up the fools gold standard of his Test career.

He only came in because green got injured in the ashes and has been really good since coming back into the side, averaging over 50 in 8 tests.

The innings at headingley and also the MCG can hardly be considered suitable conditions to make runs.

In saying that, we do look unbalanced with one too many dashers in the side so it can be a bit boom or bust. We got lucky first 4 tests at least one of them made runs, while they all failed in the 2nd innings today.

 

[Blue1980]

Was listening to the grade cricketer and they mentioned that spell, I’m too young for that but sounded ridiculous. Lot of touring cricketers have made runs and had good innings’, but that’s surely one the best bowling performances from a touring bowler since then, 7/68 to bowl your team to victory with a ****ed toe, man, epic.

The pitch was like something out of Curtlys dreams, the most stereotypical WACA old school pitch you can think of.

He was phenomenal that test and the one before in Adelaide they won by a run.

Lords 05 by McGrath was something approaching what Ambrose did that day.

 

[Blue1980]

This would be plausible if Victoria had produced a test batsman of any note in the last gazillion years.

Also boof was in Victoria for what, 2 seasons when he was like 21-22.

 

[Blue1980]

Not sold on both of them in the team at the same time. Very hit and miss.

Marsh has really disappointed in a couple of chases for us. Both the last ashes test and this one we had a very very gettable target when he got to the crease and he managed to get out both times for not much. Small sample but not liking the trend.

He did help us bat time with labs in the 4th test.

 

[Tandy]

I wonder if anything will come of this or will they just brush it off and move on. Selectors don't like change. Marnus could average 2 and they'll stick with him. Smith could make half a dozen ducks in a row and they'll stick with him. Unfortunately they set the precedence with Warner. They've squeezed Green back in, he'll continue to underwhelme but they'll keep him in. Is there any up and comers that look likely in the next couple of years? I don't watch shield so I couldn't say

 

[Blue1980]

Though he was 32 but is 34. Well, our pace attack is stuffed then.

Nah, the batting is the greater issue going forward.

 

[BACCS]

That’s……. Something of an exaggeration

Exaggeration? What part?

 

[PhatBoy]

Exaggeration? What part?

That head has been the world’s best middle order batsman.

 

[BACCS]

That head has been the world’s best middle order batsman.

Yes, over the past 12 months he has, which the ICC recognized. A big reason Australia has performed so well.

 

[010203]

Brathwaite just torched a critic in his post match interview. Love to see it

And showed Isa Guha his biceps.

 

[JackOutback]

Who are these mythical stars in the shield who should be in the side.

Don’t say Bancroft, he’d have made FA difference.

You can’t ask who’s making bulk runs and then dismiss the answer because you don’t like it. Bancroft made 950 runs last season and 550 so far this season.

 

[PhatBoy]

Yes, over the past 12 months he has, which the ICC recognized. A big reason Australia has performed so well.

The ICC recognised him by naming him in a team, that doesn’t make him the world’s best middle order batsman.

Across the last 18 months he’s averaged 48. Ok, fair play.
That actually drops significantly if you make it the last 12: I made it 18 to allow a pretty soft 175 he made coming in after Marnus had his way with my world beating West Indians last summer.

Of batsmen who have played a significant amount of innings batting at numbers 4-6 in the same period, there’s 5 who have a better record and considering one of them - Harry Brooke - has scored nearly 1300 runs at 68 (Head’s is 48) and a strike rate in the 90s (Head’s is 80) it’s a pretty broad statement to make.


Now.
Since the start of 2023, his average drops to 37.5, that’s when we get to ‘no there’s no f**ken way he’s the world’s best middle order batsman’ territory.

 

[guruisatiger]

Get your toe to it in the right spot and it could reach the boundary!

Exactly

 

[Golumless]

I wonder if anything will come of this or will they just brush it off and move on. Selectors don't like change. Marnus could average 2 and they'll stick with him. Smith could make half a dozen ducks in a row and they'll stick with him. Unfortunately they set the precedence with Warner. They've squeezed Green back in, he'll continue to underwhelme but they'll keep him in. Is there any up and comers that look likely in the next couple of years? I don't watch shield so I couldn't say

It's one game with a side that retained the Ashes away from home, took out the test championship and won the previous 4 at home. It'll be marked as a shit happens kind of game and quickly forgotten about.

 

[chriso11]

It's one game with a side that retained the Ashes away from home, took out the test championship and won the previous 4 at home. It'll be marked as a s**t happens kind of game and quickly forgotten about.

Don’t forget the World Cup which is the only ODI tournament that matters. Won that against a rampant India on their home turf spoiling their megalomaniac prime minister’s vanity party. Priceless.

 

[chriso11]

Head is not hit and miss, he’s our match winner, literally. He won us a Test championship final ffs. Played some critical knocks in India and the Ashes. The bloke has done it all over the world against the best attacks and made 100 on a tricky batting wicket in Adelaide just a week ago.

Is the best middle order batsman in world cricket currently, the very definition of not ‘hit and miss’.

And he can go even better, hasn’t hit the ceiling yet. He’s our future captain

 

[largebus]

Head still averaged 40 for the series despite his king pair. He's always been a bit feast of famine, which is fine but you wouldn't want 6 blokes like him for balance sake. Just as you wouldn't want 6 Khawajas, who averages 40 but gets starts then gets out.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Yes thats what your logic on this looks like.

 

[010203]

McSweeney has to be a lock for the NZ tour

Even if he doesn't play, the experience will be invaluable when our current players retire in the next few years

He has a maturity beyond his years that young man. He did a fine job captaining the Heat in the ''Challenger'' and final in the BBL.

 

[Blue1980]

You can’t ask who’s making bill runs and then dismiss the answer because you don’t like it. Bancroft made 950 runs last season and 550 so far this season.

I just don’t see it with Bancroft or Harris. Both have failed at test level and seem limited batsmen.

Also Bancroft in would have meant leaving out Green and having everyone in the side over 30.

Renshaw has time on his side a bit more, but would need to improve to be a regular test player. If you include county records, Renshaw has had a better first class record last 12 months over Bancroft.