Australia v India - pre series discussion

[Westend]

good sess by Aus A

4 poles winning the toss good sess

 

[LukeParkerno1]

McSweeney I still think is the frontrunner ..age experience I think the selectors like. Negative is he is not an opener...and on a side note I didn't like marnus comments that he would go up to open get his mate in....he didn't say that last year

Konstas in the mix but I think the age and lack of FC cricket against him...but if he tons up again you never know

Harris...I can see scoring runs in these matches.....but then I can see him stuffing up come the tests...that has always been his issue and his lack of fielding...he is just woeful

Bangers.....has been the leading opener these past seasons but he is in awful awful form atm....I just can't see him turning it around ..if he can somehow make some runs he is a jet in the field thats a positive..great slipper and bat pad

If they all go pretty average or so so....I still wouldn't disregard Inglis slotting into the middle order and marnus going up to open...lets face it with Warner the past few years Marnus has been in early anyway and with the shield Renshaw is a walking wicket...marnus is in 2-3 over

Yep I actually feel they are considering that move Marnus opening and Inglis in. We have to remember Khawaja is 37 so next year or at best after the Ashes next year (and I have my doubts Aussie lasts that long) we need another one. I have to say I was against this but it MIGHT be the calculated gamble they take.

 

[Jim Prideaux]

good sess by Aus A

4 poles winning the toss good sess

Yup, good to see “The Todd” snare one

 

[eth-dog]

Yup, good to see “The Todd” snare one

Was it out though?

 

[Jim Prideaux]

Was it out though?

Scorecard says it is

 

[nobbyiscool]

I cannot believe we're allowing ourselves to be talked into a ginger with a first class average of 37. That's not even satisfactory at test level, let alone Shield level.

Not to mention the fact he's not an opener.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

I cannot believe we're allowing ourselves to be talked into a ginger with a first class average of 37. That's not even satisfactory at test level, let alone Shield level.

Not to mention the fact he's not an opener.

Least he's young enough and that average is skewed it's a lot better recently, plus and I can't stress this enough literally one of our only leadership options going forward. Cummins is fine but we shouldn't be expecting him to be a long term captain. Put it this way in 2 years who is the captain after Cummins? Khawaja and Smith retired, we surely don't want Lab captaining, Green is already an AR we don't need the bloke captain. Who else is there that's realistic. Would he score less runs than Bancroft, Harris or Renshaw probably not. He's a fantastic fielder. I sort of get the appeal of getting him in and around the side.

 

[ioppolo]

I cannot believe we're allowing ourselves to be talked into a ginger with a first class average of 37. That's not even satisfactory at test level, let alone Shield level.

Not to mention the fact he's not an opener.

Been in as good a form as anyone domestically the last 12 months. Bancroft flopped at the worst possible time.

 

[nobbyiscool]

Least he's young enough and that average is skewed it's a lot better recently, plus and I can't stress this enough literally one of our only leadership options going forward. Cummins is fine but we shouldn't be expecting him to be a long term captain. Put it this way in 2 years who is the captain after Cummins? Khawaja and Smith retired, we surely don't want Lab captaining, Green is already an AR we don't need the bloke captain. Who else is there that's realistic. Would he score less runs than Bancroft, Harris or Renshaw probably not. He's a fantastic fielder. I sort of get the appeal of getting him in and around the side.

We're not England, we don't pick specialist captains. Especially not ones that we're guessing about, because we haven't seen them in the test team locker room, which has proven repeatedly to have a wild ability to turn seemingly great blokes into deadshits.

Head is only 30, Inglis is only 29, Cam Green is only 25. There's plenty of leadership in the wings.

 

[nobbyiscool]

I created a thread for the A game given the interest in the bat-off

Australia A vs India A (2 "Unofficial Tests")

Surprised to see there's no thread for this given the interest in the bat-off for the Test team's opening spot. Here's the squads: Australia A: Nathan McSweeney (c), Cameron Bancroft, Scott Boland, Jordan Buckingham, Cooper Connolly, Ollie Davies, Brendan Doggett, Marcus Harris, Sam Konstas...

www.bigfooty.com

 

[GenuineMatchWinner]

I cannot believe we're allowing ourselves to be talked into a ginger with a first class average of 37. That's not even satisfactory at test level, let alone Shield level.

Not to mention the fact he's not an opener.

Who would you be picking.

McSweeney is one of, if not the most in form batsman in the State leagues currently, average is on the way up and batting 3 for South Australia, has been exposed to a lot of new ball situations in his time since switching states.

Bancroft is horribly out of nick, Harris is a vanilla option and we know he will try his guts out but can't say with any certainty that he is a long term option. Konstas is the real bolter and wouldn't be against them going there but it is a big step up.

For all the shouting about Inglis (in ripping nick at the moment but the side gets re-jigged to fit him or a massive ask to promote to open), he averages less than McSweeney and is 4 years older. Alex Doolan played test cricket as a top order bat and averaged 33.

Of course, this may all change if one of the 4 named in the A game gets big runs, but I would be fine with McSweeney getting a crack at the spot off what I have seen from him and the other candidates in the last 18 months.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

We're not England, we don't pick specialist captains. Especially not ones that we're guessing about, because we haven't seen them in the test team locker room, which has proven repeatedly to have a wild ability to turn seemingly great blokes into deadshits.

Head is only 30, Inglis is only 29, Cam Green is only 25. There's plenty of leadership in the wings.

They are all 30+ those options and I don’t see Green as an option it’s a big ask being an all rounder and then captaining. Some youth in the side will be good as our whole top 6 is 30 or above bar Green if fit and he’s not

 

[Rabish Binney]

Konstas gone for a 3rd ball duck.

 

[western royboy]

Bancroft gone for a - its a bat off now

 

[corbies]

I cannot believe we're allowing ourselves to be talked into a ginger with a first class average of 37. That's not even satisfactory at test level, let alone Shield level.

Not to mention the fact he's not an opener.

You certainly wouldn't want to be talking up someone to bat in the top 6 for Australia with a first class average of 37.

Beau Webster Profile - Cricket Player Australia | Stats, Records, Video

Read about Beau Webster cricket player from Australia profile, stats, rankings, records, videos, photos at ESPNcricinfo

www.espncricinfo.com

 

[nobbyiscool]

You certainly wouldn't want to be talking up someone to bat in the top 6 for Australia with a first class average of 37.

Beau Webster Profile - Cricket Player Australia | Stats, Records, Video

Read about Beau Webster cricket player from Australia profile, stats, rankings, records, videos, photos at ESPNcricinfo

www.espncricinfo.com

Who was talking about Webster?

 

[Cleavy]

at this rate, we may as well open with Marnus and pick a replacement at 3.

 

[corbies]

You certainly wouldn't want to be talking up someone to bat in the top 6 for Australia with a first class average of 37.

Beau Webster Profile - Cricket Player Australia | Stats, Records, Video

Read about Beau Webster cricket player from Australia profile, stats, rankings, records, videos, photos at ESPNcricinfo

www.espncricinfo.com

It was tongue in cheek but

I don't know whether Webster is in line to replace Green or not, but after last season he should be. With that being the case you can't declare on him before 100.

I tell ya, if they go with an all-rounder for the first test and it's not Webster, you can expect to see me down at Jolimont with a placard.

It sounds like they're going to pick an opener for the first test and go in a bowler light.

But if they pick an allrounder and it's not Webster I'll be leading a demonstration. 6 for 17, WA bowled out for 53.

 

[CakeEater]

Credit to McSweeney for hanging around, but hes missing the ability to rotate the strike given hes 19 off 91.

 

[nobbyiscool]

It was tongue in cheek but

Way to go back a week and multiple threads to prove that, indeed, no one was talking about Webster.

The last 2 were in the context of him cleaning up WA last weekend, and were posted during the game, one of them in the match thread. So way to also be insincere in suggesting that it's part of the current conversation.

The bottom 2 posts don't even stump for him in the test team, only as the best allround option if they go that way - which has never looked likely.

So you've just gone to a hell of a lot of effort to make an arse of yourself.

 

[toml]

I cannot believe we're allowing ourselves to be talked into a ginger with a first class average of 37. That's not even satisfactory at test level, let alone Shield level.

Not to mention the fact he's not an opener.

37 is a higher average than all of Marnus, Head and Harris had when they first debuted. Career averages aren't everything, especially considering McSweeney's are still decently skewed by the handful of games for Qld when he was 18 and nowhere near ready for shield cricket. Averaging 50 from his last 12 matches or so. Shield batting is harder than it once was, far more bowler friendly decks, the new kookaburra ball that has been used for the last 4 or 5 years swings and seams significantly more than old kookaburra turf, averages in the high 30's aren't going to scare away selectors.

 

[SC_Power]

You certainly wouldn't want to be talking up someone to bat in the top 6 for Australia with a first class average of 37.

Beau Webster Profile - Cricket Player Australia | Stats, Records, Video

Read about Beau Webster cricket player from Australia profile, stats, rankings, records, videos, photos at ESPNcricinfo

www.espncricinfo.com

If selectors were only worried about career stats, then Konstas is nowhere near an Aus A spot let alone a Test one.
And you could replace the selectors with a machine learning algorithm.

 

[ioppolo]

Credit to McSweeney for hanging around, but hes missing the ability to rotate the strike given hes 19 off 91.

Beats 0 off 3 & 14 respectively

 

[corbies]

Way to go back a week and multiple threads to prove that, indeed, no one was talking about Webster.

The last 2 were in the context of him cleaning up WA last weekend, and were posted during the game, one of them in the match thread. So way to also be insincere in suggesting that it's part of the current conversation.

The bottom 2 posts don't even stump for him in the test team, only as the best allround option if they go that way - which has never looked likely.

So you've just gone to a hell of a lot of effort to make an arse of yourself.

Bigfooty has a great search function so it took about 30 seconds.

My point was for you to say McSweeney's average isn't even satisfactory at Shield level and then at the same time be big on a guy with the same average was a bit how ya going. It wasn't meant to be mean or anything, just maybe you were being a bit harsh on McSweeney.

 

[Cainozz]

I’m not a huge fan of changing around the order from things that have worked. Moving Marnus to open feels a little more like a short term solution stop gap rather than addressing the need for a specialist opener and he’s our best number 3 since Ponting.

You could say Head would be a worthwhile gamble to throw in and open as he hasn’t necessarily been setting the world on fire in test cricket anyway. However when it clicks, he’s one of the most damaging batters in the world and that role is perfect for him at number 5.

I’m really coming around to the idea of McSweeney opening. I hope we take the punt on him similar to that of Labs when he was brought into the team. Like a lot have mentioned, he’s in good form, at a good age (not too young but very much a long term prospect).