Australian Test Squad to the West Indies April 2012

[Kyptastic]

So, with the final day of the test summer upon us, we need to start looking forward to the Frank Worrell trophy taking place in the West Indies in April. Due to Australia's good form, many of the spots on the plane are pretty much locked in stone, however, with the Sheffield Shield finishing in early March, there is the opportunity for some to press their touring claims.

CA generally like's to send 15 man squads overseas, but they have sent a back up wicketkeeper on tours to that side of the world because of the difficulty of reinforcing quickly if someone is injured. So I expect that a 16 man squad will be named, including two specialist wicket-keepers. Generally, a spare batsman, spare spin bowler and two spare pacemen are also sent.

Regardless of what people would prefer, I would say that the following players are locks for the tour (as long as they're free of injury, obviously):

Clarke
Ponting
Warner
Hussey
Watson

Siddle
Hilfenhaus
Pattinson

Lyon

Highly Probable:

Cowan (I like what he's done so far and feel he deserves to be persevered with. However, he hasn't cemented his place quite yet and if another opener demonstrates strong form in the Shield, or Cowan has a shocker run in the end of the season, he may just miss out)

Harris (Should be in the locks, but I'm hedging my bets)

Haddin (It's all been said before, but we can all still hope)

For me, that leaves 4 spots - the spare batsman, the back up wicket-keeper, the extra spinner and the final pace spot.

Spare Batsman: Marsh is almost definitely gone - he would have to average 100 in the shield to make it (and he'll probably be spending time with the international limited over teams which means he'll miss a couple of games). Khawaja has a lot of wraps on him and is probably the front runner for this spot, but there are any number of young batsmen (Maddinson, Lynn, Burns, Finch etc.) that could bypass him with consistently strong performances in the shield.

Backup Wicketkeeper: With Paine out indefinitely, Wade is the frontrunner, although Nevill's numbers this season are strong.

5th Paceman: Starc and Cummins are the standouts and will probably have a bowl off over the next couple of months for this spot. I feel Starc has the edge as all the talk of Cummins being managed means they may just save him for the one dayer's. Maybe Cutting might be a bolter if he can show the form that got him into the Brisbane squad.

Second Spinner: For me, wide open. Beer's been preferred, but there are no real standouts in Shield cricket at the moment. A big month from someone could get them on the plane. Currently, Doherty has the most wicket's of any spinner in the Shield, but I doubt that he'll be considered for the longer from again. Boyce has 18 wickets in 5 games with an excellent strike rate of 44.5, but goes at 4.5 runs an over.

So, my squad at this time would be:

Clarke (C)
Watson (VC)
Ponting
Warner
Hussey
Cowan
Khawaja
Haddin
Wade
Siddle
Hilfenhaus
Pattinson
Harris
Starc
Lyon
+1 Spinner

 

[The Passenger]

i think you are spot on.

race for the back up keeper between wade and nevill over the last few shield games. i think a lot would like to see both taken and haddin left behind.

from the team that just played, you'd imagine watson comes back in for marsh and with his run of form he'll be cut completely. they've used khawaja so they'll likely show faith in him. posibly hughes. probably depends on who performs best over the remaining shield games.

starc and patto_man are locks to be added to the three pace men.

you'd think SOK is the best of the rest spinners on performances for the last couple of years, but having been overlooked so far then maybe not. cam boyce has had a decent season, if he finishes in the same form or stronger, i'd highly contemplate taking him if no other spinner demonstrates that they are the clear number two.

 

[dan warna]

perhaps baddin will do the right thing and retire....LOL.

besides that sound right. Would like s'ok to get a nod as well if he does well in the end of season shield games and khawaja as long term quality players.

Injuries could decide selection as well. Pattinson and cummins...how bad their injuries really are could decide who goes.

 

[The Passenger]

ooo yeah on cummins i wouldn't take him regardless. let's get his body right, get him playing some shield. and i reckon try and score him a county contract for about a half a dozen games. that should give him a good grounding to come back into international cricket next season.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

This thread has to wait until after the Sheffield Shield starts back up again, I think. I see no reason why Marsh can't get himself on the tour if he carves it up for WA.

I'll try to predict the squad though...a 15 man squad maybe? I think they'll take two spinners but only one keeper...

Michael Beer
Michael Clarke (c)
Ed Cowan
Brad Haddin (+)
Ryan Harris
Ben Hilfenhaus
Mike Hussey
Usman Khawaja
Nathan Lyon
James Pattinson
Ricky Ponting
Peter Siddle
Mitchell Starc
Shane Watson
David Warner

 

[DeadlyAkkuret]

Beer?

No room for North?

 

[The Passenger]

wouldn't be suprised if beer goes. he went on the oz a tour, and from memory he played in that oz a match against new zealand (i think. can't be ****ed looking).

about the only thing that has changed on the spinning front this season has been boyce has started to turn in decent figures (~20 wkts at ~31 per wicket), and SOK performances have been shocking (ave in the 60's i think)... everything else is status quo from the start of the season in terms of our spinners.

 

[dan warna]

wouldn't be suprised if beer goes. he went on the oz a tour, and from memory he played in that oz a match against new zealand (i think. can't be ****ed looking).

about the only thing that has changed on the spinning front this season has been boyce has started to turn in decent figures (~20 wkts at ~31 per wicket), and SOK performances have been shocking (ave in the 60's i think)... everything else is status quo from the start of the season in terms of our spinners.

WRT o'keefe he's hardly played this season due to injury. Lets see how he goes in the back half of the season.

 

[The Passenger]

WRT o'keefe he's hardly played this season due to injury. Lets see how he goes in the back half of the season.

3 games. played half of them. the back half of the season will be interesting.

averaged 38. memory failure. thought it was way worse than that. not good, but it's not disastrous.

but if SOK wasn't picked on previous performance it's hard to see this summer changing the selectors minds. even new ones who didn't picked him in the oz a team. but yeah, there's four games to go and we'll see what happens.

it's hauritz that has a huge average for NSW (99). my memory thought that was SOK.

hopefully the australian players play the one or two games between the last ODI against India (Feb 27ish) and the first ODI in the Windies (Mar 16).

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Beer?

No room for North?

North has been good in the Big Bash but very inconsistent in the Shield.

Those who have kept close tabs on the WA side this season will know that Beer has been very good so far; better than his figures indicate. I would have O'Keefe as back up but Beer has done nothing wrong to be retained as the number 2 spinner.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

I wish Maddinson had made a few more runs this year - I'd like to see him go on tour. I have him pegged as our next long term number 3. If he carves back end of the shield - get him in the squad

 

[Kyptastic]

I wish Maddinson had made a few more runs this year - I'd like to see him go on tour. I have him pegged as our next long term number 3. If he carves back end of the shield - get him in the squad

He seemed to gain more confidence as he went through the Big Bash, hopefully that will transfer through to Shield cricket.

 

[Hellgood]

Beer?

No room for North?

Why not Beer? He's a good bowler, who has played test cricket and has toured with the team. Was a toss up between him and Lyon in Sri Lanka, so Beer is second in line.

Not sure why you would bring up North though, sure he has played well in the T20's and would have been a better choice than Bailey for the captaincy, but he really has done nothing new over the Shield season, a few good scores and the usual early dismissals.

As for Marsh, well if he doesn't have some impressive performances in the tri series and in some shield matches he won't go. It will take a lot for him to regain the trust of the selectors after his horror series.

Would be hesitant in taking Cummins over, I am not sure of our schedule this year, but if it's our only test series for a long time then take him, if we play more cricket over winter then give him more time. It certainly is a logjam for our bowling spots so it's not like we need to risk him.

I really hope Wade can cement his position in the one dayers which I think would go a long way in improving his chances for the keepers spot.

 

[Kram]

Not sure why you would bring up North though, sure he has played well in the T20's and would have been a better choice than Bailey for the captaincy, but he really has done nothing new over the Shield season, a few good scores and the usual early dismissals.

I think he's being facetious.

 

[benny_cousins]

Matthew Wade has to go. Even just as a back up batsman. I think he's averaging about 60 in Shield Cricket this year? Hopefully Haddin retires.

 

[year of the roo]

You can't rule out Marsh. They have picked him in the test side off good form in shorter forms of cricket before and will no doubt do it again. He also has some Shield games to find some form.

I would only take the one spinner. I can't see anyone else putting their hand up sufficiently, and we have a heap of quicks to choose from. I hope to see us play 4 quicks a few times on that tour.

 

[courtjester]

Warner
Cowan
Khawaja
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Wade
Siddle
Harris
Hilfenhaus
Lyon

Marsh
Pattinson
Starc/Cummins
Nevill

 

[Simple Jack]

Assuming all these bowlers get through some shield games (I'm assuming Paine won't keep again).

Clarke (c)
Watson (vc)
Warner
Cowan
Ponting
Hussey
Khawaja
Wade (+)
Nevill
Pattinson
Siddle
Cummins
Lyon
Hilfenhaus
Harris
O'Keefe/Starc

And my side for the first test is

Warner
Cowan
Watson
Ponting
Clarke (c)
Hussey
Wade (+)
Pattinson
Siddle
Hilfenhaus
Lyon

12th man - Cummins.

It's amazing that only a year and a bit after last years ashes we have to leave out pace bowlers the quality of Harris and Cummins but seeing as there will probably be an injury they'll get in some stage during the series.

Nevill is the back up keeper and 2nd back up batsman if needed.
Khawaja is straight in if there is an injury.

 

[legend166]

My team:

Warner
Cowan
Watson
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Wade
Siddle
Pattinson
Harris
Lyon

Cummins
Hilfenhaus
Khawaja
Nevill

Realistically, Haddin will replace Wade and Nevill won't go.

It feels really weird to leave out Hilfenhaus after the summer he just had, but I'm not sure how he'll go on Windies wickets. Even so maybe I'd put him in ahead of Harris.

 

[Jimthegreat]

Might just take the one spinner and 6 quicks. A pile of aggressive quick bowlers is where our strength lie. MKay as well have plenty on hand. If that means 4 quicks in games so be it. WI plays 4 quicks all the time so the pitches will have to drift in that direction. If we play a spinner we'll need just one, that being Lyon.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

WI plays 4 quicks all the time so the pitches will have to drift in that direction. If we play a spinner we'll need just one, that being Lyon.

I was under the impression Bishoo was basically a lock in their team...

Edwards, Rampaul, Sammy, Bishoo; with Roach as back-up.

 

[R00StaR]

We only need the one spinner and one keeper imo, if something happens fly out a replacement.

Warner
Cowan
Watson
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Wade
Siddle
Pattinson
Hilfenhaus
Lyon

Harris
Cummins/ Starc
Khawaja
Marsh

Warner and Cowan are a ways off cementing a place just yet and we have Hussey and Ponting still getting towards the end even if in good form. So for mine we need to at least take 2 extra batsmen, we've identified Khawaja and Marsh both been in terrible form lately, so ODIs, SS and tour games will decide who might get first crack if a spot opens up.

Cummins or Starc depending on form. I think selectors will want a lefty, but Cummins is a gun, tough call here.

Wade for Haddin, no brainer but unlikely to happen. Never the less its what id do.

 

[Jimthegreat]

I was under the impression Bishoo was basically a lock in their team...

Edwards, Rampaul, Sammy, Bishoo; with Roach as back-up.

They're still a pace orientated team though so we won't be getting dusty turners. We only need one spinner over there. No decent second spinners anyway. I prefer to go with our strengths and load up on quicks.

 

[year of the roo]

It would also be a significant show of faith in Lyon if he was the only spinner on tour. Probably not a bad message to be sending given how spin bowlers have been treated post Warne.

 

[Tulip]

Cowan
Warner
Khawaja
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Marsh

Watson
McDonald

Haddin
Wade

Hilfenhaus
Pattinson
Cummins
Harris
Siddle
Lyon

Should be the squad. Marsh obviously pending Shield form.