Pick the XI for Boxing Day v India

[PumpyChowdown]

Seriously...WTF is up with cricket.com.au? If you look up a player, it redirects to their BigBash page and only brings up BigBash stats? I don't want ****ING BigBash stats, I want Sheffield Shield stats.

CA is shite.

My team fwiw:

Khawaja - open up wit Warner for a good balance between aggression and "digging in"
Warner
S. Marsh - if fit (if not, Punter gets a reprieve)
Clarke - move up one place
Christian
Watson - if fit (if not, Mitchell Marsh gets a call up)
Wade - Haddin gone
Siddle
Harris - if fit (if not, Starc) - Cummins will own this spot for the next decade hopefully
Pattinson
Lyon

Unlucky, but ones to consider - Paine, P.Hughes, Copeland, Cutting, Cowan.

 

[King Elvis]

Clarke can't bat #4.

Mitch Marsh isn't ready.

 

[Rewired]

Seriously...WTF is up with cricket.com.au? If you look up a player, it redirects to their BigBash page and only brings up BigBash stats? I don't want ****ING BigBash stats, I want Sheffield Shield stats.

CA is shite.

My team fwiw:

Khawaja - open up wit Warner for a good balance between aggression and "digging in"
Warner
S. Marsh - if fit (if not, Punter gets a reprieve)
Clarke - move up one place
Christian
Watson - if fit (if not, Mitchell Marsh gets a call up)
Wade - Haddin gone
Siddle
Harris - if fit (if not, Starc) - Cummins will own this spot for the next decade hopefully
Pattinson
Lyon

Unlucky, but ones to consider - Paine, P.Hughes, Copeland, Cutting, Cowan.

This guy is up to speed with the current affairs isn't he? Paine may never play FC cricket again and Cutting is injured.

 

[PumpyChowdown]

This guy is up to speed with the current affairs isn't he? Paine may never play FC cricket again and Cutting is injured.

Ummmmm....that's why I haven't got them in the team. They are "there, or there abouts" though, given their fitness. Hopefully both will get on the park soon.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Seriously...WTF is up with cricket.com.au? If you look up a player, it redirects to their BigBash page and only brings up BigBash stats? I don't want ****ING BigBash stats, I want Sheffield Shield stats.

CA is shite.

My team fwiw:

Khawaja - open up wit Warner for a good balance between aggression and "digging in"
Warner
S. Marsh - if fit (if not, Punter gets a reprieve)
Clarke - move up one place
Christian
Watson - if fit (if not, Mitchell Marsh gets a call up)
Wade - Haddin gone
Siddle
Harris - if fit (if not, Starc) - Cummins will own this spot for the next decade hopefully
Pattinson
Lyon

Unlucky, but ones to consider - Paine, P.Hughes, Copeland, Cutting, Cowan.

So in your team we have Marsh who is injured, Christian who is average, Clarke at 4 (averages about 15 there)...and Mitch Marsh near the side!

 

[mattymac]

Clarke can't bat #4.

chappelli wants him at 3. lulz

 

[LukeParkerno1]

chappelli wants him at 3. lulz

Yeah but he is 2 brain cells away from being declared insane!

 

[lionbear]

When is the actual joke.....oops I mean team announced?

 

[The Passenger]

well the whole time michael clarke was batting at four he was going through a bit of a form slump.

it's hard to tell whether it was his move to number four the contributed to his form slump, or whether his form slump has contributed to his poor record at number four.

he has had other innings there and failed, but not really any extended period...

it really shouldn't be a problem for him because technically he's pretty sound. possibly a mental thing.

but in saying that, he is working well at five. and we should be able to get a pretty sound top four with watson, warner, marsh holding up three of those spots, but fitness is obviously an issue with two of those blokes...

i don't know.. our batting is all a bit of a mess really.

 

[sydney_crow]

1. Warner
2. Cowan
3. Khawaja
4. Watson
5. Clarke
6. Christian
7. Wade
8. Siddle
9. Pattinson
10. Starc
11. Lyon
    
    In: Cowan, Watson, Christian, Wade
    Out: Hughes, Ponting, Hussey, Haddin

 

[RooBoyz24]

My 12 would be.
Warner
Cowan
Ponting-Last Chance Runs or Bye Bye.
Clarke
Watson
Hussey-Credits running out
Haddin-Same as Punter
Christan
Pattison
Siddle
Lyon
12th man
Starc
In i would have Cowan,Watson,Christan
Out Hughes,Khawaja,Starc.

 

[1990crow]

It's really hard to pick this team. Ponting deserves the chance of a farewell summer considering his form has improved a bit lately. Haddin I can't see them dropping so I may as well just chuck him in there. Would love them to pick Nevill though, I think he's a bit better than Wade. Watson should be fit. He replaces Hughes. Khawaja hasn't been in very good form, but we should persist. Christian deserves a spot but I'm finding it tough to fit him in there. I think Hussey might be the unfortunate one to miss out, his form hasn't been good enough. Starc gets dropped anyways so we need another bowler. We don't really have anyone knocking the door down which is a bit annoying.

Warner
Watson
Khawaja
Ponting
Clarke
Christian
Haddin
M.Marsh
Pattinson
Siddle
Lyon

M.Marsh looks a genuine all rounder who should do well against the Indians with both bat and ball. If he scores a couple of fifties in the first couple of tests move him up to six and drop an underperforming batsmen. Hopefully Cummins is available for the third test onwards because we should win with a bowling attack of Cummins, Pattinson, Siddle, Lyon, M.Marsh and Watson.

 

[jknothimjustafan]

The team I would like to see picked. (wont happen)

Ed Cowan
Warner
Khawaja
Watson (as a batter only)
Clarke
Dan Christian (as a batting all rounder)
Wade
Siddle
Pattinson
Starc
Lyon

The team that will be picked by the selectors imo.

Watson
Warner
Khawaja
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Haddin
Siddle
Pattinson
Starc
Lyon

 

[Ian Dargie]

It's really hard to pick this team. Ponting deserves the chance of a farewell summer considering his form has improved a bit lately. Haddin I can't see them dropping so I may as well just chuck him in there. Would love them to pick Nevill though, I think he's a bit better than Wade. Watson should be fit. He replaces Hughes. Khawaja hasn't been in very good form, but we should persist. Christian deserves a spot but I'm finding it tough to fit him in there. I think Hussey might be the unfortunate one to miss out, his form hasn't been good enough. Starc gets dropped anyways so we need another bowler. We don't really have anyone knocking the door down which is a bit annoying.

Warner
Watson
Khawaja
Ponting
Clarke
Christian
Haddin
M.Marsh
Pattinson
Siddle
Lyon

M.Marsh looks a genuine all rounder who should do well against the Indians with both bat and ball. If he scores a couple of fifties in the first couple of tests move him up to six and drop an underperforming batsmen. Hopefully Cummins is available for the third test onwards because we should win with a bowling attack of Cummins, Pattinson, Siddle, Lyon, M.Marsh and Watson.

Where do you guys get this stuff from?

 

[1990crow]

Where do you guys get this stuff from?

Nice argument there.

 

[Ian Dargie]

Nice argument there.

Sensible people will disregard certain elements of your suggested side as ridiculous without me giving them a blow-by-blow explanation.

You are obviously a little bit divorced from reality – I don't expect you to be persuaded by facts or reason – so I'm actually pretty happy to leave it at that.

 

[1990crow]

Sensible people will disregard certain elements of your suggested side as ridiculous without me giving them a blow-by-blow explanation.

You are obviously a little bit divorced from reality – I don't expect you to be persuaded by facts or reason – so I'm actually pretty happy to leave it at that.

It's called opinion mate, no need to get personal.

 

[Ian Dargie]

It's called opinion mate...

An indispensible smokescreen for those who say silly things.

 

[KiwiRoo]

OK. If that's how you want it.

A few other posters have done a pretty effective job of knocking your shitty argument on its head but I guess I can fire off a few lazy shots if it makes you feel better.

This is not, in its own right, an argument for retaining Starc. There are other young players and other players not quite as young. Why should Starc be picked ahead of them?

You have to make the case to retain Starc on an individual basis. Does he deserve his spot? Are there better alternatives?

You don't just get to point to Warne and McGrath and make the banal observation that young players can take time to develop, as though that demonstrates that Starc should therefore keep his spot. That is a shitty argument.

It would be like me taking some kid who goes OK in the Big Bash but who has played bugger-all FC cricket and insisting he should be in the Test side because, hey, that's what happened with Cummins. One extreme, unrepresentative example doesn't make a rule.

Why are the examples of Warne and McGrath relevant? If we stick with a young player the way we did Warne and McGrath, do you expect to reproduce the results? Of course not, so why keep harping on those examples? These young players have to justify their selection case by case – the way Warne and McGrath cemented spots in the side nearly 20 years ago has absolutely nothing to do with anything.

So what about Beau Casson? Should we have stuck with him? I mean, we stuck with Warne for a few Tests early on, so we should have persevered with Casson, right?

What about Peter George? Should we have stuck with him? I mean, we stuck with McGrath for a few Tests early on, so we should have persevered with George, right?

That is the problem with taking the examples of two of our greatest players and extrapolating them to apply to every half-decent, or not so decent, prospect who comes along. It's a shitty argument.

In this case, though, it simply means you made a shitty argument, and the essential shittiness of it should have been self-evident to any sensible person.

Maybe type slower for me next time?

All i can say is its a good job you never get to select a side

You'd make more changes than Warnies surgeon and they'd need 8 previous players to hand the caps out come test morning

 

[eddiesmith]

Well if they want a left armer in the attack, maybe a left arm spinner is the way to go

 

[The Passenger]

Well if they want a left armer in the attack, maybe a left arm spinner is the way to go

you're beloved victorian's would be better off sending jon holland to grade cricket then trying to palm hiim off to the australian team

 

[Bucking Beads]

The Selectors must be dumb if they are going to pick Harris after 4 overs for the Heat. He needs to prove his fitness otherwise he will likely break down after a few overs again.

 

[frankrizzo]

Issue is bowling 4 overs in the big bash is the only way he can prove his fitness right now.

 

[frankrizzo]

As for starc, some may say it's harsh to only give him two tests but christ he was ordinary.

two tests against as weak a batting lineup as you will face on green decks and he takes 4 wickets at 50 and all 4 wickets were from legside or wide rubbish, it's odd to say figures of 4/200 flattered him but they really did.

 

[Selective Retention]

If everyone was fit.

Warner
Cowan
Marsh
Ponting
Clarke
Watson
Haddin
Harris
Pattinson
Cummins
Lyon

Pity half of them aren't.