Pick the XI for Boxing Day v India

[Doodlesweaver]

it happened last year. nothing changed.

Not possible for them to be that bad... I hope. The Indian seamers aren't as good as the English bowlers.

 

[King Elvis]

It is getting quite obvious they will not deviate from the plan of Paine as Haddins replacement

Not sure what is happening with Ricky, his body language seemed resigned to the fact that he was done in the last test, maybe he has been told to wait a week and not take away from the start of the Big Bash???

I wouldn't read too much into his body language there - his grandmother had just passed away, so it'd be understandable if he looked a bit flat.

Everyone in Australia knows Hughes won't be in Melbourne including Phillip Hughes. Watson will open but won't bowl. I also liked Warne's comments the other night on bowling him, - I'd only use him spells of 3-4 overs and only once or twice in a session. He isn't your main bowler and shouldn't need to to bowl more than 10-25 overs in an innings tops.

Now that Mr Unreliable Johnson is gone, and Siddle appears to have grown a think brain, we shouldn't need to bowl Watson as much; find somebody better than Starc (Harris or Bollinger maybe), and that's even more true.

 

[Jimthegreat]

Cant see Bollinger playing for Aussie again..Talented enough, but cant see Selectors picking someone his age plus I dont think they were too impressed with his fitness when he did play.

I'd stick with Starc too..has the talent, let him learn the game at the top level.
Warne & McGrath went for plenty in their first tests,they stuck with them and look how that turned out.

It was just that last Test in Bollinger's case. Until then his Test career had been outstanding. His previous Test he bowled well in India, no mean feat, but hurt himself. He got 5/81 over the 2 innings (2/49, 3/32) and breaking down in the second innings, after bowling just 8 overs, cost us the match, which we lost by 1 wicket, He's 29-30 so he'll be around a little while. We'll have alot more hope of winning with Bollinger than Starc, who has potential but is definitely not ready. I think he could be actually important and with Harris our best Test bowler when fit and going. Record shows that.

 

[Shagger83]

My side below. Pending Fitness obviously. Thanks very much to Ricky Ponting but time to move on. Very young side which will probably get beat but so would an old experienced one. It's time to look to the future of Australian kids and back in the younger batsman. Clarke and Hussey are there to steady the ship if required.

Watson
Warner
Khawaja
Marsh
Clarke
Hussey
Wade
Siddle
Harris
Pattinson
Lyon

 

[The Passenger]

big lols at dean jones in that article a few posts back

I don’t rate Harris as much as I rate Starc.

 

[eddiesmith]

I wouldn't read too much into his body language there - his grandmother had just passed away, so it'd be understandable if he looked a bit flat.

True, I had forgotten about that

Whilst they are the main opponent of the summer and NZ are nowhere near their level, I still think people are overrating India just a tad by being extremely worried about them, last time I saw India play a series that was also away from home they got smashed and never looked like winning a game whilst the series was alive and that was only about 6 months ago...

 

[Belnakor]

will depend what the pitches are like, we have a history of preparing roads for the indians. If they played on the Hobart pitch they would have been skittled for sub 100.

 

[Belnakor]

Micky Arthur has stated that Ponting & Hussey are certain starters for Boxing Day. I hope Australia get torn to shreds for their own sake on the biggest day of Australian cricket.

4 tests ago Hussey was coming off 3 back to back man of the matches. Ponting has made a few runs lately, niether should be dropped.

 

[The 747]

It was just that last Test in Bollinger's case. Until then his Test career had been outstanding. His previous Test he bowled well in India, no mean feat, but hurt himself. He got 5/81 over the 2 innings (2/49, 3/32) and breaking down in the second innings, after bowling just 8 overs, cost us the match, which we lost by 1 wicket, He's 29-30 so he'll be around a little while. We'll have alot more hope of winning with Bollinger than Starc, who has potential but is definitely not ready. I think he could be actually important and with Harris our best Test bowler when fit and going. Record shows that.

So long as Dougeh is fit enough, he is a big upgrade on Starc.

So long as they don't just take his word for how fit he is and actually test him on it....

 

[Ian Dargie]

Everyone in Australia knows Hughes won't be in Melbourne including Phillip Hughes.

Fine. Agreed. Next.

Dan Christian offers more than Hussey as he is a better bowler and on current form a better batsman too. He offers the real option to the attack of us having a proper 5th bowler and with Clarke we'd have a 6th.

Bullshit.

Since the start of the Ashes, Hussey has scored more runs than any other Australian batsman. What the **** has Christian done?

Tell me. Look at his FC record and explain to me why he should replace a guy who has actually made some runs in the past 18 months.

 

[Jimthegreat]

So long as Dougeh is fit enough, he is a big upgrade on Starc.

So long as they don't just take his word for how fit he is and actually test him on it....

Hopefully they get a good look at him in the Chairman's game.

 

[Ian Dargie]

Cant see Bollinger playing for Aussie again..Talented enough, but cant see Selectors picking someone his age plus I dont think they were too impressed with his fitness when he did play.

So why did they pick him for the tour match?

I'd stick with Starc too..has the talent, let him learn the game at the top level. Warne & McGrath went for plenty in their first tests,they stuck with them and look how that turned out.

Sick of this shitty argument.

Let's pick Nic Maddinson. And keeping picking him even if he struggles. Tendulkar. Ponting. Or something.

 

[KiwiRoo]

So why did they pick him for the tour match?

Sick of this shitty argument.

Let's pick Nic Maddinson. And keeping picking him even if he struggles. Tendulkar. Ponting. Or something.

Let's pick Nic Maddinson. And keeping picking him even if he struggles. Tendulkar. Ponting. Or something.[/quote]

why is it shitty ? you telling me McGrath and Warne were the finished article when they first played test cricket ?. How many first class games had they played ?The selectors to their credit saw they had some skills that would translate well to the test enviroment and picked them early.
NZ picked Dan Vetorri as an 18 yr old on potential. India picked Tendulker at 16

I reckon he offers something different to the standard right arm medium fast attack, and has the potential to be very good.Why not give him a bit of a run to get some confidence.

 

[Baby_Jenks]

Why not give him a bit of a run to get some confidence?

We come back again to the Hughes argument. Glaringly obvious technical flaws but bucketloads of talent. Send him back to shield cricket to iron out those flaws and to regain confidence. No doubt either of these two boys will come back and make significant contributions to Australian Test cricket, just not at the moment. At the moment they are liabilities.

 

[happy_eagle]

Seing as it looks Harris will be avalible, is our bowling lineup settled at

Siddle
Harris
Pattinson
Lyon

 

[The Passenger]

for every cricketer that got a shot at test cricket early and succeeded, there are about 5 that did likewise and failed (some of whom bounced back and succeeded after extended first class runs)....

Even a guy like Matt Hayden had plundered runs in state cricket in the early 90's, clearly deserved his shot, but went into test cricekt and got found out, and didn't really make it till he was in his late 20's.

Bringing blokes in early with average first class records is something that should be reserved for really talented guys - Cummins fits that bill, and it's worth noting he actually bowled really well in that shield final, just on a very placid wicket that few bowlers would've succeeded in, even less would've succeeded after Coyte pulled a heart string. So his modest record from those three games was somewhat skewed, which can happen when you've played so few games.

People are claiming Pattinson has been pulled in early, but he would've played far more than 9 first class games if it weren't for injury. And when he's been on the park, his record is good, 30-odd wickets at about 27 i think... Had he not been constantly injured it probably would've looked something closer to 20-25 games, 80-100 wickets at probabably roughly the same average.

Stocking your test team full of blokes picked on potential is a recipe for disaster.

Taking can shots is sometimes the way to go, but you've got to pick it carefully. Aside from Cummins i just don't really see anyone floatin around the ranks that screams who should be a speculative selection.

And in reality the only speculative shot we've taken that's paid off has been Warne, and to be honest he was half given the shot because we had no spinners at the time.

McGrath had about 50 first class wickets to his name at a good average, so that was less speculative than someone like Pattinson...

 

[Phone]

So long as Dougeh is fit enough, he is a big upgrade on Starc.

So long as they don't just take his word for how fit he is and actually test him on it....

yeah I just can't see how he can get picked. even if he was to tear apart india in the tour match. feel the same way about harris. a bit too much doubt for me. That's not to say their summers are over. hell they could be picked for new years. but boxing day is out imo

but hey i'm dumb so.

 

[Jimthegreat]

yeah I just can't see how he can get picked. even if he was to tear apart india in the tour match. feel the same way about harris. a bit too much doubt for me. That's not to say their summers are over. hell they could be picked for new years. but boxing day is out imo

but hey i'm dumb so.

See you point.

Only thing is one will have to play Boxing Day because there's no first class matches around to give them a run. The schedule hurts. The only way they'll get that type of match practice is to play. That way they'll at least be right by the New Years Test and the other 2 Tests. Otherwise they lack match fitness come that Test. Unfortunately, they have to play sometime and the earlier you play them the better they'll be later in the series.

 

[The 747]

Seing as it looks Harris will be avalible, is our bowling lineup settled at

Siddle
Harris
Pattinson
Lyon

Yep. But it will have to change for the second because Harris won't be fit to play two in a row. Perhaps Dougeh for that one?

 

[King Elvis]

That's my suggestion, Harris and Bollinger to alternate playing every Test

 

[fairdinkum]

Watson
Warner
Marsh/Khawaja
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
NOT HADDIN
Harris
Siddle
Pattinson
Lyon

Last series for the two old guys unless they find some form.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

David Warner
Ed Cowan
Usman Khawaja
Richard Ponting (because Shaun Marsh is unfit)
Michael Clarke
Shane Watson
Matthew Wade (+)
Peter Siddle
James Pattinson
Ryan Harris
Nathan Lyon
12th - Michael Hogan

I like Warner and Cowan up the top because it reminds me of Sehwag/Gambhir...one bloke playing his shots and sending the field back, one nudging and nurdling to tick it over and feed the strike to the big dog.

Shaun Marsh (if ever fit) to replace Ponting if he fails in the first few tests. Only kept him in over Hussey because I fear for our slip cordon otherwise.

 

[Phone]

It's somewhat worrying that I have more faith in Richard Ponting than Ricky Ponting

 

[Brownlow Murphy]

David Warner
Shane Watson
Shaun Marsh
Usman Khawaja
Michael Clarke
Daniel Christian
Matthew Wade
Peter Siddle
James Pattinson
Josh Hazlewood/Ryan Harris if fit
Nathan Lyon

with Watson unable to bowl, we cant go in with 4 bowlers with hussey as our allrounder, he is horrendous, definitely need a true allrounder and thats why christian is in ahead of hussey

 

[mattymac]

seems christian is set to debut, having him attend the batting camp and watto basically saying he can't bowl. with harris and patto and a hefty indian line up we'll need the extra bowling option. marsh appears unfit. suspect they'll drop hughes and uzi to accomodate watson (opening) and christian (6) with ponting and huss moving to 3 and 4. perhaps they'll retain uzi and straight swap christian for huss, but i doubt it unless uzi plays a blinder in canberra

harris in for starc