The Ashes - Australia vs England 2010/11 Test Series.

[Quicky]

Marsh took his chance and ran with it.

Although we are still really going to miss Hussey.

Bollinger is fired up.

 

[Histrionics]

Marsh took his chance and ran with it.

Although we are still really going to miss Hussey.

Bollinger is fired up.

I like watching players make arses out of the selectors.

 

[shawthing09]

Yeh great job by Marsh, seriously impressive, the guy is superbly talanted and we can only hope that he just played a "break through coming of age" innings and can build some great ODI form and mature into a test 100 maker.

You have too feel sorry for Hauritz. Tait should now be a T20 only player.

Just to keep banging on over and over again. Smith is certainly not a batsmen. Clarke has got to be under huge pressure, the sad thing is he actually looked like one of the few batsmen who was getting the pace of the pitch, for much of the match batting looked extremely hard and Clarke looked comfortable, but poor technique and concentration at such a crucial time from the senior member and captain is extremely poor.

 

[Quicky]

How much better would we look with Hodge in the side instead of Clarke?

White as captain.

Dan Christian in for Smith is another one to look at.

Although it seems the selectors favour Hastings. On Hastings anyone know much about him?

Now Hauritz is out i'd like to see O'Keeffe given a go.

Who to pick for Tait is an interesting one? Has to be Johnson surely?

While Lee and Bollinger continue to perform they keep their spots.

Watson
Marsh
Hodge
M Hussey (injured I know)
White (c)
Haddin
Christian/Hastings
Lee
Johnson (??)
O'Keefe
Bollinger

Would be a pretty formidable line up if you ask me. The tail can bat a bit too.

 

[mattys123]

Hastings bowled his 10 overs today, 1/51, not terrible for his first agme in a while, but he would have to do better to stay ahead of Dan Christian long term.

Christian is the better batsman of the two, while Hastings in a few years could be an opening bowler/allrounder in the ODI team.

We only need 215 here to take a 3-0 lead, almost sewing up the series, because if one things for sure, the Poms won't win 4 games in a row against the World Champs in this format.

 

[Heater39]

How much better would we look with Hodge in the side instead of Clarke?

White as captain.

Dan Christian in for Smith is another one to look at.

Although it seems the selectors favour Hastings. On Hastings anyone know much about him?

Now Hauritz is out i'd like to see O'Keeffe given a go.

Who to pick for Tait is an interesting one? Has to be Johnson surely?

While Lee and Bollinger continue to perform they keep their spots.

Watson
Marsh
Hodge
M Hussey (injured I know)
White (c)
Haddin
Christian/Hastings
Lee
Johnson (??)
O'Keefe
Bollinger

Would be a pretty formidable line up if you ask me. The tail can bat a bit too.

I like this lineup, except for O'Keefe. It's ridiculous that neither Hodge or Marsh are in the world cup squad yet Clarke, Smith and D. Hussey are.

 

[shawthing09]

Hastings is a better bowler the Christian, Christian by far the better batsmen. The problem is Hastings always seems to be a very expensive bowler IMO even at state level he can leak runs, with that said Christian is even worse and lacks the variety and pace of Hastings. He is a big guy, a seems to be able to get one through the batsmen and beat them for pace, has a lot of variations in slower balls etc but I just think he tends to be too expensive, infact as a bowler he is a bit of a tweener, his strengths is in the variety but he doesn't have the control of a guy like McKay he isn't a dangerous enough bowler to just come in and bowl line and length IMO.

 

[Quicky]

Honestly how shit is Clarke? The dudes dead weight. With Clarke and Smith in the side you get the feeling we are 2 down right from the go.

 

[beez]

Honestly how shit is Clarke? The dudes dead weight. With Clarke and Smith in the side you get the feeling we are 2 down right from the go.

Suffice to say, if he wasn't captain/vice captain/whatever, he wouldn't be playing due to his lack of runs. Also, it's one thing to be getting out cheaply, its another when you keep getting out to soft dismissals.

 

[Quicky]

Considering Hodge just wont get picked Ferguson would be a great replacement for Clarke. How a guy that averages 60 in ODI's at international level doesn't feature in the side is a testament to the insanity of our selectors. What the hell to they do at their selection meetings? Whip out the dart board, stick some photos of players on the board and have a throw. Whoevers picture is hit gets selected.

Hastings looked like a neat batter. I think his style would translate to tests pretty well.

 

[shawthing09]

Considering Hodge just wont get picked Ferguson would be a great replacement for Clarke. How a guy that averages 60 in ODI's at international level doesn't feature in the side is a testament to the insanity of our selectors. What the hell to they do at their selection meetings? Whip out the dart board, stick some photos of players on the board and have a throw. Whoevers picture is hit gets selected.

Hastings looked like a neat batter. I think his style would translate to tests pretty well.

Hodge hasn't been up to his usual amazingly high standards this season, if he wasn't getting picked when he was making a million runs he certainly won't now. You are right on Fergo though, it's all good and well to want to blood a new player (Smith) but when the experiment is clearly not working you have to look at it. His confidence is going to be shot if they keep going, he looks less like an international cricketer every time he plays.

Big Hasto in the test arena is interesting, he is a neat batsmen and he can hit a long ball but he isn't a guy who is prone to making huge scores. That said he does bat at 8 even for Victoria. His problem trying to break into the test side is as I mentioned his bowling is certainly at the moment tailored to the short form of the game and he is essentially a bowling all rounder.

My hatred of T20 continues to grow, the other night when NSW played Tassie (if anyone saw the game) was a perfect illustration of how T20 has a negative impact on the techniques and mindsets of players. NSW had selected both Kwaja and Hughes for their T20 side for the first time this year, neither are really T20 type players, Kwaja is neat enough and enough of a stroke maker to be a decent opener and guy to bat through the early overs whilt Hughes clearly doesn't have a wide enough range of shots for T20. Unfortunately they both ended up at the crease together and between them weren't able to do enough to keep the score board ticking. This lead to Hughes looking horribly out of sorts (after working so hard to try and find some confidence and straighten up his technique) and Kwaja trying to play silly ramp sweeps etc. It's just poor for the future of Australian test cricket.

Kwaja certainly is a good enough player to play all 3 forms but does he really need too and do we really want him too? He wasn't even in the NSW ODD squad to begin the year. Hughes is even more puzzling because whilst he is an aggresive player who can bully attacks he requires the balls to be in his areas. He is not a genuine stroke maker with shots all round the ground, he has limited scoring options but hits a high percentage of boundaries with his scoring shots.

It boogles the mind to think after our performances in tests this year they are considering shortening the shield competition from 10 games to 8 to fit in more T20 big bash games. If Australia really want to become the bench mark of all forms of cricket again they should lead the way in seperating the forms. Players who are identifed as future test players should be offered massive contracts on the basis that they don't play T20 cricket.

 

[Histrionics]

Smith didn't bat to badly last night but he is to inconsistant.

Interesting that Hastings was picked in all forms of the game for the team that the players pick. Obviously means he has some talent and they should stick with him.

 

[shawthing09]

Smith didn't bat to badly last night but he is to inconsistant.

Interesting that Hastings was picked in all forms of the game for the team that the players pick. Obviously means he has some talent and they should stick with him.

To me he just reminds me of a guy like Mitch Johnson (and even then I feel like I am being harsh on Mitch) good eye, backs it in but a poor technique. Smith probably has a better batting temprement and a wider range of scoring areas whilst Mitch is probably more sound in foward defence. The point is he doesn't have the sort of technique that is going to allow him to make a lot of runs, when he does make them he will look like a world beater but in my mind he is much more like a slashing tail ender then a top or middle order batsmen.