1st ASHES Test: Australia v England @ Optus Stadium PERTH Nov 21-25, 2025

[Chins]

Webster dropped for a bum who averages 37 in first class cricket.....

 

[Bazal]

Webster dropped for a bum who averages 37 in first class cricket.....

Dropped for himself????

*Obvs I don't think Beau is a bum but HE AVERAGES 37 IN FC CRICKET

 

[Fangs]

Decision made. I think the lesser of the two calls but we are only up against England.

Can't wait for tomorrow.

 

[mozza91]

Always smart to blood a few debutants against a minnow.

 

[TheParraboy]

Can we all wish very happy birthday to Nathan Lyon

Turning 37 today

Just luvs playing for Oztraya

 

[simmo1]

Team seems good to me. Prefer the balance with Green at 6, Marnus at 3. Webster unlucky but he's a great backup to have.

This game will be England's only chance all series. Archer and Wood are extremely unlikely to play all 5 tests, and to be honest aren't that good anyway.

Australia will give far fewer opportunities than England. I expect they'll be too clinical, especially over 5 tests.

 

[TheParraboy]

With Haze and Paddy not in the side, we cant afford Starc to have one of his off spells/ sessions

Especially if Doggett has stage freight

One sleep to go, gee it came around quick

 

[Twizzle]

1 more sleep

 

[Twizzle]

Dogget must be a batting bunny

 

[Marshall_magic]

I think they’ve got the team right, there’s no point shifting half your batsmen out of position to shoehorn another guy in. I would tell Weatherald to play aggressively from the start. Even if he does something like 35 off 50 and gets out after 15 overs with the side at 1/50 it’s probably enough. If Smith is coming in at 2/120ish we are going to be very tough to beat.

 

[Fangs]

With Haze and Paddy not in the side, we cant afford Starc to have one of his off spells/ sessions

Especially if Doggett has stage freight

One sleep to go, gee it came around quick

Green could bowl more than normal. Workload shouldn't be a priority with Webster in the squad. He comes straight in for Green if there is an issue.

Dogget must be a batting bunny

A first class top score of 49 with an average of 8.

Hopefully he betters Agar's debut and gets that elusive hundred.

 

[Chins]

Green could bowl more than normal. Workload shouldn't be a priority with Webster in the squad. He comes straight in for Green if there is an issue.



A first class top score of 49 with an average of 8.

Hopefully he betters Agar's debut and gets that elusive hundred.

Green is the best bat Australia has not named Steve Smith. If he breaks down bowling we are fools

 

[Fangs]

Green is the best bat Australia has not named Steve Smith. If he breaks down bowling we are fools

He is an all-rounder. If more overs are required then he bowls them. No different to Webster.

In the future I agree he is a very good chance to be our number one bat. Very capable of the top order. But its not his main role right now.

 

[Twizzle]

Hopefully, we don't over bowl him; 10-15 overs at this stage should be plenty.

I just hope he has learnt to pitch the ball up a bit more; he looked to have done that in his recent highlights for WA, but the highlights only show you the wickets and he gets wickets when he pitches up. He has a lethal yorker but hardly ever uses it.

I think he bowls way too many balls that bounce about 30cm or so above the off stump.

 

[LeedsRhinos]

Lets hope Australia can get thru this series without disgracing the game this time.

 

[King hit]

Lets hope Australia can get thru this series without disgracing the game this time.

Don’t worry we won’t disgrace our country losing 5-0

 

[Bazal]

Oh look, @LeedsRhinos has crawled back out from under a massive pile of empty Carling and Tennent's cans for the first time in about two years.

How long do we all give it before he crawls back in there and goes silent? Part way through Adelaide for me

 

[Bazal]

I think they’ve got the team right, there’s no point shifting half your batsmen out of position to shoehorn another guy in. I would tell Weatherald to play aggressively from the start. Even if he does something like 35 off 50 and gets out after 15 overs with the side at 1/50 it’s probably enough. If Smith is coming in at 2/120ish we are going to be very tough to beat.

100%. He should just be playing his natural game. Maybe he fails on debt, plenty do, but we need to give him at least the series and if we can get opening stands of 50 or 60 or 70 pretty regularly then that's a good start.

Opener is actually a specialist position so even having someone out there who's used to it and to allow Labs to bat 3 and Smith 4 is a start. And Green not at 3 is another good outcome

 

[Chins]

Head is my biggest worry, time to pull ya finger out mate

 

[Bazal]

Head is my biggest worry, time to pull ya finger out mate

Head's the bloke who will fail five times in a row and then peel off a match winning 180* from 100 balls tbh. He obviously has the licence to play that way, I'm not sure he's ever fully in or out of form he just bats