Australian third test side.

[Y2Eel]

1. Hughes
2. Watson
3. Ponting
4. Clarke
5. Hussey
6. Haddin
7. Smith
8. Johnson
9. Harris
10. Bollinger/Siddle (preferably Bollinger)
11. Hilfenhaus

Bowlers

We need to take 20 wickets per test to win.
4 front line seamers plus Watson selected.
No specialist spinner selected as the simply aren’t good enough. Try to develop O’keefe.
Smith and Clarke to share the spinning duties if needed depending on the pitch.
Ponting needs to better manage the bowlers.

Hilfenhaus – Restrict scoring from one end, try and get the ball to move depending on conditions. Needs to stop the one bad ball he bowls per over which relieves pressure.
Bollinger – Needs to build his pace back up. Apart from the last test has bowled well.
Harris - Our only decent performer in the last test. Good pace and troubles the batsmen.
Johnson – To be used as a strike bowler with shorter spells. Tell Johnson not to think race in and bowl.
Watson – Similar job to Hilfenhaus but with the older ball hopefully getting some movement.
Smith – Selected for his batting but his bowling is just as useful as Doherty’s or Hauritz.
Clarke – Can roll the arm overlate in the daytrying to snag a wicket or tie up an end.

Batsmen
Hughes – This is his chance to impress at test level. Left hand/right hand combination with Watson. Needs to get himself in before going
Watson – Batting well and consistent performer. Needs to convert starts into 100’s. Imo better suited to the middle order but then we currently struggle for openers.
Ponting – Seems to be in decline but is still capable to rip apart bowling attacks. Another that needs to get himself in.
Clarke – Looked good in the last test and over the last 18 months has performed well.
Hussey – Now the pressure is off he is batting well.
Haddin – Should bat above Smith is doing well considering he’s keeping for 3 days straight.
Smith – Is a talent hopefully can impress at test level.

Clarke can not bowl due to his back problems same as Kat they both wont bowl again for their country..

 

[butchmcdick]

Or we could do what England have done...put them in, persist, give them the time they need and reap the rewards down the track. Lord knows it'd be better than rotating the same ancient nuffies through while the talented young guys rot in Shield cricket.

You can see that England have been planning for this for a few seasons. They really have done everything they can to prepare for this tour.

The Australian selectors seem to have just stuck their fingers up thier arses, pretended they were fonze and gone eehhhh

 

[Big_Bad_Shark_Fan]

Itd be wrong to go against Hughes considering he scored 86* (roughly) in his last test, averages 55 in test cricket (roughly) and scored 84 in the Australia A game vs England (roughly).

The one thing about Hughes which may go against him is it is the WACA and he was exposed a bit on the short ball and of all the grounds for a challenge the WACA would be the hardest. As well as that bringing in Tremlett on that pitch with that bounce will be tough ud imagine.

On the upside, it was Flintoff who really destroyed him in England so thats the plus.

 

[JJ]

Thing is they've committed to the older guys, why would they change now?

The younger ones aren't yet terribly compelling, isn't it better to give them more time to make surethey're ready?[/QUOTE]

That depends if you want to just give the ashes to the poms now or not

They already have the Ashes... your problem is winning them off them, which means winning the last three tests 2-0 or 3-0...

No amount of Khwaja, Smith, Hughes or Marsh will make that happen...

 

[Bazal]

They already have the Ashes... your problem is winning them off them, which means winning the last three tests 2-0 or 3-0...

No amount of Khwaja, Smith, Hughes or Marsh will make that happen...

So why hold them back? We're not gonna win it with the current bunch of nuffies, at least we can give these guys a taste and start the rebuilding that should have started a few years ago...and who knows, they have the talent to get us home. I for one expect to lose soundly no matter what, so what do we have to lose by blooding them...

 

[yappy]

Or we could do what England have done...put them in, persist, give them the time they need and reap the rewards down the track. Lord knows it'd be better than rotating the same ancient nuffies through while the talented young guys rot in Shield cricket.

Exactly. Cook is 25 for god's sakes. He's 25, has 4800 runs at 46 and 15 tons. He's been through the wringer a few times (especially against us) but the Pommy selectors stuck with him and now he is at the peak of his powers and you really would expect that over the next 5-7 years he's going to make a mountain of runs and will take over the Captaincy when Strauss gives it away.

Compare that with the way Hughes was dumped the first sign of a bit of a challenge was put to him. I have no doubt Hughes would be a better player today if he'd been backed to overcome Freddie. We certainly wouldn't have lost the Ashes any more than we did anyway, and we might have had a real weapon to throw at the Poms now. Khawaja is the same. At the end of last year's shield he was in peak form and smashing on the door, but our dumb arse selectors figured that they'd send North to New Zealand instead. Gee that's working out sooo well for us isn't it? What better way to get Ussie settled into the side than some easy runs against the Sheep-shaggers and then a chance against the Pakis. He could very well be 8 tests into his career now and testing himself at the top level.

 

[JJ]

depends on how ready they are - tbh their first class efforts are promising - not bashing any doors down... if they're not ready it could set them back a bit

I assume Hughes will play rest of the series anyway... and I am just keen to see the Marcus North saga continue, it's great viewing!

 

[Bazal]

There's a couple of ways to look at it, but the more I watch this side the more I believe it doesn't matter if these kids aren't ready. We have nothing to lose by blooding them purely because they can't do any worse, and they will learn a hell of a lot more in one Test series than in an entire season of Shield. The Cook vs Hughes case is a shining example. England picked a young, supremely talented opener who did well and then had some problems, as did Australia. England said "Y'know what, Cooky's a talent...let's see how he deals with this" and now Australia can't get him out. Our selectors dropped Hughes at the first sign of problems and never gave him the chance to overcome them. How was he supposed to deal with the problems he was having at Test match level in the Shield, something he was already dominating at the time? Let them learn Test cricket IMO, we're going to need them sooner rather than later.

 

[hineyrulz]

Or we could do what England have done...put them in, persist, give them the time they need and reap the rewards down the track. Lord knows it'd be better than rotating the same ancient nuffies through while the talented young guys rot in Shield cricket.

x2, this should have been done after our last series ashes instead we kept the same pack of Nuffies. The longer we wait to bring in the new generation the longer it will take us to get back to the top of world cricket.

 

[dogslife]

bring back stuey clark! the bloke could drop the ball on a 20 cent piece. I'll barrack for the poms if the selectors bring back that nuffie johnson. Drop North and give Mark Cosgrove a go, the fat blokes usually do alright

 

[hineyrulz]

Exactly. Cook is 25 for god's sakes. He's 25, has 4800 runs at 46 and 15 tons. He's been through the wringer a few times (especially against us) but the Pommy selectors stuck with him and now he is at the peak of his powers and you really would expect that over the next 5-7 years he's going to make a mountain of runs and will take over the Captaincy when Strauss gives it away.

Compare that with the way Hughes was dumped the first sign of a bit of a challenge was put to him. I have no doubt Hughes would be a better player today if he'd been backed to overcome Freddie. We certainly wouldn't have lost the Ashes any more than we did anyway, and we might have had a real weapon to throw at the Poms now. Khawaja is the same. At the end of last year's shield he was in peak form and smashing on the door, but our dumb arse selectors figured that they'd send North to New Zealand instead. Gee that's working out sooo well for us isn't it? What better way to get Ussie settled into the side than some easy runs against the Sheep-shaggers and then a chance against the Pakis. He could very well be 8 tests into his career now and testing himself at the top level.

Stop talking sense, thats not allowed in Australian cricket ATM :crazy:

 

[yappy]

depends on how ready they are - tbh their first class efforts are promising - not bashing any doors down... if they're not ready it could set them back a bit

I assume Hughes will play rest of the series anyway... and I am just keen to see the Marcus North saga continue, it's great viewing!

Hughes, Khawaja and Smith in particular were bashing the doors down at the end of last year. We should have been playing them then when they were in form. Hughes got an unbeaten 80 filling in and then got dropped again - he could have made a pile against the Kiwis and Pakis, and even in India he probably would have prospered with no real short pitched threat. Massive missed opportunity for the future.

We brought in Smith for Haurie against Pakistan, he didn't set the world on fire with the ball but when he was called on he took 3/51. Had a few failures with the bat, but also came out and smashed a quick fire 77 in his last dig. It wasn't the worst move to bring Haurie back for India, but why not leave Smith in and drop North? Sure North scored a career saving ton, but did nothing else and we lost both tests anyway. Smith could have got some more valuable experience and be looking to establish himself as a test player, instead we're at the point where we have to drop North anyway - what exactly did we gain from not dropping his sorry arse at the end (or midway through) of last summer?

The only way to find out if the young guys are ready is to play them. If they are any good then they'll raise their games to a higher level than playing in the Shield ever would.

 

[Scarves]

The next test is at the WACA Ground, Phil Hughes has a poor history facing tall English bowlers and the short ball. The whole Aussie team is under the pump, the kid would be coming back after being dropped, he isn't in "hey I'm knocking on the bloody door" form. I just couldn't pcik the kid under the circumstances despite his first class and test average. We should re-blood this kid against NEw Zealand, the Windies or Bangers and Mash.

My team for the next test is all about picking players who are ready to go, not guys who are about the rosy future. This is the Ashes, and we still have an Ashes to win.

The following batting line up gives us depth with the possibility of recognised bats down to 8 if we plonk for Steve Smith over Mark Cameron.

Ricky Ponting's lack of form and apparent slowing reflexes drop him down a spot, many other former great #3's dropped down in the twighlight of their careers including Lara, Viv, and AB to name a few. Dropping down from the pressure cooker first drop position may re-invigorate Punter. Batting is many parts a mental game, swallow your pride Punter, drop down to four.

Watson drops down to 6 in my team. We are never going to see his batting best while he bowls and then bats without any kind of rest between innings. Bat him at 6, give him that rest from going straight from fielding to opening the batting, and see his stats improve for both bowling and batting.

Mike Hussey has the ability and was always an opener at state level, he is the logical choice to partner a new guy at the top. Brad Hodge is the best bat in the nation, we should give him some love, give him a call, apologise for all our ignorance and fire him into first drop.

My other opener is Michael Klinger. This guy has had a big 2 seasons, he is experienced, hardened and ready. I'd get him in partnered up with Hussey. 1 nil down in an Ashes series is no time to blood young kids loaded with potential.. the time to do that was last summer against the Windies and the Pakis, that window is now closed.

On the bowling side... Stuart Clark despite how slow he is, this bloke's still the forgotten man to lead the attack. He is a man of experience and bowlers around the nation respect him. With him in the team, we stop the flow of runs from his end and that provides pressure. Pressure for other bowlers to shine. At the moment our boys do not apply any bowling pressure, hence in two completed tests we still are yet to take a combined total of 20 wickets. My opinion, Clark changes out whole bowling attack, he is the key and he is available. Just give him a call.

Additionally we do not need left arm quicks. We've dominated the world for many years with bowling attacks consisting of McGrath, Gillespie, Lee.... McDermott, Hughes, Reiffel etc... forget about left arm quicks. Only pick left arm quciks if they deserve to be picked. The only good one in the country was Mitch Johnson but he has completely lost it, the rest not up to standard.

My Squad of 12 for the Perth test is

Michael Klinger
Mike Hussey
Brad Hodge (after that phone call)
Ricky Ponting
Michael Clarke
Shane Watson
Brad Haddin
Ryan Harris
Stuart Clark
Mark Cameron
Ben Hilfenhaus

With Steve Smith (optional 12th man depending on pitch conditions)

 

[andrew057]

Watson
Hughes
Ponting
Khawaja
Clarke
Hussey
O'Keefe
Haddin
Harris
Hilfenhaus
Bollinger

 

[beads6]

it is seeming very likely that Ryan Harris will miss the 3rd test with and injury. SOunds like Johnson will come straight back in. Dumb IMO but what would I know.

 

[hineyrulz]

it is seeming very likely that Ryan Harris will miss the 3rd test with and injury. SOunds like Johnson will come straight back in. Dumb IMO but what would I know.

He is being rested from WAs shield game :? So what will have done to earn back his spot???

 

[Twizzle]

If we bring Notch back we may as well just hand the ashes to the poms.

He's hopelessly out of form, why pick him?

 

[beads6]

I think it is crazy to select Johnson especially without him at least playing the shiled game at the Gabba and doing well. I suppose the options are pretty thin but I'd be giving Copeland a game for sure.

 

[beads6]

I'd be picking

Watson
Hughes
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Smith/ Khawaja
Haddin
Hauritz
Harris/ Hilfy
Bollinger/ Johnson
Copeland

 

[JJ]

. 1 nil down in an Ashes series is no time to blood young kids loaded with potential.. the time to do that was last summer against the Windies and the Pakis, that window is now closed.

(optional 12th man depending on pitch conditions)

Got to agree - bringing in youngsters is effectively waiving the white flag - the time to do that was against the weaker countries, when your current bunch was scrambling unconvincing wins. If you are to win back the Ashes (I don't think you can) it will be on the back of key players (Watson, Ponting, Clarke, Haddin) and hardened professional cricketers... some are talking up Hodge and D Hussey - that would be how I'd go too. But bowlers, well quite simply the ones you've used need to bowl better

Aside from all that, the young bunch have shown minimal evidence that they're world beaters anyway!! Seems to me (and has done for a while) that you're just assuming (like the WIndies did) that you'll just produce crop after crop of champions - simply won't happen... Australia have not always been #1, and wont be for some time now I suspect