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Langer out of second test

Tim Brasher

Juniors
Messages
444
Justin Langer has been ruled out of Australia's second test against the West Indies.

Source-http://www.smh.com.au/news/cricket/langer-still-not-ready-to-play/2005/11/08/1131407630092.html

This may open the door to include Brad Hodge into the test team. However, you would think that Phil Jacques, Marcus North and Andrew Symonds will all be considered
 

Twizzle

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
155,346
Hussy will remain in the team, and McGill will replace Watson

I think Hodge will miss out again
 

Twizzle

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
155,346
Hohns faces difficult decisions

Cricinfo staff

November 8, 2005



Shane Watson's joy at dismissing Chris Gayle was quickly replaced with the agony of a dislocated shoulder © Getty Images

Australia's selectors must decide whether to backflip to a traditional line-up or plough ahead in search of another allrounder following the shoulder injury that ended Shane Watson's Test summer. Trevor Hohns has enjoyed the balance of the side with Watson covering duel roles, but he told The Courier-Mail the problem with similar replacements was "there weren't too many of them around".

The disruption has forced the selectors to delay naming the squad for the second Test against West Indies at Hobart, which begins on November 17, and reports have also suggested Justin Langer's fractured rib was not healing as well as planned. If Langer is unfit Mike Hussey will stay in the side after making his debut in Brisbane while Brad Hodge and Andrew Symonds are in contention to replace Watson.

Hohns told The Australian Watson's injury had upset his plans. "We were certainly making progress in that direction," he said. "We may have to change the balance of the side again." The selectors also have the problem of an underperforming middle order with Michael Clarke and Simon Katich failing to register decent scores in Brisbane.

Watson suffered a partial dislocation while fielding on Sunday and has had trouble keeping the "terrible noise" on impact out of his mind. "I was actually thinking 'that can't be my body," he told the paper, "it must be the ground or something'."

The surgeon Greg Hoy was due to operate on Watson's left shoulder today but he felt the injury was less serious than the back stress fractures that ruled him out of the 2003 World Cup. "The good thing is it wasn't technique or anything to do with my bowling action so I don't really have to remodel anything," he said. "It's just a freak thing."

Watson was playing his third Test at the Gabba and had just taken his second career wicket when he had Chris Gayle caught by Shane Warne at first slip. "It's hard to set a goal at the moment," he said in The Courier-Mail. "Hopefully it will just be a couple of months and I'll be able to get back without risking it."

© Cricinfo
...
 

Palms

Juniors
Messages
543
Symonds scored a very good hundred on the weekend, might of done enough to get one more chance at the test spot
 

Rammo

Juniors
Messages
2,231
Hodge has earned the right to a crack at test cricket.

Symonds was tried and failed at the first attempt.

Hodge deserves a go.

I'm guessing Ponting won't be as kind to Symonds at the selection table as he used to be, after that drunken episode in England.
 

Rammo

Juniors
Messages
2,231
Twizzle said:
but Hodge is a Victorian

only NSW players get selected

LOL

You should talk more with my dad.

He's been saying that New South Wales players get special treatment for years.
 

Timbo

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
20,281
I think it's high time Aaron O'Brien got a baggy green anyway....






























;-)
 

budz

Juniors
Messages
1,646
Rammo said:
LOL

You should talk more with my dad.

He's been saying that New South Wales players get special treatment for years.
I thought that it was a well known fact that NSW players get special treatment for selection.
 

choc_soldier

Coach
Messages
10,385
I would like to see Hodge finally get his chance... but he could end up being the modern day version of Jamie Siddons (who was 12th man for one test in the 80's, and that was as close as he got).

Symonds is probably the favoured one... Hobart has a turning deck, but it's also somewhat of a batsman's paradise. MacGill may have to wait until Adelaide.
 

choc_soldier

Coach
Messages
10,385
budz said:
I thought that it was a well known fact that NSW players get special treatment for selection.

As a New South Welshmen, it's something I've noticed. Whilst it's good for the old state pride, it does make me wonder sometimes if some of these selections are based purely on form or the state they represent. OK, teetering on the brink of conspiracy theory territory here, but a lot of players who make the Aussie team these days tend to be from NSW... I'm sure people from other states see this as obvious as the nose on your face.
 

Johns Magic

Referee
Messages
21,654
My batting order:

1. Hayden
2. Hussey
3. Ponting
4. Katich
5. Symonds
6. Clarke
7. Gilchrist
8. Warne
9. Lee
10. MacGill
11. McGrath

Hayden, Ponting, Gilchrist, Warne, Lee and McGrath pick themselves.

Hussey more than deserves a second chance after his poor showing in the last test. He has averaged 53 at first-class level over a career spanning 177 matches. He is 30 years old and will most probably come into the team full-time when Langer and Hayden retire in the next two years. Hussey is already 30 years old, however the lack of up-and-coming opening batsmen in Australia mean he will probably become a permanent fixture at international level. His medium-pacers will also be valuable in this test due to Watson's injury.
Phil Jaques was also strongly considered, being just 26 years of age and averaging 56, but Hussey's consistency and experience give him the advantage. Hussey needs to be blooded now if he is going to break into the international arena, whereas Jaques has time on his side. One would assume Jaques will come straight into the side once Hayden and Langer retire.

Katich is skating on thin ice. He is going through a rough patch and needs to deliver soon. Numbers five and six are too low for him, as he is most comfortable at first-class level when opening, first drop or number four. An elevation up the order would allow him to play his natural game which he has succeeded with time and time again in the Pura Cup.

Symonds deserves a go, surely. His first-class batting record over the last few seasons has been superb, and this season he is averaging 78.75, including two half-centuries against the West Indies team and a huge 163 in a total of 342 against Soth Australia earlier this week. His one-day record speaks for itself, and he has not really had great opportunities in the test arena. His bowling has come on in leaps and bounds. In the Pura Cup this season he is averaging 16.5 with the ball with a strike rate of 55 and an economy rate of 1.8 runs per over. Of his fifty-five overs this season, twenty-seven of them have been maidens. At the moment he offers more in the bowling department than Shane Watson, and his inclusion allows the selection of a second spinner. Not to mention he's the best fielder in the country...

Clarke should be batting at six and needs to mature as a batsman. He is very young, and will be a mainstay of the batting line-up over the next decade. Dropping him will just make him go backwards, especially when he has performed so well at state and club level over the last year. He's too good for Pura Cup, and if he stays in the national team, eventually the message will get through and he will start to guard his wicket. Like it or not, Clarke will be in the team for a long time, and along with Phil Jaques and David Hussey, he is one of the only established Australian state batsmen at state level under the age of 30. He has to come through, for the good of the nation's cricketing future.

If MacGill isn't selected it's a travesty. Sure, Bracken got a four-fa' last innings, and career best figures. But how many times has MacGill got a four-fa' in his test career? Eight. He also has eleven five-fa's, and two ten-wicket match hauls. All in just thirty-four tests. MacGill's strike rate is 52.5 balls per wicket. Compare that to other world-class spinners in Muralitharan(56.7), Warne(57.3), Kaneria(60.1), Singh(62.1), Kumble(65.9) and Vettori(77.8), and this is the best strike rate for spin bowlers in test cricket today. MacGill also has the third best average of these bowlers.
The recent match against the World side in which MacGill got match figures of 9/83 and outplayed Warne show his class.
MacGill's past performances should mean instant selection in the side.
If only Macgill had been born ten years later, he would have been Australia's first-choice spinner and enjoyed a long and fruitful international career.
 

JJ

Immortal
Messages
33,285
I guess these injuries have saved Katich then...

I'd love to see MacGill play, purely because now Gillespie has lost it he's easily your third best bowler - plus an interesting character...

Hussey will surely be retained...

Of those outside of the test team - Martyn (yes, I'll keep mentioning him), Hodge, Lehmann (is he still available?), Symonds, etc etc - who's been scoring runs recently?

Although the opposition is poor - a top 6 with Clarke, Katich and Gilchrist at 4,5, and 6 with Warne and Lee to follow looks pretty weak to me
 

aussies1st

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
28,154
If you guys need an all rounder from NSW there is Henquries and now Lambert is producing the goods. :)
 

JJ

Immortal
Messages
33,285
I'm surprised Ponting's in the team really - I mean he has two big things against him:
1. He's not from NSW
2. He's from Tasmania..

I guess that just shows you he is a true great!
 
Messages
2,984
Johns Magic said:
My batting order:

1. Hayden
2. Hussey
3. Ponting
4. Katich
5. Symonds
6. Clarke
7. Gilchrist
8. Warne
9. Lee
10. MacGill
11. McGrath

I don't think they will go in with only 2 front line pace bowlers.

I think Bracken will keep his spot instead of symonds. Symonds is not a bowler of test quality. good at keeping the runs tight though in one dayers
 

aussies1st

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
28,154
You definitely need 3 pacemen for Hobart so Bracken will get the 3rd spot no question.
 

Rammo

Juniors
Messages
2,231
Johns Magic said:
Hayden, Ponting, Gilchrist, Warne, Lee and McGrath pick themselves.

Lee picks himself?

I think that's quite sad considering he's been averaging 40 runs per wicket in recent times, and it was a 4 year gap between 5 wicket hauls.

I agree with the others but surely Lee must be on notice as well.

A 5 wicket haul against a bunch of rabbits shouldn't be his 'get-out-of-gaol free' card.
 
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