Official Touring Squad for INDIA announced

[oldmancraigy]

If Watson isn't going to be bowling, he shouldn't be coming close to the side. All this nonsense that 'he averages more at this number, maybe he'll score runs there' is f**king dumb. No sense forcing Cowan out to accomodate precious Watto.

'Australia's Next Top Spinner' is becoming comical. I can't believe Zampa even got tossed aroud after his first Big Bash game.

This is an odd argument for Cowan?

In his 13 test matches, Cowan averages 32.81 (1 century, 5 halfs).

In a similar span of time covering his last tests, Watson averaged 35.08 (1 century, 10 50s).

Not saying I think Watson deserves the gig, but Cowan gets a surprising (shocking?) amount of love for a guy who has done precious little - and whose career accomplishments suggest he never will do much.

 

[herbert henry1908]

Let's be frank , Cowan is rubbish.

Watson probably is a better option at opener. But watsons also the softest cricketer to play for Australia in a long time.

Personally I'd prefer both of them out of the team.


Warner
Khawaja
Hughes
Clarke
Wade
Haddin
Henriques

 

[BunniesMan]

Any side with two Peter Siddle's is going to be competitive ...

Siddle the magnificent

:lol:
Two lionhearts would be nice but the second Siddle was meant to be an actual Lyon.

This is an odd argument for Cowan?

In his 13 test matches, Cowan averages 32.81 (1 century, 5 halfs).

In a similar span of time covering his last tests, Watson averaged 35.08 (1 century, 10 50s).

Not saying I think Watson deserves the gig, but Cowan gets a surprising (shocking?) amount of love for a guy who has done precious little - and whose career accomplishments suggest he never will do much.

I second this. Don't know why Cowan gets a bat before Watson. At least Watson has potential that Cowan doesn't.

 

[JW]

Glenn Maxwell has not played a first-class match in more than two months but his work in the nets to master the offspinner's stock ball has impressed Australia's selectors as they finalise the Test squad for the upcoming tour of India.

I seriously don't know what to say any more.

 

[Red&BlackBear]

I'm resigned, they should take Maxwell just so the Indians can slaughter him and we never have to hear of him again...

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Wade at 6 with an allrounder at 7 seems to be the way the selectors want to go. And it seems to be based on lightening workloads for the specialist bowlers. What a load of shit.

Firstly, if the bowlers selected aren't up to bowling in 4 test matches and 50 overs a game than they are not real test bowlers. Ryan Harris springs to mind - a fine bowler but his body wasn't up to it, if that's the case then he with coaching help should look at his action and his training methods and decide if they can be changed. If it doesn't work then he should consider a new career. Instead selectors a d muppet Howard seem intent on lightening bowlers loads to the detriment of the side. If you can't stand up to the rigours of the game tough shit.

Secondly, you choose an allrounder in your side if you have an allrounder worth choosing, not because it makes the side 'more balanced'. We've been obsessed with having an allrounder in the team since Flintoff hammered us in 2005. Symonds did well there and Watson the glassman had some success but otherwise everyone they've tried has been a f**king hack. Maxwell is not the answer unless the question is who's the biggest genius in Australian cricket. Henriques isn't even close to being a test player. The bottom line is that genuine test standard all rounders are as rare hen's teeth. Australian cricket doesn't have one so can the selectors stop pretending we do?

Third point. Wade is not a top 6 batsmen. The best batsmen/keeper of all time is Gilchrist and guess where he batted 80% of his career? Seven. Wade isn't even close to Gilchrist as a player and yet they want to bat him at six. What they should be doing is getting Ian Healy to take Scissorhands aside for a month and teach him the fundamentals of keeping including how to catch a ball FFS. Wade needs to know how to keep before he can even be considered for a rise in the batting order. God help us if we are 5/30 in a test match and Notch Johnson or Victorian Maxwell walks into bat.

 

[Sphagnum]

Wade at 6 with an allrounder at 7 seems to be the way the selectors want to go. And it seems to be based on lightening workloads for the specialist bowlers. What a load of shit.

Firstly, if the bowlers selected aren't up to bowling in 4 test matches and 50 overs a game than they are not real test bowlers. Ryan Harris springs to mind - a fine bowler but his body wasn't up to it, if that's the case then he with coaching help should look at his action and his training methods and decide if they can be changed. If it doesn't work then he should consider a new career. Instead selectors a d muppet Howard seem intent on lightening bowlers loads to the detriment of the side. If you can't stand up to the rigours of the game tough shit.

Secondly, you choose an allrounder in your side if you have an allrounder worth choosing, not because it makes the side 'more balanced'. We've been obsessed with having an allrounder in the team since Flintoff hammered us in 2005. Symonds did well there and Watson the glassman had some success but otherwise everyone they've tried has been a f**king hack. Maxwell is not the answer unless the question is who's the biggest genius in Australian cricket. Henriques isn't even close to being a test player. The bottom line is that genuine test standard all rounders are as rare hen's teeth. Australian cricket doesn't have one so can the selectors stop pretending we do?

Third point. Wade is not a top 6 batsmen. The best batsmen/keeper of all time is Gilchrist and guess where he batted 80% of his career? Seven. Wade isn't even close to Gilchrist as a player and yet they want to bat him at six. What they should be doing is getting Ian Healy to take Scissorhands aside for a month and teach him the fundamentals of keeping including how to catch a ball FFS. Wade needs to know how to keep before he can even be considered for a rise in the batting order. God help us if we are 5/30 in a test match and Notch Johnson or Victorian Maxwell walks into bat.

:lol:

 

[herbert henry1908]

With our current batting stocks i really think wade is a 6. Look at his first class record and test record compared to others.

Gilchrist never batted top 6 because we didnt need him to. We had amazing depth in batting and two of the greatest bowlers of all time. If warne and mcgrath weren't around you can bet gilchrist would have played 6 and we would have had an extra bowler or all rounder.


That said wade needs to improve hIs keeping a lot. Personally id have haddin back for india & the ashes. But i would keep wade in the team for his batting.

 

[Red&BlackBear]

SMH thinks that the likely squad for India: Michael Clarke, Jackson Bird, Ed Cowan, Xavier Doherty, Moises Henriques, Phillip Hughes, Mitchell Johnson, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Shane Watson.

If I had to rate each player based on their current form in batting and bowling 10 being highest and 0 lowest then I think it'd look something similar to this

Warner - Bat: 8 Ball: 4
Cowan - Bat: 5 Ball: N/A
Hughes - Bat: 7.5 Ball: N/A
Khawaja - Bat: 7 Ball: 3.5
Clarke - Bat: 10 Ball: 4.5
Watson - Bat: 5.5 Ball: ATM N/A
Wade - Bat: 5.5 Ball: N/A
Pattinson - Bat: 4 Ball: 7.5
Siddle - Bat: 3.5 Ball: 7.5
Bird - Bat: 2 Ball: 7
Lyon - Bat: 2.5 Ball: 6
Johnson - Bat: 4.5 Ball: 6.5
Starc - Bat: 4.5 Ball: 6
Henriques - Bat: 4 Ball: 5
Smith - Bat: 4 Ball: 2
Doherty - Bat: 2 Ball: 4
Maxwell - Bat: 1 or N/A Ball: 1 or N/A

Opinions?

 

[herbert henry1908]

17 players? Are we seriously taking that many ?

 

[AlwaysGreen]

I don't think you can rate Khawaja that highly compared to other scores.

f**k it, my team for the first test.
Warner
Cowan
Hughes
Watson
Clarke
Khawaja
Wade
Johnson
Pattinson
Siddle
Lyon

Only one spinner because bowling anything other than a decent spinner against the Indians is asking for trouble. Johnson in even though I hate him with a passion he probably has 1 or 2 decent games left in him in this current run of form before he turns into the real notch again. Might as well use him while we can.

 

[Red&BlackBear]

17 players? Are we seriously taking that many ?

We can start eliminating players who aren't up to scratch based on my ratings. So Maxbad, Smith and Doherty stay home.

However it'll probably be Khawaja, Starc and Henriques...

IMO if it truly is 17 then Smith and Maxwell need to drop out for Doolan and O'Keefe. We only have 6 frontline batsmen.... No reserves.. Doherty will be chasing balls in the bleaches and Maxwell might be the first player to go for triple hundreds off his bowling..

 

[Red&BlackBear]

I don't think you can rate Khawaja that highly compared to other scores.

Based off his domestic form, his 50's vs Sri Lanka and WI I think we can. I have him forth highest behind Clarke, Warner and Hughes.. He is better than what Watson and Cowan have done, Cowan's century was a life time ago now and Watson has done SFA.. What's his highest score this summer?

 

[hineyrulz]

17 players? Are we seriously taking that many ?

The more you take the more you can rotate

 

[vvvrulz]

Based off his domestic form, his 50's vs Sri Lanka and WI I think we can. I have him forth highest behind Clarke, Warner and Hughes.. He is better than what Watson and Cowan have done, Cowan's century was a life time ago now and Watson has done SFA.. What's his highest score this summer?

He was supposed to be an understudy to Ponting right? He didn't set the world alight but he showed his technique is worlds ahead of most of his peers.

I agree with you that he's your number four ranked batsman and imo has the potential to be second to only Clarke. Needs a solid run at the top.

It reminds me of how they used to treat a young VVS Laxman, in and out all the time sitting on the fringes and even that 167 didn't really cement his spot. Only when that 281 came around did the selectors really start to persevere with him. Not saying Khawaja is at that level but his selection handling at the moment is similar.

 

[hineyrulz]

Wade at 6 with an allrounder at 7 seems to be the way the selectors want to go. And it seems to be based on lightening workloads for the specialist bowlers. What a load of shit.

Firstly, if the bowlers selected aren't up to bowling in 4 test matches and 50 overs a game than they are not real test bowlers. Ryan Harris springs to mind - a fine bowler but his body wasn't up to it, if that's the case then he with coaching help should look at his action and his training methods and decide if they can be changed. If it doesn't work then he should consider a new career. Instead selectors a d muppet Howard seem intent on lightening bowlers loads to the detriment of the side. If you can't stand up to the rigours of the game tough shit.

Secondly, you choose an allrounder in your side if you have an allrounder worth choosing, not because it makes the side 'more balanced'. We've been obsessed with having an allrounder in the team since Flintoff hammered us in 2005. Symonds did well there and Watson the glassman had some success but otherwise everyone they've tried has been a f**king hack. Maxwell is not the answer unless the question is who's the biggest genius in Australian cricket. Henriques isn't even close to being a test player. The bottom line is that genuine test standard all rounders are as rare hen's teeth. Australian cricket doesn't have one so can the selectors stop pretending we do?

Third point. Wade is not a top 6 batsmen. The best batsmen/keeper of all time is Gilchrist and guess where he batted 80% of his career? Seven. Wade isn't even close to Gilchrist as a player and yet they want to bat him at six. What they should be doing is getting Ian Healy to take Scissorhands aside for a month and teach him the fundamentals of keeping including how to catch a ball FFS. Wade needs to know how to keep before he can even be considered for a rise in the batting order. God help us if we are 5/30 in a test match and Notch Johnson or Victorian Maxwell walks into bat.

Well said mate. Summed up what most of us are feeling.

 

[caylo]

I don't think you can rate Khawaja that highly compared to other scores.

f**k it, my team for the first test.
Warner
Cowan
Hughes
Watson
Clarke
Khawaja
Wade
Johnson
Pattinson
Siddle
Lyon

Only one spinner because bowling anything other than a decent spinner against the Indians is asking for trouble. Johnson in even though I hate him with a passion he probably has 1 or 2 decent games left in him in this current run of form before he turns into the real notch again. Might as well use him while we can.

I think Johnson would be useless in India because he doesnt attack the stumps and his short ball will be useless. Bird or OKeefe for me but Watson would have to bowl, if his fit to play and field then he should bowl otherwise GTFO

 

[Twizzle]

With our current batting stocks i really think wade is a 6. Look at his first class record and test record compared to others.

Gilchrist never batted top 6 because we didnt need him to. We had amazing depth in batting and two of the greatest bowlers of all time. If warne and mcgrath weren't around you can bet gilchrist would have played 6 and we would have had an extra bowler or all rounder.


That said wade needs to improve hIs keeping a lot. Personally id have haddin back for india & the ashes. But i would keep wade in the team for his batting.

if he bats at 7 we have 7 batsmen

if he bats at 6 we have 6 batsmen

with our current batting stocks we need more than 6 batsmen

 

[Twizzle]

I seriously don't know what to say any more.

I have a question for the selectors

how many test matches have ever been won in the nets ?

 

[Mr Angry]

"Maxwell has bowled extremely well, he is getting better and better," Arthur said. "I thought he bowled really well in Hobart in the last one-day game, albeit he only bowled two overs, but there was good shape on the ball and he did a nice job. In these two Twenty20 games he has done a nice job. He works incredibly hard.
"One of the things we've sat down and said is if you want to be the spinning allrounder you've got to put a huge amount of time into your bowling, because Maxy would always try to bowl the miracle ball and then he'd bowl a leggie, then try a doosra, he just didn't settle on anything. All we've got him in the nets is bowling offspin, offspin, offspin. It's repetition all the time and he's getting better and better at it. He's a very fast learner."

LINK

Be afraid.