Australia v England, 4th Test, Melbourne, December 26-30, 2010

I think they'll retain Collingwood. He's become too ingrained in the side to suddenly drop him from the test that could win England the Ashes. Finn is likely to be dropped/rested. He's starting to look tired, and the Melbourne pitch wont suit him.

Strauss(c)
Cook
Trott
Pietersen
Bell
Collingwood
Prior+
Bresnan
Swann
Anderson
Tremlett

If Ponting plays he wont be 100% fit. It's a broken finger. Usually that takes three weeks to recover from. Graeme Smith broke his finger three weeks ago and he's still not able to field in the slips. I can't imagine Ponting will be able to grip the bat properly and field anywhere at all with just six days to recover. Time for Usman Khawaja to be given a go.

Watson
Hughes
Khawaja
Clarke(c)
Hussey
Smith
Haddin+
Johnson
Harris
Siddle
Hilfenhaus

I can understand NOT dropping Colly if Faisal Iqbal was the only other batsman in the squad but England have a good player(Morgan) in the squad so why carry on with an average player like Colly?

How can you include Hughes?

Seriously either batsmen get more chances than bowlers to prove themselves or they are good at rimming the captain.

Morgan is still unproven at Test level and has hardly had a knock all tour. The one chance he did get to have a bat, he played and missed five times in an innings of six, nicked a boundary through the slips, and then got caught in the slips wafting outside off stump. He hardly made a compelling case to be picked.

The slowish and lowish Melbourne pitch will suit Collingwood's game much better than Perth, and Colly's fielding is irreplaceable.

Paul Keating wrote:How can you include Hughes?

Seriously either batsmen get more chances than bowlers to prove themselves or they are good at rimming the captain.

they already said he won't be dropped

Hughes has until the end of the series.

A slower paced wicket might be benefical to Hughes, so can't see them dropping him after one game back.
If Drunky doesn't recover, most likely UK is next in line but no complaints if lil Hussey, gets the nod. Other than that would be very surrpised if they don't go with a spin option in Melb and possibly have Siddle carrying the drinks.

Paul Keating wrote:How can you include Hughes?

Seriously either batsmen get more chances than bowlers to prove themselves or they are good at rimming the captain.

Bowlers have many more chances in an innings to redeem a poor decision. Bowl a bad ball, go back to your mark and start again. Batsmen don't always have that luxury. Play, miss, castled. Accordingly, batsmen usually receive more leeway, in terms of games than bowlers.

Hughes was a poor choice but they can't make a bad decision worse by dropping him straight away. Now that he's in the team he should play in both Melbourne & Sydney.

I fear the idiot NSP won't change the winning squad but personally I'd p!ss Hughes, Smith and Beer off for either Jaques or Klinger as opener, David Hussey or Khawaja at 6, or both if Ponting is injured, and Hauritz for Beer with Siddle 12th man.

Jacques and Klinger? Yes please. Combined I think they average 40 this season.

Technically much sounder than Hughes but.

Jon Holland > Beer. Horses for courses

Mick Sawyer wrote:

Paul Keating wrote:How can you include Hughes?

Seriously either batsmen get more chances than bowlers to prove themselves or they are good at rimming the captain.

Bowlers have many more chances in an innings to redeem a poor decision. Bowl a bad ball, go back to your mark and start again. Batsmen don't always have that luxury. Play, miss, castled. Accordingly, batsmen usually receive more leeway, in terms of games than bowlers.

Hughes was a poor choice but they can't make a bad decision worse by dropping him straight away. Now that he's in the team he should play in both Melbourne & Sydney.

If he fails in all of the next four innings, how long should he be sent back to SS for?

Until his technique improves to the stage where he's a hope in hell of succeeding at Test level.

Which might be the start of next summer, Ashes 2013, or some time between a cancer cure and Melbourne trains running on time.

If he fails in all of the next four innings, how long should he be sent back to SS for?

Refer to Fred's response. He was channelling.

If he fails in all of the next four innings, how long should he be sent back to SS for?

He was'nt making any runs in Shield cricket either....i'd send him back to grade cricket.

Hauritz is the form batsman in SS so he should get a gig.

BTW - what are the chances of 100,000 crowd if it is good day?

Henry wrote:If Ponting plays he wont be 100% fit. It's a broken finger. Usually that takes three weeks to recover from. Graeme Smith broke his finger three weeks ago and he's still not able to field in the slips

Smith hasn't been fielding in the slips for quite some time.

taipan wrote:

Henry wrote:If Ponting plays he wont be 100% fit. It's a broken finger. Usually that takes three weeks to recover from. Graeme Smith broke his finger three weeks ago and he's still not able to field in the slips

Smith hasn't been fielding in the slips for quite some time.

Red pointed that out to me.

Did she? Sorry old chap, I normally gloss over her posts with a glazed look in my eyes.

And I forgot she always keeps a close watch on Smith

JGK wrote:BTW - what are the chances of 100,000 crowd if it is good day?

World record surely is at stake. I just saw the forecast and it looks a bit showery but 24 degrees. Weather is certainly militating against it. During the last series it was also an overcast day with the prospect of showers but 89,000 went despite Australia having already clinched the series. In the game's favour though, Warnie was due to take his 700th wicket and people knew they were seeing the last of him and McGrath.

With the squad unchanged, some will be disappointed that White didn't get a gig ahead of Smith. Looks like Beer may be in for either Hilf or Siddle, though Melbourne being the latter's home ground may count in his favour.

Punter's started the mind game suggesting that England is running a bit scared of Johnson.

Not nearly as scared as Johnson is about his form suddenly deserting him again in front of 100,000 people.

Can't believe they've kept Beer in the squad. Now that we are back to even surely you pick a spinner who isn't going to stuff it up for you (Horrors) as opposed to one who might lose the match in 10 crappy overs and hasn't really shown that he is a match winner in any way shape or form.

And that's before we get to Horrors batting.

High scoring draw - turgid central.