Pakistan v Australia, 1st Test, Dubai, 22-26 October, 2014

God, I need some absorbing Test cricket.

Likely Aus XI?

Phil Hughes, Mitchell Marsh, Steve O'Keefe, Glenn Maxwell & 7 others?????








......... only joking

From the "other" Pak v Aus thread...

Fark, what a shitty looking XI we look like serving up for the Wackies. Of course, JtB will be rubbing his hands with glee.

So the Aust lineup will be Doolan, Smith, Clarke (by virtue of being captain) & eight others.

Pretty ordinary dress rehearsal from a pretty ordinary side.

You can get 6.80 on Betfair for the Wacksters in the First Test.

Hope you've done the right thing and loaded up.

JGK wrote:You can get 6.80 on Betfair for the Wacksters in the First Test.

That's ridiculous!!

Why the weakened Aussie team - injuries, resting or can't-be-arsedness?

Pakistan home series in the UAE are very much in the "well, I suppose it's Test cricket at least..." category, marginally ahead of Manics and Frames series...

Twat has been injured for some time, as has Shaun Marsh, other than that, it's basically the same squad that snotted SAf in SAf, plus O'Keefe. Warner is battling a groin, so without his amazing numbers from the past year it looks a very ordinary team. Still, it has looked ordinary on paper for some time but performed remarkably over the previous 12 months.

LINK

Watson and S Marsh both return from injury at Grade level ... and I see in Matthew Lloyd's case the drugs still haven't worn off.

Game starts tomorrow.

Our XI?

I'd go with Rogers, Warner, Doolan, Clarke, Smith, Marsh, Haddin, Johnson, O'Keefe, Siddle, and Lyon; with Maxwell 12th and Ben Hilfenhaus just missing the XI.

Could be a batathon

"Australia's pace bowlers will rely heavily on reverse swing or face the prospect of toiling away on a dead and lifeless track after the same Dubai pitch that hosted limited-overs matches at the start of the month has been maintained for Wednesday's first Test.

Dubai International Stadium groundstaff had planned to bring up a new pitch for the first Test against Pakistan, but that idea was scrapped after the one-day international match on October 10."

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On the upside, it seems Cot has heeded Boof's plea for more pace and has beefed up considerably.

Can a vegan beef up?

Mitch Marsh? Really?

Steroids in his bananas??

JGK wrote:Mitch Marsh?  Really?

Future Oz captain according to Clarke.

Bradman wrote:

JGK wrote:Mitch Marsh?  Really?

Future Oz captain according to Clarke.

Before he's even played a test. Aussies are funny.

Swampy and Melissa Marsh (sister) reportedly flown to the Test

Still plenty of time for Mitch to pull a hammy getting out of bed.

Wasn't it Derek Pringle who tripped over and suffered an injury putting his pants on?

JGK wrote:Still plenty of time for Mitch to pull a hammy getting out of bed.

True

lardbucket wrote:Wasn't it Derek Pringle who tripped over and suffered an injury putting his pants on?

I remember the story. didn't think it was Pringle though - thought it was more recent than that.

Can't remember. Shame it wasn't Bruce Francis, though, before his first Test.