Australia v England, 1st Test, Brisbane, 23-27 November, 2017

My quiz mate Nathan Johnstone making his FC debut in Townsville

Go Magic

Apparently* there is strong mail that the power clique (I imagine it'd be Spivs Tweek, GCS, Koo, Elmer and maybe Purple) within the Aus team wants Wrench retained.

Hopefully they don't feel the same way about Weed, with Bangers surely a certainty to make his Test debut.

Young Renshaw retained? What a shock that would be.

Paine in the mix?...I somehow doubt it BUT, he is still the best gloveman in the country & his batting is getting back to his glory days. Who can say?
http://www.cricket.com.au/news/australia-ashes-squad-tim-paine-shaun-marsh-cameron-bancroft-peter-nevill-wade-renshaw-report/2017-11-16

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/the-ashes/ashes-2017-peter-nevill-snubbed-from-shock-australian-lineup-for-first-test-20171116-gzmzl1.html

Is nifty such a shock omission?

Haven't seen Paine in any KFC ads, so doubt he is in the running. Weed and No Show are unlikely to be retained. Wrench has been good at Test level and should be retained. Suspect Dues will get the number 6 pozzie.

Red wrote:http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/the-ashes/ashes-2017-peter-nevill-snubbed-from-shock-australian-lineup-for-first-test-20171116-gzmzl1.html

Is nifty such a shock omission?

Aye. Snivel would be a shock selection. Suspect Seasick has marked his card.

madness!!

Its not the silliest suggestion i have heard. I still rate Paine as the best gloveman in the country, its just a question of his batting which has improved quite a bit since his injury.
Having said that, the mainland centric selectors won't even consider it.

Yeah well Bancroft and all that

Big Dog wrote:Its not the silliest suggestion i have heard. I still rate Paine as the best gloveman in the country, its just a question of his batting which has improved quite a bit since his injury.
Having said that, the mainland centric selectors won't even consider it.

the twozzie selectors could help by picking him as a keeper

When he is still the best gloveman in the country ...

From Red's link...

Australia (likely squad): David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Jackson Bird."

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If correct, not the worst squad available. Top 7 certainly has a far less fragile look about it, certainly in Aus conditions.

It looks remarkably similar to a squad I would select.

It doesn't matter. As long as you can get a bowling attack on the park, that'll do it. England's batting is the feeblest - even in their own conditions - I can remember, going back to the 1990s.

Cook, Root, all-out.

Pretty sure the Aussie batters won't be bricking it against Anderson and Broad in semi-retirement and the mighty Chris Woakes, who could've been designed in a lab with the aim of building the most fodder-likely bowler in Oz conditions ever.

Look who's come up for air

Geeves's take on the alleged selection of Marsh & Paine.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/cricket/australia/geeves-the-decision-to-recall-shaun-marsh-for-the-ashes-stinks-to-high-heaven/news-story/f01978306ca566ea39c1d62e40098a73

Geeves is spot on. Bog is a dross weasel. Paine is a career failure. The Wrench sacking is disgraceful.

What sort of signal does this send young players?

Poms to win T1 in under three days. This team represents the worst first seven since the mid 80's.

Congrats banger and Dorothy making the squad. Hopefully Dorothy will play ahead of Purple.

It's official:

Australia Squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird, Chadd Sayers

Darren Lehmann scored a first class ton more recently than Tim Paine has. And Lehmann retired 10 years ago.

I think Paine got the job via default.

The NSP had to select Bancroft (sheer weight of runs) but clearly believe opening and keeping at Test level is impossible. And they had already decided to flick Weed and ignore Nifty (perhaps because of the large number of Spivs already guaranteed a spot).

Who did that leave?

I still think playing Bangers as a no. 7 keeper and either retaining Wrench (not really a preference) or picking Li'l Rhino would've been a more progressive call.

Oh dear.

Big Dog wrote:Geeves's take on the alleged  selection of Marsh & Paine.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/cricket/australia/geeves-the-decision-to-recall-shaun-marsh-for-the-ashes-stinks-to-high-heaven/news-story/f01978306ca566ea39c1d62e40098a73

Geeves is a gem. He's nailed the Tozzie coach.

Geeves seems intent on getting sued.