Australia v India, 1st Test, Melbourne, 26-30 December, 2011

Trev

Weve already played 6 rounds of Sheffield Shield cricket this season ...if we cant pick form players from that to fill the places in the Oz team we will never be able to

Phil Hughes could score double centuries in every innings he plays from now until eternity but unless he fixes his faulty technique he should never be picked for Australia again ...ie He should be looking at the final 4 rounds of this shield season and the games before next summers Tests to show he has changed his sh!t technique before he is even a consideration for a recall

We can but hope that Fuse and Midge have played their last Tests for Aus.

Garquen Hilditch is a qunt

"THE folly of Simon Katich's axing becomes more obvious with each passing innings, each inconsistent performance, each new low.

Andrew Hilditch and company's parting gift to Australian cricket was to sack its most reliable batsman.

Katich, who has scored a century and 76 in his past two Sheffield Shield matches, was in Perth yesterday preparing to play a hit-and-giggle Twenty20 game for the Perth Scorchers while Australia's Test team lost to New Zealand."

...

"Since Katich's contract was torn up, Hughes has scored 12, 28. 36, 0, 126, 9, 9, 88, 11, 10. 7, 4, 20. He is an all-or-nothing scorer - more often the latter. He works constantly on his technique but is constantly found wanting.

In 33 matches as an opener Katich scored eight centuries and averaged 50 runs.

In 17 matches in the same position, Hughes has scored three centuries but averages 34."

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A learned colleaugue who I had the pleasure of sharing 3 days of at-the-ground Test cricket with recently spent a good chunk of it expressing his disbelief that Katich was not being considered to play against the Bannies. A sage if ever there was one.

So the NSP has had success with new selections David Warner and James Pattinson. Well done them. Now which rabbit can they pull out of a hat to stiffen up the Aus middle order?

The Katich thing is an absolute disgrace. I'm trying to think of an example in recent history where something like that has happened for England, I think the closest example I can come up with is dropping Thorpe in 2005, but in that scenario at least his replacement (Bell or Pietersen depending on your view) had actually done something to get the selectors attention. Hughes has done nothing of the sort. Outrageous.

Thorpe had a chronic back problem that meant he was struggling to get through a first class match by 2005. He needed cabinets of drugs by the end. In hindsight, Thorpe v Pietersen should have actually been Thorpe v Bell in 2005, but for some reason, stacks of pretty runs against lowly Bangladesh was enough to convince England's selectors that the young Bell was the next messiah.

the constant of the red v taips meerkat fight has become boring in extremis

Henry wrote: In hindsight, Thorpe v Pietersen should have actually been Thorpe v Bell in 2005, but for some reason, stacks of pretty runs against lowly Bangladesh was enough to convince England's selectors that the young Bell was the next messiah.

You didn't need hindsight. I was making the point that Thorpe should have been in for Bell back on the old C4 forum.

England won that series in spite of Thorpe's omission and Bell's inclusion.

What's the latest on Cowan's availability for the 3 day game v BBL?

Surely they can't let him play the BBL.

If I had any say in it any player who is likely to be selected for the Subi series would be withdrawn from the BBL and they would be put in a bootcamp to prepare

Phil Hughes would be free to play as many BBL games as he can...

JGK wrote:What's the latest on Cowan's availability for the 3 day game v BBL?

Surely they can't let him play the BBL.

Didn't think he was in the squad for the 3 dayer

bodyline wrote:

JGK wrote:What's the latest on Cowan's availability for the 3 day game v BBL?

Surely they can't let him play the BBL.

Didn't think he was in the squad for the 3 dayer

and apparently Ryan Broad has replaced him in the 2 dayer, so he can play Big Bash

My team

Warner
Cowans
Marsh (if unfit, Ferguson who hopefully has turned his season around with a ton in his most recent game)
Watson (if unfit, Christian or Faulkner)
Clarke
Bailey
Wade
Harris
Siddle
Pattinson
Lyon

Hopefully Watson will be fit, cos really I think Christian is more of a one day cricketer & I'd like to see Faulkner making FC centuries before he is selected in an Australian team.

I think there is only 3 players with more than 10 tests in that lot. It's a regime change. LOL

India-

Gambhir
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman
Kohli
Dhoni(c)+
Ashwin
Zaheer
Ishant
Yadav

Nath wrote:

bodyline wrote:

JGK wrote:What's the latest on Cowan's availability for the 3 day game v BBL?

Surely they can't let him play the BBL.

Didn't think he was in the squad for the 3 dayer

and apparently Ryan Broad has replaced him in the 2 dayer, so he can play Big Bash

well now Cowen is playing in the 3 dayer in place of Marsh who isn't fit. swings and roundabouts

this is truly bizarre...why on earth did the Sutherland et al schedule the JAMBB now and not after the tests?????...weird there is no shield cricket until Feb...we have been totally bannieised

horace wrote:this is truly bizarre...why on earth did the Sutherland et al schedule the JAMBB now and not after the tests?????...weird there is no shield cricket until Feb...we have been totally bannieised

Sutherland is a Richard Cranium....QED

Sutherland thought it was the most attractive window for maximising revenue.

Harris has declared himself fit for Boxing Day but Marsh is becoming a very problematic option.

Meanwhile the likes of Rogers, Hodge and Katich must feel mighty peeved at the largesse seemingly extended to other players.

It is also reported that it was on Greg Chappell's inspiration that Warner, Cummins and Pattinson were selected and he has also worked with Warner honing his technique for the longer form of the game, so outside of the head coaching job he has his constructive uses. He was the one who picked out Healy when the rest of the panel were looking elsewhere.

IMy understanding always has been that everybody was well aware of Healy's potential from before he started for Qld, but the farcical ineptitude of the likes of Greg Dire and the even poehrer Dim Tim Zoehrer meant the long-term plan became the short-term plan as well.

Dim Tim's reinvention as a leg spinner was one of the more bizarre events at the time

I guess many forummers would have watched the highlights of the Boxing Day test 1987 shown by Channel 9 during rain breaks in the Hobart test. It showed Dyer at his most dire including that catch he claimed that never was & a slapstick runout when he was batting or rather falling over in the middle of the pitch.

Red wrote:Sutherland thought it was the most attractive window for maximising revenue.

Harris has declared himself fit for Boxing Day but Marsh is becoming a very problematic option.

Meanwhile the likes of Rogers, Hodge and Katich must feel mighty peeved at the largesse seemingly extended to other players.

It is also reported that it was on Greg Chappell's inspiration that Warner, Cummins and Pattinson were selected and he has also worked with Warner honing his technique for the longer form of the game, so outside of the head coaching job he has his constructive uses. He was the one who picked out Healy when the rest of the panel were looking elsewhere.

Didn't Chappell also say that Suresh Raina would be India's next great batsman?

India-

Gambhir
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman
Kohli
Dhoni(c)+
Ashwin
Zaheer
Ishant
Yadav

Pretty much.

Every member selects himself in the XI except for Zaheer who I still think will once again flatter to deceive like he did at Lord's. Also, considering how dire our fitness record is especially during last few months, I won't be surrpised one bit if someone else pulls out at the last moment.

Instant Karma is also a worry....he now uses so much eye liner mascara that he is at risk hurting his eyesight

horace wrote:Dim Tim's reinvention as a leg spinner was one of the more bizarre events at the time

Don't wanna be pedantic but to 're-invent' yourself you have to have been something or other beforehand.

"Instant Karma is also a worry....he now uses so much eye liner mascara that he is at risk hurting his eyesight"

Is that the ONLY thing he does which makes him go blind?