Australia v New Zealand, 1st Test, Brisbane, 5-9 November, 2015

Anyone fancy a stab at the Aus side? I'll have a go.

Reinventor
Bog
Tweek
Uzy
Vague
Puddle
Nifty
Midge
Koo
Hazy
Elmer

Very shaky looking top 7. Kiwis a real chance to take the series unless Koo, Midge and Hazy are unstoppable.

I reckon they might go for Bancroft ahead of Shaun Marsh, who may have had his last chance.

Warner
Bancroft
Khawaja
Smith(c)
Voges
M.Marsh
Nevill+
Johnson
Starc
Siddle
Lyon

The Kiwis will be something like-

Guptill
Latham
Williamson
Taylor
McCullum(c)
Watling+
Neesham
Craig
Southee
Henry
Boult

Should be a good series. Certainly captures the imagination more than England and Pakistan's war of attrition, played out to an audience of plastic seats.

I wonder if c Guptill b Boult will feature as much as c Guptill b Martin did in the last home series v Snoozies. Then again, P.Hughes is not in the side.

I wonder if the "Brisbane" in the topic header will influence. Both Burns and Khawaja perhaps?

Burns shd definitely play....surely S Marsh's cards are marked

Bancroft to play

Hopefully haze's cards are on hold until he proves himself in the Shield

I wasn't overly impressed by Burns in the ODIs against England. A bit loose. Khawaja deserves a recall more.

The elephant in the room is Mitchell Marsh- He is not a test match number six. Perhaps Stoinis could be a bolter? More solid technique with the bat, but not as good as Marsh with the ball.

Good thing they're not selecting an ODIvomit team then,

Henry Bolte at 10 & 11? That'd be worth hanging around for...

surely Rylah would be at 10 and Bolte at 11...what a hang out at the tail

Henry wrote:I wasn't overly impressed by Burns in the ODIs against England. A bit loose. Khawaja deserves a recall more.

The elephant in the room is Mitchell Marsh- He is not a test match number six. Perhaps Stoinis could be a bolter? More solid technique with the bat, but not as good as Marsh with the ball.

Agree on both assessments, Trev. Monty plays far too square (looks to squirt everything through point and behind) to be a Test player, and Puddle is the best of a bad lot.

I'd have Moo back in to open. His form over the last 12 months has been excellent & none of Buck's potential replacements fills me with any confidence.

Hard to see how Moo would end up being a terrible selection. Even if he averages 32 it wouldn't be a disaster.

Unlike Binary Marsh.

Good luck with the pink ball. Waiting for the comments.

MMarsh may be better on Strino pitches. Just wasn't ready on l'Anglo pitches.

Hazlewood ahead of Siddle

I hope NZ give it a go. When not outclassed, they often seem overawed by their shapeshifting cousins across the water.

This would be a good time for a massive Australian statement as to who's the boss in world cricket.


I'm looking forward to how the pink ball goes. Why not pink & violet halves, by the way? Should show up nicely.

Nath wrote:Hazlewood ahead of Siddle

So you would drop Australia's best bowler from their last test?

Henry wrote:

Nath wrote:Hazlewood ahead of Siddle

So you would drop Australia's best bowler from their last test?

In favour of a bowler who let the Aussies badly during the Ashes.

PeterCS wrote:I'm looking forward to how the pink ball goes. Why not pink & violet halves, by the way? Should show up nicely.

Not the worst idea I've heard.

Some people have been saying that maybe  luminous yellow,  like a tennis ball. Apparently the pink one gets difficult to see because of the scuffing rather than the actual colour. Whatevs I say - try it and see. You'll be part of some sort of history type thing if you're an individual worried about a legacy or something as narcissistic

Brass Monkey wrote:Some people have been saying that maybe  luminous yellow,  like a tennis ball. Apparently the pink one gets difficult to see because of the scuffing rather than the actual colour. Whatevs I say - try it and see. You'll be part of some sort of history type thing if you're an individual worried about a legacy or something as narcissistic

I watched a couple of games were they trialled it here. Even on TV it was difficult to pick up off the bat.

Brass Monkey wrote:Some people have been saying that maybe  luminous yellow,  like a tennis ball. Apparently the pink one gets difficult to see because of the scuffing rather than the actual colour. Whatevs I say - try it and see. You'll be part of some sort of history type thing if you're an individual worried about a legacy or something as narcissistic

They tried that in Australia's Sheffield Shield about 20 years ago. I think they tried an orange ball as well.

Basil wrote:

Henry wrote:

Nath wrote:Hazlewood ahead of Siddle

So you would drop Australia's best bowler from their last test?

In favour of a bowler who let the Aussies badly during the Ashes.

Hendrix is a spiv...all gets forgiven....

Lehmann acknowledged that Aus need a bowler like Siddle to keep things tight whilst Johnson and Starc blast away at the other end.

Too bad for Aus that he acknowledged it AFTER they'd lost the Ashes.....