**Official** Australia in West Indies

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Two words for: Steve Magoffin.

What has Steve Magoffin done to deserve a call. More so in one-day cricket. Haven't seen much of his bowling, so I'm genuinely asking.

 

[NZTailender]

I can't remember why I hated him. It was before the 2005 Ashes.

I was the same. Always used to annoy me, then he seemed to mature a bit, or something. love him now itbt.

 

[NUFAN]

What has Steve Magoffin done to deserve a call. More so in one-day cricket. Haven't seen much of his bowling, so I'm genuinely asking.

No idea why I wrote Two words for, but anyways Magoffin is a dependable bowler who I think would fit in nicely with Bracken and Lee.

I still haven't come to terms with picking 2 left arm pace bowlers in your XI, and I know some of you will say "you gotta pick your best XI" but at times I don't think Johnson should play with Bracken.

I wouldn't completely get rid of Johnson, I just think we need to look at a new bowler to join our squads as we have a lot of cricket this next year and a half and Magoffin has been very consistent over the past few years.

He bowls at mid to early 130s, and from what i've seen, he bowls in the good areas. I don't think he's the best depth bowler, but if he bowls the majority of his overs in the first 35 or so, he'll do a job for us.

He's a decent bat and is at a good age [28]. I also think if Australia play four paceman at the WACA in a Test Match he'd be close, as it's his home ground.

 

[Top_Cat]

How could you hate Binga?!

Basically I reckon the Lee hate came about because he was hyped as a 'once in a generation talent', much like Mitchell Johnson. When performances didn't live up to the hype (and that bloody chainsaw kept coming out whenever he knocked over anyone from 9-11), the hate started. Seemed to have an attitude disproportionate to talent.

Mitch Johnson is suffering from the same perception I reckon. He's yet to come out of it, though. Doesn't help that just about every new batsman picked in the Aussie side seems to do well straight away whereas aside from McGrath and Warne, bowlers have a rocky road and, ironically enough, there's less sympathy for them.

 

[NUFAN]

Basically I reckon the Lee hate came about because he was hyped as a 'once in a generation talent', much like Mitchell Johnson. When performances didn't live up to the hype (and that bloody chainsaw kept coming out whenever he knocked over anyone from 9-11), the hate started. Seemed to have an attitude disproportionate to talent.

Mitch Johnson is suffering from the same perception I reckon. He's yet to come out of it, though. Doesn't help that just about every new batsman picked in the Aussie side seems to do well straight away whereas aside from McGrath and Warne, bowlers have a rocky road and, ironically enough, there's less sympathy for them.

Yep that used to grind my gears, especially because on most occasions the lower order batsman would smash him around the park for a few overs than get the wicket.

I could cop the chainsaw if it was 2 wickets in an over, but a random wicket here or there was very annoying.

 

[Perm]

Retired. Succeeded by his brother Raul.

 

[Perm]

Very good knock from Marsh on debut, and good to see Haddin amongst the runs too. Disappointed this wasn't on TV over here as I would've loved to watch it.

For the West Indies, why the hell is this Andre Fletcher guy playing? Absolutely ridiculous that somebody who has played 10 List A games and only made one score of note can be playing international cricket against the best side in the world. What is the story with Marlon Samuels? He might not be the most consistent but he's sure as hell better than Fletcher and one or two others.

 

[pasag]

What is the story with Marlon Samuels? He might not be the most consistent but he's sure as hell better than Fletcher and one or two others.

Banned for two years for taking money from bookies.

 

[Perm]

Banned for two years for taking money from bookies.

Haha, I did know that. Thanks for jogging my memory mate.

Surely there must be somebody better than Fletcher though? Seems a disgraceful selection.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

For the West Indies, why the hell is this Andre Fletcher guy playing? Absolutely ridiculous that somebody who has played 10 List A games and only made one score of note can be playing international cricket against the best side in the world.

Similar things were said about Marshall. He did alright.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Haha, I did know that. Thanks for jogging my memory mate.

Surely there must be somebody better than Fletcher though? Seems a disgraceful selection.

For a minute I thought you were in a box, under a rock in the middle of Wales. I mean, the Samuels story was pretty huge news.

And Fletcher is picked on potential rather than performance. Much like Xavier Marshall and, to a lesser extent, Mitchell Johnson. He's shown genuine talent at domestic level and an aggressive mindset. Could be something special if handled well, and I don't have a huge problem with him playing this ODI series. Especially considering that the next best options are Runako Morton and Lendl Simmons. That said, Dale Richards isn't half bad, if a bit old.

EDIT: And talking of Marlon Samuels, he was picked with virtually no first-class experience to play Test cricket against a better Australia IN Australia back in the day. He did a fine job, all things considered. Yes, he didn't quite push on, but he did have a very impressive debut series. So it's not like there's no precedent for this kind of thing.

 

[Laurrz]

so i was just thinking
there's a dilemna here

Hayden
Marsh
Ponting*
Clarke
Hussey
Symonds
Haddin+
Lee
Johnson
-spinner-
Bracken

this is the best team with all the players back imo

no room for Watson/Hopes?
should we not play a spinner?
can we win a WC without a spinner at all in Asia?

----

back to this series, i think Ponting has hinted Ronchi will play for Haddin on Friday

"With Hadds' finger the way it is, it's probably only going to take another bad knock on it and he might have to miss a game," Ponting said. "And with the couple of Friday-Sunday games we've got, if he happened to hurt it on the Friday it might struggle to come up for the Sunday game, so it makes sense to keep Ronchi here. The last thing we need is Mike Hussey or someone going behind the stumps and getting an injured finger, so a specialist keeper who can bat as well as him is a good inclusion."

so that means our lower middle order will be further weakened (consists of White Hopes and Ronchi..)
eek, big blow as Haddin has saved us countless of times really.. batting at #7.. with his counter attacking style of play... especially in games against India in KL and India
other than that the team should remain the same - maybe Clark for Johnson as a rotation

 

[Jono]

Brett Lee is fast becoming my favourite Australian cricketer. Used to hate the guy, but I really have taken a liking to him.

I was the same. Always used to annoy me, then he seemed to mature a bit, or something. love him now itbt.

Me too, used to really not like him circa 2003/04 (as mentioned many a time, his chainsaw celebration when India are 8/700 in Sydney was ridiculous) but he's definitely more mature now, and obviously just a better bowler.

Basically I reckon the Lee hate came about because he was hyped as a 'once in a generation talent', much like Mitchell Johnson. When performances didn't live up to the hype (and that bloody chainsaw kept coming out whenever he knocked over anyone from 9-11), the hate started. Seemed to have an attitude disproportionate to talent.

Mitch Johnson is suffering from the same perception I reckon. He's yet to come out of it, though. Doesn't help that just about every new batsman picked in the Aussie side seems to do well straight away whereas aside from McGrath and Warne, bowlers have a rocky road and, ironically enough, there's less sympathy for them.

That explains maybe the Australian cricket fans that didn't like Lee at the start, but there weren't that many as far as I can remember.

Mitch is only receiving a hard time from Aussie fans. Seems like a decent bloke to me, and thats pretty much what most non-Aussie fans judge whether they like an Australian cricket or not by. Whether they're a prick or not.

 

[social]

so i was just thinking
there's a dilemna here

Hayden
Marsh
Ponting*
Clarke
Hussey
Symonds
Haddin+
Lee
Johnson
-spinner-
Bracken

this is the best team with all the players back imo

no room for Watson/Hopes?
should we not play a spinner?
can we win a WC without a spinner at all in Asia?

Watson is a better cricketer than Marsh at the moment plus he can bowl

 

[Days of Grace]

I highly doubt Hayden will be around for the next World Cup.

I'm predicting him to retire after next year's Ashes.

 

[honestbharani]

That's really unfair. Who is?!

maybe God but nah, I heard his outswinger is not as good as AA's.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Watson-Marsh will be a long-term ODI opening partnership for mine. They run well, bat positively, have great techniques and seem to complement each other well.

 

[Nate]

Deadset blew my load[/nibbs] last night. Pretty much one of my favourite ODIs to date. Marsh, Watson, Hussey, Bracken.

I think I'm in lovvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeee

 

[DaRick]

Basically I reckon the Lee hate came about because he was hyped as a 'once in a generation talent', much like Mitchell Johnson. When performances didn't live up to the hype (and that bloody chainsaw kept coming out whenever he knocked over anyone from 9-11), the hate started. Seemed to have an attitude disproportionate to talent.

I agree with everything bar the bolded part. The main reason why I disliked Brett Lee from 2003/04 (when I first started watching cricket) to 2006/07 was because the amount of hype which surrounded him was ridiculous, particularly when examining his Test performances during the 2001-05 period, in particular. Even in 2006, he averaged around 32, which meant that I didn't stop becoming critical of him until late 2007.

I had similar feelings towards Michael Clarke from around 2004/05 - 2006/07. The careers of both are startingly similar, despite one being primarily a bowler and the other being primarily a batsman. Great starts>long fade-away>return to prominence (although Clarke's was more hasty).

He has always been an excellent ODI bowler, though (like Clarke has always been an excellent ODI batsman).

Mitch Johnson is suffering from the same perception I reckon. He's yet to come out of it, though. Doesn't help that just about every new batsman picked in the Aussie side seems to do well straight away whereas aside from McGrath and Warne, bowlers have a rocky road and, ironically enough, there's less sympathy for them.

I agree with your feelings about Mitchell Johnson, but I'm unsure about your statements relating to Australian batsmen and bowlers. There are some instant successes when it comes to batsmen (Hussey, Clarke and even Jaques/Katich) and some who take time to find their feet (Symonds, Hayden). The same applies to bowlers (we have Clark on the successful side, Johnson in-between and Tait to round the list of failures). Of course, my examples of successes and failures would be different for ODI's.

 

[pasag]

Watson-Marsh will be a long-term ODI opening partnership for mine. They run well, bat positively, have great techniques and seem to complement each other well.

Yeah, was awesome to watch. Don't think I've had so much fun watching an ODI in ages. Once Watson got out it was all downhill from there in terms of interest.