***Official*** Australia A and New Zealand A in India

[Salamuddin]

I think it probably assists their hopes in winning the series sans spinners.

Agreed. Australia will rely on their pace attack for success in India.

I think the combo of Johnson, Clark and Lee is a pretty good one and I fear they will prove too good for the Indian batsmen.

 

[gettingbetter]

Good to see people are leaving the 'we always need a spinner attitude.'

Also note, that Bollinger ended the Pura Cup season strongly and was selected for the Windies tour. Now he is playing for Australian in INDIA, depending upon his performances, he might be the 'spinner.'

 

[pup11]

That's terrible news to their test hopes and Australia's spin hopes.

Well there is still time before the series starts so i guess they would recover by then, atleast i hope so.

 

[Precambrian]

I find it quite funny..from having the two best leggies in the world, to having absolutely nothing in the space of about a year. What Australia would give to have Warney back...

I take exception. MacGill was certainly inferior to Kumble.

 

[Precambrian]

Well there is still time before the series starts so i guess they would recover by then, atleast i hope so.

But the squads are to be announced by somewhere Mid Sep right?

 

[Precambrian]

Agreed. Australia will rely on their pace attack for success in India.

I think the combo of Johnson, Clark and Lee is a pretty good one and I fear they will prove too good for the Indian batsmen.

Incentive to prepare Mumbai 04 like pitches, and even Lee will have to bowl off cutters.

 

[four_or_six]

Incentive to prepare Mumbai 04 like pitches, and even Lee will have to bowl off cutters.

I still think Bracken providing the 'slow bowling' shouldn't be discounted.

 

[pup11]

Agreed. Australia will rely on their pace attack for success in India.

I think the combo of Johnson, Clark and Lee is a pretty good one and I fear they will prove too good for the Indian batsmen.

He has a long, long way to go before he proves himself to be a good bowler at the test level, i think if Australia were to play a 3 fast bowler attack, i would be seriously tempeted to swap Johnson with Bollinger, Bollinger also has done well in this game by taking 4 wickets, so really Bollinger should be in serious contention for national selection.
Btw if Casson is ok to bat, then why the **** can't he bowl???

 

[pup11]

I take exception. MacGill was certainly inferior to Kumble.

Have a look at MacGill' record man, he was awesome spinner, yeah his accuracy was no where near as good as Kumble, but as far as wicket-taking ability is concerned he was second to none, its just a shame he had to compete with such a legend like Warne all life to get into the side, but whenever he got a chance he even outbowled Warne.

 

[Precambrian]

He has a long, long way to go before he proves himself to be a good bowler at the test level, i think if Australia were to play a 3 fast bowler attack, i would be seriously tempeted to swap Johnson with Bollinger, Bollinger also has done well in this game by taking 4 wickets, so really Bollinger should be in serious contention for national selection.
Btw if Casson is ok to bat, then why the **** can't he bowl???

Bollinger has taken the tailend wickets only. And Siddle impressed more than him yesterday as per Cricinfo. And performance against India A in one game, is hardly what should propel you to displace a guy who performed admirably against the senior side in the ODIs against India in India


NB - A test average of 32 is not earth shattering. But aint too bad for a beginner imho.

 

[Precambrian]

Have a look at MacGill' record man, he was awesome spinner, yeah his accuracy was no where near as good as Kumble, but as far as wicket-taking ability is concerned he was second to none, its just a shame he had to compete with such a legend like Warne all life to get into the side, but whenever he got a chance he even outbowled Warne.

Ah, let's not get started on another debate, Kumble has proved his class on different surfaces, wheras McGill looked pedestrian (for absence of another word) against the best in the business. He was never near the class of Warne or even Kumble.

NB - Removing Bangladesh, he took 175 wickets in 44 matches @ 31.53. (59 SR). That hardly looks like stuff which can outbowl Warne.

 

[Salamuddin]

He has a long, long way to go before he proves himself to be a good bowler at the test level, i think if Australia were to play a 3 fast bowler attack, i would be seriously tempeted to swap Johnson with Bollinger, Bollinger also has done well in this game by taking 4 wickets, so really Bollinger should be in serious contention for national selection.
Btw if Casson is ok to bat, then why the **** can't he bowl???

I know Johnson has bowled some disappointing spells of late but I still maintain that he has the most potential of all the Aussie bowlers I have seen other than Lee and Clark.

And I personally feel he may well trouble India more so than Noffke or Bollinger.

 

[pup11]

Good to see people are leaving the 'we always need a spinner attitude.'

Also note, that Bollinger ended the Pura Cup season strongly and was selected for the Windies tour. Now he is playing for Australian in INDIA, depending upon his performances, he might be the 'spinner.'

I don't think a team can survive in sub-continent conditions without a spinner, the quality of your spinner decides what kind of role he needs to plays , since most of the damage is expected to be done by the Aussie seamers, the spinner could try to hold one end up, and the fact that by the second innings the wickets slow down too, making it tremendously difficult for the seamers to be effective no matter how well they bowl, makes it clear that a spinner has a role to play in India, and to expect a Katich or a Clarke to fill that role against an Indian team who thrive on playing spin is asking for trouble.

P.S: BTW, why do we Aussie fans keep making so much fuss about the lack of having a good spinner, except for India and Sri Lanka none of the teams have a good spinner, the spinners in Aussie domestic competiton don't have the greatest of records, but what' the harm in trying to groom a spinner who has decent potetial and who might come good in the longer run, we Aussie fans have become a bit spoilt overs the years having the luxury of having Warne weave his magic over all the teams and in his absence watching MacGill do the same.

 

[pup11]

Ah, let's not get started on another debate, Kumble has proved his class on different surfaces, wheras McGill looked pedestrian (for absence of another word) against the best in the business. He was never near the class of Warne or even Kumble.

NB - Removing Bangladesh, he took 175 wickets in 44 matches @ 31.53. (59 SR). That hardly looks like stuff which can outbowl Warne.

Kumble was only effective in India for a long long time, and he bowled a load of crap while playing outside India, its only in the last few years that his bowling away from home has improved, you can call MacGill' record shabby, but for a guy who played all his cricket in the shadow of Shane Warne and coming in and out of the side, that's an excellent record, and btw trying comparing MacGill and Warne' record when they both played in the same test.

 

[gettingbetter]

I don't think a team can survive in sub-continent conditions without a spinner, the quality of your spinner decides what kind of role he needs to plays , since most of the damage is expected to be done by the Aussie seamers, the spinner could try to hold one end up, and the fact that by the second innings the wickets slow down too, making it tremendously difficult for the seamers to be effective no matter how well they bowl, makes it clear that a spinner has a role to play in India, and to expect a Katich or a Clarke to fill that role against an Indian team who thrive on playing spin is asking for trouble.

P.S: BTW, why do we Aussie fans keep making so much fuss about the lack of having a good spinner, except for India and Sri Lanka none of the teams have a good spinner, the spinners in Aussie domestic competiton don't have the greatest of records, but what' the harm in trying to groom a spinner who has decent potetial and who might come good in the longer run, we Aussie fans have become a bit spoilt overs the years having the luxury of having Warne weave his magic over all the teams and in his absence watching MacGill do the same.

Fair point, and well said. But for me and many others on CW, the likes of Casson and McGain are more bowlers than spinners if you know what I mean? They don't really add anything to the side other than unused variation. I get the feeling if selected, Casson will be used like Giles of Harris; roll the arm over and than just field for the rest of the day.

As for us being worried about not having a quality spinner. I don't quite agree with you there. Yes India have Kumble, Bhaji and to a lesser extent Chawla and Sri Lanka have M&M, but I think the problem lies with how far someone like Casson is behind the other spinners in international teams. Casson is nowhere as good as Harris, Kaneria, Razzak, Monty let alone Vettori.

 

[pup11]

I know Johnson has bowled some disappointing spells of late but I still maintain that he has the most potential of all the Aussie bowlers I have seen other than Lee and Clark.

And I personally feel he may well trouble India more so than Noffke or Bollinger.

The way he bowled bowled in the good chunk of the Indo-Aus series in Australia and then through the WI test series, TBH he would do very well to even trouble the likes of Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan, just slanting the ball across right handers and banging the ball half-way down the pitch, won't take him anywhere in test cricket.

 

[pup11]

Bollinger has taken the tailend wickets only. And Siddle impressed more than him yesterday as per Cricinfo. And performance against India A in one game, is hardly what should propel you to displace a guy who performed admirably against the senior side in the ODIs against India in India


NB - A test average of 32 is not earth shattering. But aint too bad for a beginner imho.

So are you just going to pick guys on the basis of this series' performance only, first have a look at Bollinger' record in the Pura cup last then you would know what i am talking about, and he didn't do too badly against Pakistan "A" in Pakistan last season.

 

[Precambrian]

So are you just going to pick guys on the basis of this series' performance only, first have a look at Bollinger' record in the Pura cup last then you would know what i am talking about, and he didn't do too badly against Pakistan "A" in Pakistan last season.

No, I will be mad if I was. But my existing test bowler's performance in a country he's going to tour will certainly get preference over another first class bowler's performance in my own country's first class, and performance in A tour in a totally different country.

eg- If you were to chose between Vinay Kumar and Praveen Kumar for a tour to Australia next month (just for argument's sake), whom will you chose? I'd go for Praveen Kumar, considering he already knows the conditions there and has performed well, so his confidence level will be better.

 

[social]

Great performance by an Indian A side whose attack is largely comprised of novices

As for those advocating that the senior Australian team should go with all pace

That would ensure spinning wickets and potentially massive defeats

 

[pup11]

Great performance by an Indian A side whose attack is largely comprised of novices

As for those advocating that the senior Australian team should go with all pace

That would ensure spinning wickets and potentially massive defeats

That's a very valid point you make, Australian team would be in a real problem if India decide on making spin friendly tracks, hence having the right balance in the squad is very important.