Almost every case you've mentioned has only happened due to an injury..
Nonetheless there've been better-qualified candidates, often, than those selected.
Martin Love scoring a century in his last Test innings in 2003 and never playing again; It was against Bangladesh didn't think that effort would have been worth much in your eyes.
It's not, but it was still an innings for a full Australia team. How he was simply disregarded immediately is beyond me.
Brendon Julien playing Test cricket at all.
BJ did well in the Windies.
Hardly. He was woeful. One of the worst players ever to play for Australia, possibly the worst in my lifetime for mine.
Bracken, Williams and Lee playing ahead of Kasprowicz at home in 2003/04
Bracken and Lee had good cases, Lee was proven correct..
He was? The 6 wickets at 80 or whatever it was was an outstanding return was it?
Neither he nor Bracken had the slightest case for selection over Kasprowicz, Kasprowicz's form where it counts (ie, in domestic FC cricket) was far better than either. They were basically picked on ODI form, which is always a bad idea.
I'll bite on a few.
They quite obviously want the extra option of Watson as a bowler, and Katich is hardly letting them down at the top of the order (and has come off a record breaking season). Hardly a bad selection.
So play all three. Play Jaques as opener, and Katich and Watson as middle-order batsmen to bowl. And don't waste a place on a nothing spinner.
Well Krezja hasn't played test cricket yet so I dunno what you are getting at. Casson's selection was somewhat justified - was OK with the ball last season, and could be classified as an all-rounder. White is a worse selection.
Krejza has come damn close to playing, even if he doesn't (which seems pretty unlikely). Neither he nor Casson should've come near Test squads, their cases were flimsy at best. If a specialist spinner had to play, it should've been McGain, else no-one.
Huh? He'd just come off a season of domestic cricket where he took 65 wickets at 20 with half of his games on Adelaide Oval. Do you just disregard first class form?
No, you just don't jump straight in after 1 good season.
Just a case of bad luck IMO. Hardly bad selection policies when a very good batsman can't get into the side when he hits form whilst the incumbents are in good form.
He could get in the side though - and averaged 60 and was then dropped! For someone who'd averaged 22 in the domestic FC comp or something like that.
I don't have a problem with it. In recent years they have shown that they want to pick a wrist and finger spinner to tour India. What was to suggest that MacGill would have any success if Warne couldn't?
Warne had decent success in 2 out of the 3 Tests he played on that tour, and would almost certainly have caused mayhem on the pitch Hauritz ended-up playing on. And if Warne couldn't have had success, how on Earth could anyone have thought Hauritz would?
Picking wrist and fingerspin, when you have a wristspinner who is infinitely better than any fingerspinner, is pure and simple bad selection.
Hardly. He had a fantastic one day series and they thought it a pretty decent risk to give him a go. I didn't disagree with it at the time, though it didn't turn out well (but you can't expect every selection to work).
So you'd pick someone for Test cricket because they'd had a good ODI series ahead of someone who'd scored 125* and 80-odd in their most recent Test?
No, sorry, woeful decision. Nothing else.
Australia's next test was three months later and he was replaced by Martyn. I don't see how that is a poor selection - Love made a ton in an innings of 556 against Bangladesh and has since been unable to hit form when a spot opened up. Bad luck - yes. Poor selection - no.
It's not like his form in subsequent seasons was so woeful that that credit which should have been in the bank should be completely disregarded.
Yeah Australia have made some ordinary decisions, but a hell of a lot less than any other test team going around. Most of those you've listed aren't even bad selections.
They've made a hell of a lot less than other teams because not even the biggest dunderheads could drop the likes of Mark Taylor, David Boon, Shane Warne etc. More common problems present more chances for mistakes to be made.
