***Official*** South Africa In Australia

[Matt79]

Did you not notice the sad face I made - more of a dig at Hilditch and co. than Watson really.

 

[sanga1337]

On the subject of Krejza, did anyone else find what the selectors have done to him objectionable in the extreme?

They select a bloke with a first class average of 50, on the basis that he will be an attacking bowler, then after he surprises everyone with 12 wickets in a match come out and say "****, we're geniuses after all", only to turn around and drop him immediately and publicly label his efforts as unacceptable, after one more match in which he didn't produce the results they hoped. Either he's a project player that they feel can play a role, and who will provide an upside in the form of occasional bags to justify his regular averageness, or else he isn't, but in that case why select him.

Do they honestly think Hauritz will be any better?

Selectors proving here that when it comes to decisions more complicated than: "Is Warne available, or do we have to pick MacGill?" they have absolutely no ****ing idea.

Krejza can join Casson on the pile of admittedly average spinners who's future career have probably been ****ed over by the Australian selectors, although the way the merry-go-round is going at the moment, they should probably start packing for the Ashes now, as it will be their turn to be flavour of the week again in another six months time.

Yeah AWTA. Admittedly he was pretty poor in the second innings, but in the first innings he was getting the ball to spin and drop and was troubling the batsman at times. He's a potentially much better bowler than Hauritz, who has absolutely no hope of getting a wicket unless the batsman are going for a hit. One test loss and the selectors are already panicking.

 

[protea lover]

I actually discovered all the aussie domestic spinners.
ie. Krejza Hauritz, Cullen and co all average between 40 -50.
So it is a bleak future.
They need to show a bit more faith though they can't keep dropping players for bad performances in one game.
I think the plan should be to use this series to find the best possible 11 for the ashes next year.
then if they lose the ashes have a major clean out. ie . Hayden , Symonds and perhaps Ponting gone.

 

[popepouri]

Jeez, quite surprised to see Gibbs in there because i got a feeling that his international career was all but over, but anyways good to see the Proteas giving a few new blokes a chance....

Well they had to. The previous crop of players were piss poor.

Well done on the selectors for choosing the best side they can. :P

 

[pup11]

Originally Posted by Matt79
On the subject of Krejza, did anyone else find what the selectors have done to him objectionable in the extreme?

They select a bloke with a first class average of 50, on the basis that he will be an attacking bowler, then after he surprises everyone with 12 wickets in a match come out and say "****, we're geniuses after all", only to turn around and drop him immediately and publicly label his efforts as unacceptable, after one more match in which he didn't produce the results they hoped. Either he's a project player that they feel can play a role, and who will provide an upside in the form of occasional bags to justify his regular averageness, or else he isn't, but in that case why select him.

Do they honestly think Hauritz will be any better?

Selectors proving here that when it comes to decisions more complicated than: "Is Warne available, or do we have to pick MacGill?" they have absolutely no ****ing idea.

Krejza can join Casson on the pile of admittedly average spinners who's future career have probably been ****ed over by the Australian selectors, although the way the merry-go-round is going at the moment, they should probably start packing for the Ashes now, as it will be their turn to be flavour of the week again in another six months time.

Krejza frankly speaking was probably never in their (selectors) long term plans imo, they wanted McGain to play as the spinner in India and just to shown everyone that they have picked a squad with plenty of variety they picked a finger spinner purely of basis of the fact that he is apparently a big turner of the ball, but obviously they never seriously had much faith in his ability otherwise Cam White would never have played ahead of him as the spinner in India.

When Krejza finally took those 12 wickets he all of a sudden became an option for the selectors, but unfortunately for Krejza he didn't play any substantial cricket due to his ankle injury till the Perth test and that might have left him a bit short on match practice, but i think the fact that Krejza has given over 100 runs in an innings everytime he has bowled won't have gone very well with the selectors, but atleast they could have persisted with him for one more test.

I think after the debacle at Perth it was very likely that some heads would roll so that the selectors could convey it to the fans that they are very concerned and are doing their best to fix the problem, and eventually the scapegoats of that defeat were the two least experienced players of the team, but anyways now they have done what they wanted, and i guess the idea of picking Hauritz is that he is more of a conservative off-spinner who doesn't tend to go for too many runs and they are hoping that he would create pressure by drying up the runs and wickets too might follow as a result of that.

 

[protea lover]

Krejza frankly speaking was probably never in their (selectors) long term plans imo, they wanted McGain to play as the spinner in India and just to shown everyone that they have picked a squad with plenty of variety they picked a finger spinner purely of basis of the fact that he is apparently a big turner of the ball, but obviously they never seriously had much faith in his ability otherwise Cam White would never have played ahead of him as the spinner in India.

When Krejza finally took those 12 wickets he all of a sudden became an option for the selectors, but unfortunately for Krejza he didn't play any substantial cricket due to his ankle injury till the Perth test and that might have left him a bit short on match practice, but i think the fact that Krejza has given over 100 runs in an innings everytime he has bowled won't have gone very well with the selectors, but atleast they could have persisted with him for one more test.

I think after the debacle at Perth it was very likely that some heads would roll so that the selectors could convey it to the fans that they are very concerned and are doing their best to fix the problem, and eventually the scapegoats of that defeat were the two least experienced players of the team, but anyways now they have done what they wanted, and i guess the idea of picking Hauritz is that he is more of a conservative off-spinner who doesn't tend to go for too many runs and they are hoping that he would create pressure by drying up the runs and wickets too might follow as a result of that.

They need to stick with a pair for at least a series though. Going through players like tissues dosen't benefit anyone. Bangladesh have wasted young talents with this method and australia will too if they do not adress it.

 

[TT Boy]

Well they had to. The previous crop of players were piss poor.

Well done on the selectors for choosing the best side they can. :P

Indeed.

Still don't think it is the best side. Ntini may have learned to bowl from around the wicket in the past few months but he still has no slower ball, cutter or yorker so he hasn't done what Mickey Arthur wanted, his just got wickets and increased his speeds.

I would go with this merry lot for the 20/20s...

Smith
Gibbs
Amla
AB
Duminy
van Jaarsveld
Albie Morkel
Botha
Parnell
Morne Morkel
Steyn

 

[Evermind]

So...what happens when Prince's finger is healed? Does Duminy keep his place, or does Prince come back in?

 

[TT Boy]

So...what happens when Prince's finger is healed? Does Duminy keep his place, or does Prince come back in?

Prince. Smith and Arthur have said.

 

[Penguinissimo]

One test loss and the selectors are already panicking.

Yep, it's not only the skipper who has a much harder time of it when your side aren't playing as well as expected - the selectors have a tough task too.

It's a difficult balance, trying to stick with the good players you've identified regardless of results, and yet trying to put out a team for any given match with the sole intention of winning that match. As a long suffering England fan, I've seen every part of this spectrum, from the 4-changes-per-match 90s and the current closed shop top 5 batting order (what, in the name of all that's holy, has to happen for Ian Bell to get dropped?)

The new problem for the selectors is that they have to have a certain number of players in the side who are "works in progress" - a seamer (Siddle, Bollinger, Hilfenhaus?), a spinner (Hauritz, Krezja, White, McGain?) and, very soon, a replacement for Matt Hayden.

None of this mattered when you only needed three batsmen (Langer, Hayden and Ponting), a wicketkeeper (Gilchrist) and two bowlers (Warne and McGrath) to beat any side in the world - the selectors were able to drip feed young talent into the side and put them under basically no pressure because the team was always winning even if they weren't performing.

Now you put in a few work-experience players, and you need all your big guns to be firing - but Lee and Hayden are horribly out of form, and Ponting's not exactly having the best time of it. So what do the selectors do? Do they drop the "talents", and bring in journeymen who at least won't be embarrassed? Do they drop the mis-firing big guns?

They're going to have to earn their corn over the next year - and the chopping and changing displayed so far doesn't bode all that well.

 

[Jigga988]

I think Hauritz will get slapped about as much as Krezja, I feel sorry for Krezja, looked a decent prospect and some of the deliveries that he gets to bowl people, are brilliant dismissals to watch - Laxman and Amla suffered this fate. But he was shocking, to pick up no wickets in a last day when the pitch was taking turn is a poor effort despite the injury he's had. I still like the Aussies batting, Hayden should not be dropped or indeed retire, been horribly unlucky in that game and in the series against India. The rest i dont think are under that much pressure.

 

[Manee]

So...what happens when Prince's finger is healed? Does Duminy keep his place, or does Prince come back in?

Is always a shame to see a domestic record like Duminy's kept out of the side, but it is a no-brainer imo that Prince should go straight back in.

 

[Langeveldt]

Happy days, so glad to see Vaughn van Jaarsveld in the running for an ODI place.. I always thought he had thrown his lot in and gone to England.. Gibbs is proven class, he's a maverick, but I don't care if he gets some runs.. Joburg 2 years ago still fresh in the memory

 

[GIMH]

The amount of different facepalms posted in this thread is just awesome. I just had to say it.

Also, feel quite sorry for that Krejza bloke, Aussies are going through spinners like we go through WKs, it seems.

 

[popepouri]

The amount of different facepalms posted in this thread is just awesome. I just had to say it.

Also, feel quite sorry for that Krejza bloke, Aussies are going through spinners like we go through WKs, it seems.

SA went through this problem and it was only solved recently with Harris. Since Boje hadn't received a contract, there was a gaping hole in the side for a spinner. I think they got lucky with Harris because he was 3rd on the list of bowlers behind Boje and Henderson.

 

[Evermind]

The amount of different facepalms posted in this thread is just awesome. I just had to say it.

Also, feel quite sorry for that Krejza bloke, Aussies are going through spinners like we go through WKs, it seems.

They keep trying to find their Warne like you keep trying to find your Stewart. Ain't happening.

Watch India try to replace Tendulkar the moment he retires.

 

[GIMH]

The thing is (and this isn't in any way a criticism of the Aussies, it's all sides) you're never gonna bed anyone in if you don't give them a decent run. Like, Matt Prior got ten games, dropped, Ambrose got ten, dropped, back to Prior. If Prior had played the games against NZ & SA, he might have grown into the role, or we'd be convinced he wasn't up to it (his selection wasn't something that everyone agreed on, and neither was his dropping). But it seems the Aussies are going one further with Krejza (sp?), okay fine to only play a spinner here and there if you're not going to play one, or they are playing as second spinner. But to give him a game where he does well, then drop him, then bring him back and drop him after one game - it's silly. Doesn't send out a good message to any other spinner coming into the side either.

 

[Furball]

The thing is (and this isn't in any way a criticism of the Aussies, it's all sides) you're never gonna bed anyone in if you don't give them a decent run. Like, Matt Prior got ten games, dropped, Ambrose got ten, dropped, back to Prior. If Prior had played the games against NZ & SA, he might have grown into the role, or we'd be convinced he wasn't up to it (his selection wasn't something that everyone agreed on, and neither was his dropping). But it seems the Aussies are going one further with Krejza (sp?), okay fine to only play a spinner here and there if you're not going to play one, or they are palying as second spinner. But to give him a game where he does well, then drop him, then bring him back and drop him after one game - it's silly. Doesn't send out a good message to any other spinner coming into the side either.

Australia's selection policy when it comes to spinners makes the ECB look pretty sensible when it comes to its wicketkeepers.

Why the hell they ignore Bracken, who is their best long-form bowler judging by domestic FC stats, is beyond me as well.

 

[pasag]

If we're going to play a spinner for the sake of it, we might as well stay with the same one and let him get more intl. cricket under his belt.

 

[Durham_CCC]

When Hayden goes, I think it's obvious that Katich and Jacques will open, I also think they should persist with Krejza.

What has Happend to Tait ?