***Official*** Australia in South Africa

[Noble One]

yeah i just don't agree with it, as much as i'm willing to be made wrong, like when siddle was picked ahead of bollinger, it doesn't always work

I agree that players should not be picked straight after a fantastic first season of cricket. But a rather meaningless one day series against the South African's, to test out the FRC leading wicket taker to see if he has something special is hardly a senseless decision.

Ballsy decision from the selectors, will reap huge rewards if it works out. Spot in that one day lineup that is still vacant for a third quick.

 

[Rant0r]

never heard of magoffin, noffke, or bollinger ?

and what happened to the henriques love ? not that i should be complaining

 

[four_or_six]

There's been talk of it around for years. He's not going to do it though.

And yes, he is.

He really is quite stubborn.

 

[Matt79]

shane watson appears to have been pigeon holed also, if he can't bowl he doesn't play, i'm a big rap for his batting, more than his bowling actually, probably due to the fact that he has very often had to play solely as a batsman when he's been injured. he didn't seem to have the improvisation to survive at limited overs or t20 until the ipl last year, now the guy has some serious skills, and greg chappell has been coaching him since he's been injured again.

Ahem - 2007 World Cup ring any bells?

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Haha yeah, only averaged 100+ and a S/R of 100+.

 

[Rant0r]

oops, forgot about that, but you get my point, up until that point... bearing in mind he's been in the international fold for a few years now.

but if you really want to get technical, he had 5 not outs in that tournament and one fifty, but yes, i suppose that's when he started to learn improvisation, but i really noticed the more consistent results during the ipl last year

 

[AlanJLegend]

Somebody please answer me this, because I cannot possibly comprehend this;


Why was Shane Harwood chosen in our ODI and T20 and not Brad Hodge?

Sure, we are looking towards the future and don't want to put it lots of old guys, but Harwood is older than Hodge and not half as good. And yes, Harwood is a bowler. But surely could we not have found somebody younger to give a go?


Maybe I am just a whinger, but this annoys me. Hodge is imo the best Australian player not to be a permanent fixture in an Australian side.

 

[Jakester1288]

Australian ODI and T20 Squads Named

FFS, they spelt Michael Clarke wrong. Pet hate of mine.

Laughlin is very questionable. Warner should never be anything but a Twenty20 specialist at international level, purely for the entertainment factor. Haurtiz isn't the worst pick, decent one day bowler.

EDIT: Didn't see Clapo's post.

 

[Noble One]

Somebody please answer me this, because I cannot possibly comprehend this;


Why was Shane Harwood chosen in our ODI and T20 and not Brad Hodge?

Sure, we are looking towards the future and don't want to put it lots of old guys, but Harwood is older than Hodge and not half as good. And yes, Harwood is a bowler. But surely could we not have found somebody younger to give a go?


Maybe I am just a whinger, but this annoys me. Hodge is imo the best Australian player not to be a permanent fixture in an Australian side.

Shane Harwood was only selected for the T20 squad. Not too many stronger candidates in the shorter format than Shane Harwood. Has an incredible record over the past three seasons in the KFC Big Bash. Less standout competition for the fast bowlers spot so age was not a factor in his selection.

Brad Hodge deserved a more lengthy international career. Feel time has passed Hodge now, injury struck him down at the wrong time this season. Plenty of competition for middle order batting spots, especially from younger players. Easy to name plenty of middle order batsmen who could do just as solid a job in 20/20 as Hodge nowdays.

 

[oldmancraigy]

Yeah, I can understand people saying that his domestic record isn't really good enough to see him rated as highly as he is by the selectors, but that argument loses all weight when those same people say they want Ferguson in the team.

I don't want to see Stan Darsh anywhere near the Test squad until he scores Shield runs more consistently but he should be in the ODI team at full strength (well, at least full strength minus Watto) without question, IMO.

First class this season
SMarsh av 23 SR 38 (0 centuries)
Ferguson av 43 SR 65 (2 centuries)

Ford Ranger
SMarsh av 25 SR 66 (1 score over 50 - which was 75 and half of his total runs...)
Ferguson av45 SR 95 (4 scores over 50 - top score 101)

I'm anti Marsh because he's not technically a good player, and he has 'brain fades' which mean that he loses concentration and doesn't go on to make centuries

Combine that with the fact that he's generally a pretty slow batsman, and in awful form on the domestic scene - he's not in my full strength lineup by a long shot.

The anomaly is that he scored runs against the SAffies (2x50s against them) - but the runs were scored pretty slowly, and IMO we're better off with Michael Clarke at the top of the order - also scores his runs at a snails pace, but at least there's a chance he'll push on to make a ton.

Ferguson is a quick scorer, exceptional fielder and doesn't have the same concentration lapses.
Seems to be finding his feet at FC level too judging by his last season.

 

[Nate]

That's all stats though. He has looked terrific despite his lack of runs, which is exactly why the selectors stuck with him. And it payed off.

EDIT: And he hardly scored them slowly.

 

[Rant0r]

i don't agree with marsh being an opener in FC cricket either, sure it's working at ODI level, but i don't think he's a FC opener.

don't really agree his or clarke's runs are slow, maybe if you're comparing them to what sehwag has been doing this week

 

[Matt79]

Somebody please answer me this, because I cannot possibly comprehend this;


Why was Shane Harwood chosen in our ODI and T20 and not Brad Hodge?

Sure, we are looking towards the future and don't want to put it lots of old guys, but Harwood is older than Hodge and not half as good. And yes, Harwood is a bowler. But surely could we not have found somebody younger to give a go?


Maybe I am just a whinger, but this annoys me. Hodge is imo the best Australian player not to be a permanent fixture in an Australian side.

Harwood's competition has been thinned out by injury, unlike the competition for middle order spots. Furthermore, the incumbents occupying the spot Harwood has taken are being deliberately rested in Siddle and Hilfy, unlike Hodge - with Ponting, Clarke, Hussey, etc all being named.

If Ponting and Clarke were injured or being rested, Hodge would be playing (limited overs at least).

I'm with Jack on Hodge - it drove me nuts for a few years there - in the lead up to the 2005 Ashes, when he was dumped for Martyn, and several times since. However, he's now the wrong age, and the decision has clearly been made, and the incumbents are all pretty solid, aside from the number 6 slot, and at the moment we probably do need a viable bowling option there. So while I feel very bad for him, I'm not getting bent out of shape about it. He's not unique in being a really good player to have missed a fair chance in Australia in the last 10-20 years - Law, Love, Lehmann (largely), Siddons, etc etc etc.

 

[Rant0r]

hodge was actually having a fairly average season in the Shield this year by his standards, as is David Hussey (no hundreds) until Hodge made that 261 in the last outing, which makes his season look awesome suddenly.

it surely has to be an attitude thing with him, the guy's made all sorts of runs, then made a double ton in a test against the saffies on a ground where he'd barely yelped in the Shield. \

I don't like the guy, but he ahs some seriously wasted batting ability, bowls some nice offies as well, do i ehar you say Marcus North ?

 

[Matt79]

Got the impression from a couple of things Ponting and others have written that the boys club found Hodge to be a bit different, not a jerk, but not one of the cool kids, which may not have helped. Recently, the fact that he no longer cares to keep his disappointment at not getting a go despite a mountain of runs in his career a secret has probably harmed him.

But I think his main problems have been that first, and most significantly, for much of his excellent FC career, there have been successful, settled, incumbents who gave the selectors little reason to bring Hodge in. When he did get a go, it was at the expense of someone who maybe shouldn't have been dropped anyway, and who was the captain's best mate. Second, his peak has probably coincided with the period when an allrounder at 6 has been considered a priority, making the competition for a berth even tighter.

 

[iamdavid]

Somebody please answer me this, because I cannot possibly comprehend this;


Why was Shane Harwood chosen in our ODI and T20 and not Brad Hodge?

Sure, we are looking towards the future and don't want to put it lots of old guys, but Harwood is older than Hodge and not half as good. And yes, Harwood is a bowler. But surely could we not have found somebody younger to give a go?


Maybe I am just a whinger, but this annoys me. Hodge is imo the best Australian player not to be a permanent fixture in an Australian side.

My take on it is that they're trying Harwood out with a view to the T20 World Cup, as he's only had very limited oppurtunities at international level so far (1 T20 IIRC), so they wanna see how he handles himself at the highest level, just to make sure he's not gonna do a Mick Lewis on us.
Hodge I'm sure is in their thoughts (for T20 atleast, dosen't appear to be the case for tests or ODI's), however they've already seen a fair bit of him in internationals and they know what he does so didn't see the need to experiment with him here, especially with Ferguson around.
Wouldn't suprise me at all to see Hodge play T20 WC.

 

[Rant0r]

Got the impression from a couple of things Ponting and others have written that the boys club found Hodge to be a bit different, not a jerk, but not one of the cool kids, which may not have helped. Recently, the fact that he no longer cares to keep his disappointment at not getting a go despite a mountain of runs in his career a secret has probably harmed him.

But I think his main problems have been that first, and most significantly, for much of his excellent FC career, there have been successful, settled, incumbents who gave the selectors little reason to bring Hodge in. When he did get a go, it was at the expense of someone who maybe shouldn't have been dropped anyway, and who was the captain's best mate. Second, his peak has probably coincided with the period when an allrounder at 6 has been considered a priority, making the competition for a berth even tighter.

i find him quite nauseating on the radio, he'll be like 'i'm in the best 6 batsmen in the country i can't understand why i'm not in that team' even if he's just made 3 ducks in a row, criticising the selectors can never be good for your health

My take on it is that they're trying Harwood out with a view to the T20 World Cup, as he's only had very limited oppurtunities at international level so far (1 T20 IIRC), so they wanna see how he handles himself at the highest level, just to make sure he's not gonna do a Mick Lewis on us.
Hodge I'm sure is in their thoughts (for T20 atleast, dosen't appear to be the case for tests or ODI's), however they've already seen a fair bit of him in internationals and they know what he does so didn't see the need to experiment with him here, especially with Ferguson around.
Wouldn't suprise me at all to see Hodge play T20 WC.[/QUOTE

poor old mick lewis that's how he's going to be remembered, i see over the last week southee went for over 100, wonder if mick was watching.

 

[mikeW]

My man Laughlin in the team, so awesome.

 

[Rant0r]

seriously going to have to get fox to watch some of the domestic games, i must be missing something

 

[popepouri]

So opening doesn't sound that bad from Ashwell. He just scored a hundred against the Titans:
Cricinfo - Titans v Warriors at Centurion, Mar 12-15, 2009