*Official* Australia in India 2010

[benchmark00]

It doesnt have to be classical. The point is that you need to be in the best possible position to play any type of shot. Martyn is a classic example, so is Prior. These guys dont exactly have extravagant footwork, but they get in the best possible positions to play the shot, that is ultimately what matters.

Scoring the odd 70 odd doesnt mean much. Broad just scored 140 odd against the same bowling attack. Lets face it one innings doesnt make a career.

Ofcourse it doesn't make a test career, but rubbishing a player who has played two test matches, which has included a really good 70 odd, seems a little over the top don't you think? No doubt you haven't seen him play in the Sheffield Shield, so I have no idea what you're basing your opposition on.

Sehwag gets himself in a terrible position to play shots at times. The only thing he has perfect is the stillness of his head. His head is way outside the line of the ball often, but his eye is so good he can still hammer it. Whatever works for you. Hughes another example of this.

 

[andyc]

Haha. Steve Smith only averages 56+ in the strongest FC comp in the world as a 21 year old, what a hack.


Love this squad, btw. Really hoping that Hughes gets a game but can't see it happening. Ideally I'd have one of Hughes or Smith in for North, but that's definitely not going to be the case, at least not for the first Test.

 

[benchmark00]

Because they've bred so many successful test cricketers at such a tender young age over the past couple of decades. Oh wait

Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting turned out to be a pile of ****, you're right.

 

[benchmark00]

It doesnt have to be classical. The point is that you need to be in the best possible position to play any type of shot. Martyn is a classic example, so is Prior. These guys dont exactly have extravagant footwork, but they get in the best possible positions to play the shot, that is ultimately what matters.

Scoring the odd 70 odd doesnt mean much. Broad just scored 140 odd against the same bowling attack. Lets face it one innings doesnt make a career.

Also lol at you bringing up Matt 'my gate is as big as Buckingham Palace' Prior to back up your point on technique.

 

[tooextracool]

Ofcourse it doesn't make a test career, but rubbishing a player who has played two test matches, which has included a really good 70 odd, seems a little over the top don't you think? No doubt you haven't seen him play in the Sheffield Shield, so I have no idea what you're basing your opposition on.

Im not saying he has no hope, the bottom line is that his technique is not good enough for him to continue playing like that and score runs consistently. You dont need to watch 10 sheffield shield games to reach this conclusion.

Sehwag gets himself in a terrible position to play shots at times. The only thing he has perfect is the stillness of his head. His head is way outside the line of the ball often, but his eye is so good he can still hammer it. Whatever works for you. Hughes another example of this.

Sehwag is a very intelligent cricketer IMO. On flat tracks he quite clearly plays strokes away from his body and his technique may not look so good, but when you watch him in England in 02/03 or on some of his overseas tours since you will notice that he plays with his bat very close to his body, with a straight bat and as you mention with a very still head.

 

[tooextracool]

Haha. Steve Smith only averages 56+ in the strongest FC comp in the world as a 21 year old, what a hack.

Yep and hes been doing it for all off 13 games. Arguably one of the all time greats. Not to mention he bats on some of the flattest pitches in the world.

 

[tooextracool]

Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting turned out to be a pile of ****, you're right.

Yep those 2 turned out quite well but as we know, almost every one of the Australian players over the last 20 years were a product of the system- they were successful in FC cricket in one or both England and Australia for a consistent period and took like a duck to water to the international level.

 

[Sir Alex]

we are certainly not good enough to justify all this ****iness, SA.. Esp. if things happen during the CL... And don't bloody jinx us with all this..

The ever pessimist indian fan.

I believe, and I am sure we are going to roll Australia over. It's not ****iness, just stating what I think is going to happen.

 

[tooextracool]

Also lol at you bringing up Matt 'my gate is as big as Buckingham Palace' Prior to back up your point on technique.

My point is exactly that though. There are flaws in his technique, but he gets into good positions and has excellent balance at the crease. Its not perfect but you can see why he averages 40+ in tests, and would average more if he wasnt holding the gloves.

 

[howardj]

Tough on Usman Khawaja. However, I think he's been replaced by Hughes as they want maximum flexibility for the Test lineup by putting Watson in the middle order which will allow him to bowl more and for us to play two spinners

Katich
Hughes
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Watson
Smith
Paine
Hauritz
Johnson
Hilfenhaus

 

[Cruxdude]

should be a good series. The big worry is our record in first tests. A draw at home is not acceptable for the best team in the world. Hope we do well.

 

[Top_Cat]

With all due respect to you and anyone reading this on CW, I'd back the Australian cricket teams coaching staff to know how to best development a young cricketer over anyone posting on this forum.

I'm sure Cricket Australia can afford to fork out the couple of thousand dollars it will cost them for Hazelwood to tour...

AWTA. He's at that stage of his career where he'd get a lot out of just being around the Test set-up. Sweating it out indoors for all of winter (especially since he'd already have put in some solid work) isn't necessarily the best idea for him, could stagnate. Train, train, train isn't all that's required to be a top sportsman, especially since he's pretty sound.

Get him out there, let him have some fun with it, no pressure. Can't do anything but help. Motivation for training once he gets back would be far less likely to be a problem too!

 

[Nate]

Pretty happy with that squad. Hazlewood will benefit from the experience, I'm sure, but maybe playing some State Cricket would be wiser?

Just hope Norfy doesn't play more than a Test.

 

[Top_Cat]

Hazlewood will only miss a game or two for NSW won't he? He'll surely play in at least one of the ODI's anyway.

EDIT: haha, unrelated but Usman's blog is awesome;

 

[andyc]

Hazlewood will only miss a game or two for NSW won't he? He'll surely play in at least one of the ODI's anyway.

EDIT: haha, unrelated but Usman's blog is awesome;

Little has changed. Steve Smith is still trying to convince me that Pythagorus has the wrong hypotenuse (he did three unit maths for one month, don’t you know!), Stephen O’Keefe never has his shirt on, and Burt’s still contemplating nipple surgery to correct those huge dinner plates.

 

[outbreak]

haha Usman seems like quite the character i'll have to watch out for his blog in the future.

 

[AlanJLegend]

What's the bet North will ton up in the first test?

 

[tooextracool]

Really not sure why they seem to always play Australia in Bangalore to be honest. India havent won a test there in about 15 years and they've lost 4 games since then and have been comfortably outplayed in almost all of the drawn games during that time frame.

 

[Shri]

Yeah, should obviously play moarrrrr at Chennai.

 

[honestbharani]

Yeah, should obviously play moarrrrr at Chennai.

Chennai won't be renovated soon enough.. Otherwise it was our slot I think.. Plus not the best time to be playing tests in Chennai..