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*Official* Road to the 2010/11 Ashes

vic_orthdox

Global Moderator
The Ashes: Shane Warne offers Nathan Hauritz help | Cricket News | The Ashes 2010-11 | Cricinfo.com

Shane Warne said:
"Murali, Daniel Vettori and myself and a lot of other spinners have been smashed in India at times. That is no disgrace at all. How Haury bounces back in Australia this summer is the key. In my opinion Steve Smith is still a long way short of being Australia's No.1 Test spinner."
If Warne, the guy who has had a bit of mentoring role with Smith over the past 12 months, says that, then can we now put to rest the idea of Smith playing @ 8?
 

aussie

Hall of Fame Member
Was that really the idea though?. I thought people where pushing for him to bat @ # 6, which i fundamentally disagreed with.

But for me what Warne said about Smith is not news. Never thought he was ready, since his best role in the test set-up is very much an unknown ATM.
 

aussie

Hall of Fame Member
Over-rated with the bat too, tbh. Not a bad bat by any means but all the talk of batting at 6 seems a bit crazy to me.
I think he is capable f batting @ 6, if he improves his shot selection & consistency. But of course the way he is batting now - no way can he bat in the top 6 in tests.
 

outbreak

First Class Debutant
Smith atm strikes me as someone you want in your ODI/T20 setup where his bowling and batting can both get by nicely in tests he has alot of work to do to be a top 6 batsmen and if he's batting any lower he has alot of work to do on his bowling to justify his spot. He's still young and talented enough to do the job i think but i wouldn't be rushing him into a permanent spot in the test side too soon.
 

robelinda

International Vice-Captain
As much as think Arthur is a bit of a douche, I do like what i'm hearing from him so far as coach of WA, he's really sticking it up em. Hopefully it will make guys like Voges and M Marsh etc really get a move on.
 

howardj

International Coach
Smith atm strikes me as someone you want in your ODI/T20 setup where his bowling and batting can both get by nicely in tests he has alot of work to do to be a top 6 batsmen and if he's batting any lower he has alot of work to do on his bowling to justify his spot. He's still young and talented enough to do the job i think but i wouldn't be rushing him into a permanent spot in the test side too soon.
Tough judge.

He has a 50+ average in FC cricket.

WIth the bat, by the way. :ph34r:
 

Julian87

State Captain
Thought Johnson was poor today, he needed to lead the attack on the last day especially with the problems Hauritz was having in finding any penetration, but he was pretty woeful. There was only Hilfenhaus that gained any appreciable movement, and was without the doubt the most impressive throughout this series.

It would be harsh to be too critical on George, on debut, but he has a long way to go before he is picked consistently at this level. Of course the pitches were not conducive to his bowling, but with the supposed McGrath-esque accuracy sadly absent, he looked really ordinary to me. Is he much more effective in Aussie conditions or am I being overly critical ?

The options of Bollinger, Harris, Siddle, Hazlewood, Clark for a short-term measure, when they're all fit give the depth of bowling a better look, because I don't think George should be so close to the Test side at this stage, however I am only judging him on this Test, which can be construde as being a tad unfair.
Still puzzled how our seam bowling stocks dropped away so rapidly. Though we'd be picking from Bollinger, Hilfenhaus, Johnson, Harris, Siddle and Clark (hopefully) before any of these other youngsters.

So, any chance of O'Keefe for the first Ashes test? Bag of wickets in the shield game, was backup spinner in the Pak tests in Eng, kinda like the idea of a left arm off spinner in our team.
Bag of wickets against a terrible, terrible side. Didn't bowl that well from what I saw.

It's possible they might retain George and swap dougie for horrie
No chance George will play IMO. Siddle has one FC game under his belt and a fair amount of time between now and then.


Agree with most of the rest but Prior is a better keeper than Haddin for me. And I'd say that Prior is the better batsmen.
I'd disagree on both counts.
 

Flem274*

123/5
Smith atm strikes me as someone you want in your ODI/T20 setup where his bowling and batting can both get by nicely in tests he has alot of work to do to be a top 6 batsmen and if he's batting any lower he has alot of work to do on his bowling to justify his spot. He's still young and talented enough to do the job i think but i wouldn't be rushing him into a permanent spot in the test side too soon.
Nah, keep Smith's bowling away from limited overs. Best way to destroy the confidence of a young leggie and have him resort to bowling flat and quick.
 

aussie

Hall of Fame Member
Still puzzled how our seam bowling stocks dropped away so rapidly. Though we'd be picking from Bollinger, Hilfenhaus, Johnson, Harris, Siddle and Clark (hopefully) before any of these other youngsters.
Injuries of course. While Clark wont ever be considered again for tests.
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
I just found out this morning about the Test rankings.

I don't need toi say anything else, I'm just gonna sit here and smile :)
 

Spikey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
sustained from boxing. YOU PLAY CRICKET BRO. THE HELL?

Also the guy who broke his ribs is a ****....he's ruined Australia's chances.
 

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