*Official* Fifth Test at the SCG

[Craig]

For Australia, drop Steve Smith, and bring in somebody like Usman Khawaja, as much as Smith is a player for the future, he's not good enough yet to bat at 6, and nor is his bowling. A spinner has to play, and seeing as though they have picked him, I guess Michael Beer will be the one, and with Ryan Harris likely to be out with his ankle injury, it will be a forced change. I would of picked Nathan Hauritz, out of all the spinners in the country, he look's like he is the best one. Which is a shame for Rhino, otherwise I would have left out Ben Hilfenhaus, he does bowl alright, but he just doesn't take the wickets.

For England? None really, unless you want to bring Eoin Morgan in for Paul Collingwood.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Trouble is for England in dropping Collingwood, if the Aussies bat well, then they don't have a genuine 5th bowler whatsoever. Pietersen, Trott & Bell can do the job I suppose, but Collingwood is a step above them as a 5th bowler, and you don't know whether Morgan will be any better.

 

[Son Of Coco]

I don't think not having a 5th bowler will be a problem for England.

 

[King Pietersen]

For Australia:

Watson
Hughes
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Haddin +
Smith
O'Keefe
Johnson
Siddle
Harris/Hilfenhaus (depending on Harris's fitness)

Haddin has to bat above Smith, but other than that I don't think the batting really needs much of a change. They need a spinner, and if they're going to pick an inexperienced spinner, at least pick one that's done well, and O'Keefe has done very well, boosts the batting too. So that'd be the side I'd go with.

For England, same team. Might as well give Collingwood 1 last 'hurrah.

 

[Flem274*]

Watson
Katich (if possible. Rogers if not.)
Ponting
Hussey
Clarke
Khawaja
Haddin
Hauritz/O'Keefe
Johnson
Harris
Siddle

Haven't seen O'Keefe or Rogers, but going off what people have said on forum and the statz, O'Keefe is the best spinner in the country after Hauritz and Rogers is pretty gun.

And Khawaja is so far ahead of Hughes and Smith technically it's not funny.

 

[Ruckus]

Yeah seeing as though we will lose this match, I'd love to see a bit of an experiment at Sydney. Would love to see Copeland in for Hilfenhaus, O'Keefe in as the spinner, Khawaja in for Smith and Cameron or Bollinger in for Harris if he is injured.

If that happened it would really bring some spark into what will otherwise essentially be a dead rubber.

 

[Jono]

Play more Victorians.

 

[Spikey]

out: the victorians, taswegians, western australians and Harris through injury
in: more new south welshmen

 

[Athlai]

Watson
Hughes
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Vettori
Haddin
Johnson
Siddle
Bollinger
Hilfenhaus

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Vincent
Warner
Hodge
Merchant
Rhodes
Styris
Haddin (c)
Lee
Lamb
Wright, D
Grimmett

 

[Spikey]

Lee's retired from First Class cricket though.

 

[Spikey]

Unless you mean Shane.

 

[Burgey]

Lol... Liking these teams.

Main change I'd like to see is our openers put on >100 and give us a decent start.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Hughes
Maddinson
Khawaja
Watson*
Clarke
Smith
Haddin+
Henriques
Hauritz
Lee
Cameron

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Lee's retired from First Class cricket though.

Clarrie Grimmett's dead, but Lee's retirement was the only thing you saw wrong with that XI?

 

[Spikey]

i figure a dead Grimmett is still better than Beer.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

i figure a dead Grimmett is still better than Beer.

Can call for a single better than Watson too?

 

[Prince EWS]

Watson
Katich (if possible. Rogers if not.)
Ponting
Hussey
Clarke
Khawaja
Haddin
Hauritz/O'Keefe
Johnson
Harris
Siddle

Haven't seen O'Keefe or Rogers, but going off what people have said on forum and the statz, O'Keefe is the best spinner in the country after Hauritz and Rogers is pretty gun.

And Khawaja is so far ahead of Hughes and Smith technically it's not funny.

Rogers is injured as well.

 

[Spikey]

Can call for a single better than Watson too?

Are we allowed to put a microphone onto Watson so the other batsman can actually hear his calls?

 

[Prince EWS]

1 Watson
2 Hughes
3 Khawaja
4 Ponting
5 Clarke
6 Hussey
7 Haddin
8 Smith
9 Johnson
10 Harris
11 Siddle

I really don't like the idea of picking Smith as a spinner, but I don't really like the idea of picking any of the spinners at this point either, particularly with O'Keefe playing grade cricket. Smith offers by far the best package of them at this point with his batting; I'd make it known that he was being picked as an allrounder. He'd basically have the same bowling role he had in this match; I'd just get Watson through a few more overs as the fourth seamer. If I really thought the pitch was going to be a genuine turner (and I don't) I'd bring Krejza in for Smith.

Clarke should definitely not bat in the top four but I wouldn't want to move Hussey up either; I think that batting lineup looks so much more solid with Clarke at five and Hussey at six so I've brought in another top order batsman (Khawaja). I've got him at three above Ponting but that's clearly not going to happen; I'd be equally happy with him at four. I'd also be happy with Dave Hussey in at four.

Realistically though, I think we'll just see Beer come in for Hilfenhaus with no other changes. We may see Khawaja bat six instead of Smith or even open ahead of Hughes but they're both long shots at this stage IMO.