Australian Discussion (Final Squad Announced Post #82)

[pup11]

Re the make-up of our squad.

Been much made of Australia throwing its World Cup eggs in the pace bowling basket. There are a few points to note.

Firstly, to those who criticise the move based on the docile conditions that prevail on the subcontinent, I ask - are the pitches over there really any more docile than those served up in the Carribean in 2007? Tait starred at that World Cup.

Secondly, just because we've picked quite a few quicks, doesn't mean they'll all be in the First XI. I Given the susceiptibility of Johson, Lee and Tait to injury, it makes sense that we've got plenty of quicks in the squad should worse come to worse.

Finally, such is the dearth of spinners in Australia, our squad was always going to be lean on leather twirlers, and thus leather flingers were always going to figure heavily.

Last worldcup we had Bracken, McGrath and Tait as our pace attack, Pidge and Bracks were champion bowlers who covered up Tait's erraticness and allowed Tait to attack, which he did with great success.
Hoggy was fantastic as well since he was very difficult to read during that phase of his career, all in all it was a very balanced attack with Clarke, Watto and Symonds all capable of coming in and putting in some quality overs.
The current attack has a bit of double edge to it, becuase if Tait, Bollinger, Lee and Johnson all perform to potential and are backed by Hastings Smith, Hauritz/Doherty and Watto then we could almost knock over any batting attack.
Having said that even if you take out the injury fear, there is still every chance that the extra pace of Lee, Tait and Johnson can only make batting easier on slow pitches if they aren't accurate enough, even Dougeh looks to be struggling off late, so obviosuly the concern among fans is well found.
Despite all that... LO games are won by the batsmen and for a team to win the worldcup they would need to have their batting firing all cylinders, and in a place like India even if your batting clicks then you might even get away with a slightly dodgy bowling attack.

 

[Burgey]

Apart from Nannes is there really any viable option to replace Tait..??

Cummins

 

[brockley]

'Save our Shield': Hayden | Fox Sports
hayden goes into bat for shield final.

 

[pup11]

'Save our Shield': Hayden | Fox Sports
hayden goes into bat for shield final.

What exactly has this got to do with Australian worldcup squad..!?

Anyways, Mussey and Ponting looking like they would be ok in time for the worldcup, but Hauritz still looks doubtful and by the looks of it the Australian camp doesn't seem to have much confidence in Doherty.
O'Keffe is injured as well, so if Hauritz doesn't recover in time then we have got a slight problem on our hands because it would be pretty lame if we go into the worldcup with an all pace attack.

 

[Julian87]

Is there any recent news on the fitness of Hauritz, Doherty, Smith and O'Keefe?

I really don't think we can afford to replace our frontline spinner with Krejza if Smith is already going to be in the XI. Needs to be a more steady option I reckon.

Starting to think we're gonna play 4 quicks, use Johnson in the initial power play more oft than not and have Dussey, Smith and Clarke as our spin options. Have never rated Dussey's bowling in the slightest but he outbowled most of the frontliners in this series.

 

[social]

So Australia's squad contains 5 injured players in Ponting, Hussey, Hauritz, Smith and Paine (brilliant selection - let's waste a pick on a backup keeper that's not fit enough to catch a cricket ball )

Do we get extra points if we win with 10?

 

[Julian87]

Yep I reckon a back up keeper is a ridiculous selection.

 

[Spark]

Is there any recent news on the fitness of Hauritz, Doherty, Smith and O'Keefe?

I really don't think we can afford to replace our frontline spinner with Krejza if Smith is already going to be in the XI. Needs to be a more steady option I reckon.

Starting to think we're gonna play 4 quicks, use Johnson in the initial power play more oft than not and have Dussey, Smith and Clarke as our spin options. Have never rated Dussey's bowling in the slightest but he outbowled most of the frontliners in this series.

Doherty and Smith should be fine, O'Keefe I have no idea, Hauritz is very very doubtful.

 

[Burgey]

I think there is meant to be some assessment of Hauritz and Hussey today.

 

[Prince EWS]

I think there is meant to be some assessment of Hauritz and Hussey today.

They both failed, apparently. Ferguson and Krejza in, pending ICC approval.

 

[Spark]

Krejza? Oh ****.

 

[TumTum]

If they can send in players, why not Marsh...

edit: oh wait he was injured...

 

[stephen]

I took 3/18 on Saturday in a one day game. Upset I didn't make the squad TBH.

 

[pup11]

This is just madness, Hauritz and Mussey both sounded pretty confident that they would be alright for the worldcup but obviously nobody is willing to take their word for it.

Mussey is our best ODI batsman by miles and I would have thought we would have given him more time to ensure that he was fit for the business end of the tournament, we did it with Symonds during the last worldcup and I don't know why it should have been any different with Mussey.

Hauritz's ommission is an even bigger surprise as he was confident that he would be good enough to play as early as in the practice games, and eventhough on the face of it Hauritz might not seem like much of a loss but I think he along with Watto would have been perfect foil to the likes of Tait, Johnson and Lee.

Now... the thought of Krezja, Lee, Tait and Johnson all having a bad day at the same time is something that's always gonna keep me worried through the length of the tourney.

 

[Burgey]

Should have run with O'Keefe imo. Yeah his LO stuff isn't as good as his FC (IMO) but his batting is good in the lower order and his fielding is good too.

I thought Doherty was next in line. Is he injured too? I just lose track. Honestly, the more they molly coddle these bloody bowlers the more they get injured. If they're going to get hurt, I'd rather it be after they've sent down a **** load of overs for us instead of "resting to prevent an injury", an injury which ends up coming along anyway.

Hussey's loss is massive to us. Think we'll only win the final by about 90 now he's out.

 

[Prince EWS]

Krejza could be a weapon in the subcontinent. I know he bowled some real crap stuff the other night but it's worst he's bowled in one day cricket for years and he still took a couple and finished was okay figures on a pitch that didn't suit him. Admittedly the fact that the nerves got to him in a game of that importance isn't a great sign for the World Cup, but if he bowls how he has been in one day cricket for Tasmania, he should be okay. As I said in other thread, one day cricket actually suits his attacking style a bit more because he has the field back by default, and he can still take wickets in the middle overs. I definitely think his bowling's a lot more suited to the subcontinent than Hauritz (who I would have picked if available anyway, despite that - don't get me wrong) as he's more an overspin bowler.

That said, I don't think he complements the attack very well. As pup11 pointed out, the main pace options are Lee, Tait, Johnson and Bollinger - hardly players known for their consistency and accuracy. Having the spinner play a holding role was always going to suit that combination of quicks best - Hastings may need to play as the third seamer now (or maybe even ahead of Krejza, or a batsman), unless Australia really want to go all out with their attack.

Hussey's a big loss. Australia have some real depth in their middle order for ODIs but Hussey's one of the best ODI batsmen in the world so he'll obviously be missed.

 

[Prince EWS]

Should have run with O'Keefe imo. Yeah his LO stuff isn't as good as his FC (IMO) but his batting is good in the lower order and his fielding is good too.

I thought Doherty was next in line. Is he injured too? I just lose track. Honestly, the more they molly coddle these bloody bowlers the more they get injured. If they're going to get hurt, I'd rather it be after they've sent down a **** load of overs for us instead of "resting to prevent an injury", an injury which ends up coming along anyway.

Hussey's loss is massive to us. Think we'll only win the final by about 90 now he's out.

Doherty's injured. O'Keefe's actually injured too, but I'm not sure if he would've been back in time.

Marsh would probably have been okay too apparently. I guess the selectors just lost patience with all the injury concerns and decided to just pick fit blokes so we could get on with things. Not a bad call when you consider Marsh and O'Keefe aren't conclusively better than Ferguson and Krejza anyway (in fact, not at all IMO, in one day cricket).

 

[stephen]

Doherty's injured. O'Keefe's actually injured too, but I'm not sure if he would've been back in time.

Marsh would probably have been okay too apparently. I guess the selectors just lost patience with all the injury concerns and decided to just pick fit blokes so we could get on with things. Not a bad call when you consider Marsh and O'Keefe aren't conclusively better than Ferguson and Krejza anyway (in fact, not at all IMO, in one day cricket).

Still I would have liked to have given Hauritz and Hussey a chance to regain fitness. Hauritz in particular was able to actually send down some balls in the net (albeit not at 100%). Hussey is the huge loss for us. I'm so bummed that he's not going to be there for us.

 

[Spikey]

support callum over marsh but krejza? well doherty's back must be pretty bad. i guess smith's good bowling form and hussey's good batting form and decent bowling have given them a bit of confidence and are willing to take a risky sorta option with Krejza but...

 

[vcs]

Mussey.. probably his last shot at a WC.